Nicholas Martin
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159131
- eISBN:
- 9780191673511
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159131.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
Nietzsche's Die Geburt der Tragodie and Schiller's Asthetische Briefe are two texts that make a vital contribution to the history of aesthetic and cultural theory. This work makes a comparative study ...
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Nietzsche's Die Geburt der Tragodie and Schiller's Asthetische Briefe are two texts that make a vital contribution to the history of aesthetic and cultural theory. This work makes a comparative study of the texts, bringing a mutually illuminating perspective to bear on them. The author counters the widespread belief that Nietzsche and Schiller represent a black-and-white contrast, showing the wide extent of the early Nietzsche's debt to Schiller's aesthetics, and drawing a picture of the common aesthetic ground shared by the two writers. The four key aspects of their aesthetic theories are compared: the diagnoses of cultural crisis; the historical framework of each theory; the catalytic function of the Greek experience in both theories; and the metaphysical and psychological underpinnings by which the theories stand or fall. At the heart of the study lie the claims of both Nietzsche and Schiller for the ‘untimeliness’ of their texts. The author concludes that, whatever the shortcomings of the texts, they remain outstanding and enduringly relevant contributions both to aesthetic theory and to our understanding of what it is to be human.Less
Nietzsche's Die Geburt der Tragodie and Schiller's Asthetische Briefe are two texts that make a vital contribution to the history of aesthetic and cultural theory. This work makes a comparative study of the texts, bringing a mutually illuminating perspective to bear on them. The author counters the widespread belief that Nietzsche and Schiller represent a black-and-white contrast, showing the wide extent of the early Nietzsche's debt to Schiller's aesthetics, and drawing a picture of the common aesthetic ground shared by the two writers. The four key aspects of their aesthetic theories are compared: the diagnoses of cultural crisis; the historical framework of each theory; the catalytic function of the Greek experience in both theories; and the metaphysical and psychological underpinnings by which the theories stand or fall. At the heart of the study lie the claims of both Nietzsche and Schiller for the ‘untimeliness’ of their texts. The author concludes that, whatever the shortcomings of the texts, they remain outstanding and enduringly relevant contributions both to aesthetic theory and to our understanding of what it is to be human.
Jeffrey Morrison
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159124
- eISBN:
- 9780191673504
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159124.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter examines the qualifications of Johann Hermann von Reidesel as a pupil for Winckelmann and the type of training he underwent. It attempts to determine whether Riedesel's published work ...
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This chapter examines the qualifications of Johann Hermann von Reidesel as a pupil for Winckelmann and the type of training he underwent. It attempts to determine whether Riedesel's published work and other statements on art indicate the complete realization of Winckelmann's plans for an aesthetic education. It also examines the five main sources of information on Riedesel's approach to art: Briefe, Sendschreiben eines Liebhabers, Sizilien, Levante, and the Scottish letters.Less
This chapter examines the qualifications of Johann Hermann von Reidesel as a pupil for Winckelmann and the type of training he underwent. It attempts to determine whether Riedesel's published work and other statements on art indicate the complete realization of Winckelmann's plans for an aesthetic education. It also examines the five main sources of information on Riedesel's approach to art: Briefe, Sendschreiben eines Liebhabers, Sizilien, Levante, and the Scottish letters.
Nicholas Martin
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159131
- eISBN:
- 9780191673511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159131.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This introductory chapter begins by explaining the rationale behind the author's comparison of Nietzsche's and Schiller's aesthetics. It then sets out the two main arguments of the study. The first ...
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This introductory chapter begins by explaining the rationale behind the author's comparison of Nietzsche's and Schiller's aesthetics. It then sets out the two main arguments of the study. The first is that Nietzsche's early writings owe more to Schiller than either Nietzsche or any commentator since has wished to admit. The second is that there are tangible parallels between the form and content of Die Geburt ter Tragödie and Ästhetische Briefe. In other words, it is argued that there are hitherto overlooked connections between the thought of the two writers, who are usually regarded as chalk and cheese. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This introductory chapter begins by explaining the rationale behind the author's comparison of Nietzsche's and Schiller's aesthetics. It then sets out the two main arguments of the study. The first is that Nietzsche's early writings owe more to Schiller than either Nietzsche or any commentator since has wished to admit. The second is that there are tangible parallels between the form and content of Die Geburt ter Tragödie and Ästhetische Briefe. In other words, it is argued that there are hitherto overlooked connections between the thought of the two writers, who are usually regarded as chalk and cheese. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Nicholas Martin
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159131
- eISBN:
- 9780191673511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159131.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
The success of the untimely aesthetic reform programmes outlined in the Ä Briefe and Die Geburt ter Trag Tragödie depends on three interconnected factors: the historical conceptions which underlie ...
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The success of the untimely aesthetic reform programmes outlined in the Ä Briefe and Die Geburt ter Trag Tragödie depends on three interconnected factors: the historical conceptions which underlie the texts, the nature of the aesthetic models they invoke, and the validity of the metaphysical and psychological claims which underpin their aesthetic theories. This chapter addresses the first of these, namely, the conceptions of historical development on which the arguments of the two texts are founded.Less
The success of the untimely aesthetic reform programmes outlined in the Ä Briefe and Die Geburt ter Trag Tragödie depends on three interconnected factors: the historical conceptions which underlie the texts, the nature of the aesthetic models they invoke, and the validity of the metaphysical and psychological claims which underpin their aesthetic theories. This chapter addresses the first of these, namely, the conceptions of historical development on which the arguments of the two texts are founded.
Nicholas Martin
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159131
- eISBN:
- 9780191673511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159131.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
The detail of Schiller's and Nietzsche's respective interrogations and interpretations of the Greek past and its legacy is very different. Their underlying motives were, however, strikingly similar. ...
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The detail of Schiller's and Nietzsche's respective interrogations and interpretations of the Greek past and its legacy is very different. Their underlying motives were, however, strikingly similar. The aim of Ästhetische Briefe was twofold. First, it was to demonstrate that the aesthetic experience was the defining mode of human existence, the harmonizing, catalytic moment between the physical and the moral, where the individual begins the process of restoring his wholeness. Secondly, it was to put his theory to work as a means of tackling and conquering the human problems laid bare by the French Revolution. Nietzsche's purpose in Die Geburt ter Tragödie was to turn to world upside down, to return mankind (or at least Ger-mankind) to the healthy pessimistic worldview he detected in early ancient Greek culture, which was diametrically opposed to what he saw as the arrogant and utterly misplaced 19th-century desire not merely to explain human existence but also to change it for the better. This chapter seeks to answer why Nietzsche and Schiller should have looked to the ancient Greeks. What led them to think that the Greeks, or what they stood for, could have anything to do with the state of contemporary German culture? With reference principally to Die Geburt ter Tragödie and Ästhetische Briefe, the chapter attempts to define and compare Nietzsche's and Schiller's interpretations of the Greek past.Less
The detail of Schiller's and Nietzsche's respective interrogations and interpretations of the Greek past and its legacy is very different. Their underlying motives were, however, strikingly similar. The aim of Ästhetische Briefe was twofold. First, it was to demonstrate that the aesthetic experience was the defining mode of human existence, the harmonizing, catalytic moment between the physical and the moral, where the individual begins the process of restoring his wholeness. Secondly, it was to put his theory to work as a means of tackling and conquering the human problems laid bare by the French Revolution. Nietzsche's purpose in Die Geburt ter Tragödie was to turn to world upside down, to return mankind (or at least Ger-mankind) to the healthy pessimistic worldview he detected in early ancient Greek culture, which was diametrically opposed to what he saw as the arrogant and utterly misplaced 19th-century desire not merely to explain human existence but also to change it for the better. This chapter seeks to answer why Nietzsche and Schiller should have looked to the ancient Greeks. What led them to think that the Greeks, or what they stood for, could have anything to do with the state of contemporary German culture? With reference principally to Die Geburt ter Tragödie and Ästhetische Briefe, the chapter attempts to define and compare Nietzsche's and Schiller's interpretations of the Greek past.
Timothy Raylor
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198829690
- eISBN:
- 9780191868191
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198829690.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The Conclusion summarizes the main claims advanced in the book. There was in Hobbes’s thinking no early commitment to a (Ciceronian) optimism about the value of rhetoric in which he first lost and ...
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The Conclusion summarizes the main claims advanced in the book. There was in Hobbes’s thinking no early commitment to a (Ciceronian) optimism about the value of rhetoric in which he first lost and then regained faith. Hobbes was, from first to last, committed to a limited, Aristotelian understanding of rhetoric, and was consistently concerned about the dangers it posed to civil society. His embrace of a reformed logical method involved an attempt to purge philosophy of the approximations of rhetorical reasoning. And although his definition of philosophy underwent some adjustments, Hobbes did not back away from his effort to liberate it from rhetoric. The Conclusion briefly sketches the lineaments of a new understanding of Hobbes’s humanism, establishing its Aristotelian character and pointing to the possible role played by Hobbes’s study of Aristotle’s Rhetoric in the establishment of his new method.Less
The Conclusion summarizes the main claims advanced in the book. There was in Hobbes’s thinking no early commitment to a (Ciceronian) optimism about the value of rhetoric in which he first lost and then regained faith. Hobbes was, from first to last, committed to a limited, Aristotelian understanding of rhetoric, and was consistently concerned about the dangers it posed to civil society. His embrace of a reformed logical method involved an attempt to purge philosophy of the approximations of rhetorical reasoning. And although his definition of philosophy underwent some adjustments, Hobbes did not back away from his effort to liberate it from rhetoric. The Conclusion briefly sketches the lineaments of a new understanding of Hobbes’s humanism, establishing its Aristotelian character and pointing to the possible role played by Hobbes’s study of Aristotle’s Rhetoric in the establishment of his new method.
