Welcome to Conrad's Philosophy Series (Part One)

In this segment I will examine the works and compositions of Friedrich Schiller through the enthymeme of his ratiocination, his main themes, his theses through his conglomerate of works spanning from history and philosophy to comedy and tragedy, and his significance upon the philosophical and literary stage.

(Comments and additions are welcome.)

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Friedrich Schiller was a proponent of Kantian philosophy that attempted to reconcile the differences between Rationalism and Empiricism, Immanence and Transcendence. However, Friedrich Schiller who believed in Kantian morality and reason, developed his own wholly unique philosophical outlook that stressed a harmonious balance between spiritedness and vulgar passions. The life solely conposed of spiritedness led to the tragic flaw of hubris; a contumelious outlook and the disregard of the self-worth of others [solipsistic individual] leads to the self-disintegration and abjuration on the hubristic character who has become consumed and overwhelmed by such euphoric passions. The life solely composed of lascivious and licentious passions leads to a degeneration and denigration of the human spirit and character, with the base and vulgar individual being binded to the obsequious chains of subservience to petty passions. Schillerian philosophy stressed a harmonious balance of the two subsets with a regard for both the spiritual and bodily needs with reason steering the two facets along the path of self-autonomy and self-determination.

The Neo-Classicists such as Corneille, Moliere and Racine, as well as the Renaissance theorists of Lodovico Castelvetro, Julius Caesar Scaliger, Pietro Bembo, Baldassare Castiglione, etc stressed the mechanical functions too heavily with an incomplete viewpoint of the emotional, familiar and intimate portions of aesthetic philosophy. Though the Schillerian ideals of liberty, aesthetics, tragedy and individual equipollence are lofty and grand, they are characterized by an emotional appeal to the both the bodily senses and the intellectual and the imaginational senses. For example, the Death of Wallenstein composition unleashes character pathos and utilizes highly artificial and polished speech as well as flosculation of language, however, the base emotions and the common theme of a heroic meeting of death lends to the unconquerable human will and triumphant hope that defies even the cold grip and embrace of death and destruction.

In addition, Friedrich Schiller immersed himself in literary criticism detailing the use of chorus in tragedy and on sentimentality in poetry. Like William Hazlitt and Goethe, Schiller described the great emotional range of the human character, from atrabilious passions and melancholy to great euphoria and ebullience. Friedrich Schiller believed art to transcend humanity and ease the burden of life; a transcendence to immortal beauty that cannot expire unless humanity itself ceases to exist amidst great convulsions, chaos and carnage.

Overall, the works of Friedrich Schiller are highly polished yet appeal to the emotions of humanity and instills all with the lofty and grand ideals of love, aesthetic beauty, proportion, individual equilibrium, peace, liberty and vitality. The works of Friedrich Schiller are filled with great vivacity, energy and life. Schillerian philosophy thrived during an effervescent artistic and literary age: through the Sturm und Drang period and the Weimar Classicism period.

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