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  • Schiller as Philosopher: A Re-Examination
  • Steven D. Martinson
Frederick Beiser . Schiller as Philosopher: A Re-Examination. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005. Pp. xiv + 283. Cloth, $74.00.

Beiser offers a sound and sensible account of the philosophical work of Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805). He invites philosophers to take Schiller's philosophy much more seriously than they have in the past. The call is compelling since, as the author argues, only very rarely in the history of philosophy "has such sophisticated theory been wedded with such sophisticated practice" (10).

Following an engaging introduction, the author proceeds chronologically through Schiller's essays beginning with the early ethics to the later aesthetics, with the exception of the seminal essay, Über naïve und sentimentalische Dichtung. While space restrictions may well have prevented the inclusion of a discussion of that key essay, it is especially unfortunate since Schiller's exposition on naïve and sentimental poetry (together with Friedrich Schlegel's Über das Studium der griechischen Poesie) is perhaps the first extensive essay that engages the problem of modernity. Regrettably, then, the book is incomplete. No matter how intriguing, the scholar's conclusions remain provisional.

In any event, Beiser engages in a spirited defense of Schiller's philosophy as an improvement on Kant's ethics and aesthetics. By and large, the book constitutes a running commentary on Schiller's affinities to, and departures from Kant. Beiser holds that Schiller presents a fuller and more sophisticated account of moral action than Kant, a more consistent argument concerning the (inter-) relationship between morality and aesthetics, and a more sensitive, empirically-grounded treatment of the nature of freedom. Unlike Kant, who assigns freedom to the noumenal space outside the natural world, Schiller conceives of freedom as an effect of nature, which includes human nature. As an important aside, it should not go unrecognized that in his literary and, especially, dramatic representations Schiller confronts the limits to the attainment of freedom in social reality. This fact complements one of Beiser's central theses, namely that the actual aim of Schiller's early and later philosophy is "unity amid tension" (24).

Importantly, as Beiser suggests, Schiller did not consider moral feeling and inclination to be natural. Rather, they are "acquired by moral education" (11). As the author notes, Schiller understands the task of culture to reside in preserving "the realm of individuality and variety as much as that of universality and unity" (140), individuality here being equated with sensibility. The task of an aesthetic education for Schiller is "not simply to make the individual become the ideal . . . but also to make the ideal become individual" (140). Schiller is careful not to confound the functions of art and morality. In the final analysis, however, Schiller's aesthetics are profoundly ethical.

One fundamental problem remains. While Beiser implores philosophers to take Schiller's work more seriously than usual, it is doubtful that they will be keenly interested [End Page 663] in the author's treatment of Schiller's theory of tragedy. It is also questionable that philosophers will subscribe to one of Beiser's major points: "If philosophy should come from the experience of life itself, then the best philosophy derives from those media that are closest to that experience: poetry and drama. If this is the case, then the best treatment of Schiller's philosophy should make no separation between his poetry and discursive essays; it should show how his fundamental themes and problems are found equally in his poetic and discursive works" (10). While I certainly agree with him on this point, Beiser is assuming a great deal and, perhaps, expecting too much of those who are interested "only" in Schiller's philosophical essays. Whether or not philosophers will now engage in coming to terms with Schiller's philosophy, Beiser's study heightens awareness of an important chapter in the history of philosophy.

The book concludes with two short appendices, one on rhetoric and philosophy in Schiller's essays, and the other on the neo-Kantian interpretation of Schiller. A bibliography and a helpful index of names and topics round out the volume. One's reading of the text will not be interrupted too often by the...

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