Apparent Purposes. How Does the Purpose of Purposelessness Operate?
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Manuel Clemens
Abstract
One field of idealism in combination with anti-idealism is aesthetic education, since it combines the idea of an aesthetic idealist sphere with its intervention into the real world. Friedrich Schiller’s letters Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen [On the Aesthetic Education of Man] (1795) express this ambivalence prominently. His Aesthetic Letters articulate a cultural critique around the 1800s, stating that, on the one hand, his contemporaries are only able to think in terms of economic benefits as it relates to all aspects of existence, rendering human existence one-dimensional and unhappy, and that, on the other, theoretical projects on the grand scale of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution cannot be fully realised since they appeal to human beings -once again one-dimensionally-only through reason.¹ As a result, while Enlightenment ideas are considered and taught, they cannot be implemented properly (if at all) since they do not correspond to the reality of human action. Schiller therefore brings a form of aesthetic education into play, one which he locates in art. Since Enlightenment constructs, such as Kant’s categorical imperative, appeal only to reason, a supplementary form of aesthetic knowledge is introduced, intended to appeal ethically to the senses as well.
Abstract
One field of idealism in combination with anti-idealism is aesthetic education, since it combines the idea of an aesthetic idealist sphere with its intervention into the real world. Friedrich Schiller’s letters Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen [On the Aesthetic Education of Man] (1795) express this ambivalence prominently. His Aesthetic Letters articulate a cultural critique around the 1800s, stating that, on the one hand, his contemporaries are only able to think in terms of economic benefits as it relates to all aspects of existence, rendering human existence one-dimensional and unhappy, and that, on the other, theoretical projects on the grand scale of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution cannot be fully realised since they appeal to human beings -once again one-dimensionally-only through reason.¹ As a result, while Enlightenment ideas are considered and taught, they cannot be implemented properly (if at all) since they do not correspond to the reality of human action. Schiller therefore brings a form of aesthetic education into play, one which he locates in art. Since Enlightenment constructs, such as Kant’s categorical imperative, appeal only to reason, a supplementary form of aesthetic knowledge is introduced, intended to appeal ethically to the senses as well.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction 1
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Goethe’s (Anti-)Classicism and Experientialism
- Embracing the Enemy: The Problem of Religion in Goethe’s “Confessions of a Beautiful Soul” 13
- “Meine Schwester Natalie ist hiervon ein lebhaftes Beispiel:” Bildung and Gender in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre 27
- Mediating Subjectivities: Anti-Classical and Anti-Ideal Impulses in Goethe’s Zur Farbenlehre and Die Wahlverwandtschaften 49
- Reading Surfaces: Goethe and Benjamin 69
-
Kant-Critique and the Romanticist Movement
- Jakob Friedrich Fries as an Opponent of German Idealism 87
- Apparent Purposes. How Does the Purpose of Purposelessness Operate? 103
- Antecedents to Hegel’s Conception of Judaism in Kant’s Practical Philosophy 115
- “Diese Unwissenheit ist mir der unerträglichste Mangel, der gröste Widerspruch”: The Search for Pre-rational Knowledge in Karoline von Günderrode 131
- Romantic Anti-Idealism and Re-evaluations of Gender: Schlegel, Günderrode and Literary Gender Politics 147
- The Polymorphous Political Theology of Novalis and Marcuse 161
-
Hölderlin and Nietzsche: The Ecological Complication of Idealist Aesthetics
- Hölderlin’s Poetics of Zärtlichkeit: The Corporeal Turn of Transcendental Idealism 175
- Grund/Abgrund. On Kant and Hölderlin 187
- Nietzsche and Cognitive Ecology 209
- Overturning Philosophy: Classic and (Anti)-Classic Considerations on Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo 227
- Index 243
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Goethe’s (Anti-)Classicism and Experientialism
- Embracing the Enemy: The Problem of Religion in Goethe’s “Confessions of a Beautiful Soul” 13
- “Meine Schwester Natalie ist hiervon ein lebhaftes Beispiel:” Bildung and Gender in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre 27
- Mediating Subjectivities: Anti-Classical and Anti-Ideal Impulses in Goethe’s Zur Farbenlehre and Die Wahlverwandtschaften 49
- Reading Surfaces: Goethe and Benjamin 69
-
Kant-Critique and the Romanticist Movement
- Jakob Friedrich Fries as an Opponent of German Idealism 87
- Apparent Purposes. How Does the Purpose of Purposelessness Operate? 103
- Antecedents to Hegel’s Conception of Judaism in Kant’s Practical Philosophy 115
- “Diese Unwissenheit ist mir der unerträglichste Mangel, der gröste Widerspruch”: The Search for Pre-rational Knowledge in Karoline von Günderrode 131
- Romantic Anti-Idealism and Re-evaluations of Gender: Schlegel, Günderrode and Literary Gender Politics 147
- The Polymorphous Political Theology of Novalis and Marcuse 161
-
Hölderlin and Nietzsche: The Ecological Complication of Idealist Aesthetics
- Hölderlin’s Poetics of Zärtlichkeit: The Corporeal Turn of Transcendental Idealism 175
- Grund/Abgrund. On Kant and Hölderlin 187
- Nietzsche and Cognitive Ecology 209
- Overturning Philosophy: Classic and (Anti)-Classic Considerations on Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo 227
- Index 243
