The matter of freedom: Schiller on sacrificial rationality and the emancipatory potential of art
The matter of freedom: Schiller on sacrificial rationality and the emancipatory potential of art
This article examines Friedrich Schiller’s view of freedom associated with artistic creation and practice. First, I show that when Schiller attempts to understand the violent outcome of the French Revolution, he finds that modern reason has performed a ‘sacrifice of the natural,’i.e., it has sacrificed sensuous materiality, need, desire, feeling, and imagination for the sake of progress of civilization. I argue that Schiller’s conception of freedom in artistic creation ought to be understood as a realm beyond the violent ‘sacrifice of the natural,’ since art is able to vindicate sensuous and material nature by making it appear dignified, and that paying attention to the language of sacrifice allows us to see how his conception of freedom is significantly different from that of Kant. Finally, I discuss how art can institute real political freedom if artistic creation produces nothing but semblance.
sacrifice, modernity, aesthetics, critique
177-199
Varslev-Pedersen, Cæcilie
bbd69439-0bc9-403f-ac62-6b6759218911
31 December 2023
Varslev-Pedersen, Cæcilie
bbd69439-0bc9-403f-ac62-6b6759218911
Varslev-Pedersen, Cæcilie
(2023)
The matter of freedom: Schiller on sacrificial rationality and the emancipatory potential of art.
Symphilosophie - International Journal of Philosophical Romanticism, 5, .
Abstract
This article examines Friedrich Schiller’s view of freedom associated with artistic creation and practice. First, I show that when Schiller attempts to understand the violent outcome of the French Revolution, he finds that modern reason has performed a ‘sacrifice of the natural,’i.e., it has sacrificed sensuous materiality, need, desire, feeling, and imagination for the sake of progress of civilization. I argue that Schiller’s conception of freedom in artistic creation ought to be understood as a realm beyond the violent ‘sacrifice of the natural,’ since art is able to vindicate sensuous and material nature by making it appear dignified, and that paying attention to the language of sacrifice allows us to see how his conception of freedom is significantly different from that of Kant. Finally, I discuss how art can institute real political freedom if artistic creation produces nothing but semblance.
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15-Varslev-FINAL-03-01-24-177-199
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Published date: 31 December 2023
Keywords:
sacrifice, modernity, aesthetics, critique
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Local EPrints ID: 486180
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/486180
ISSN: 2704-8152
PURE UUID: 30e7f74a-c69f-4b88-abd6-4f0e6f914292
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Date deposited: 12 Jan 2024 17:37
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:18
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Author:
Cæcilie Varslev-Pedersen
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