Abstract:
Though Schiller's aesthetics is universally appreciated today, this paper argues that what he did was no more than to provide a Utopia in aesthetic sense. Schiller's "free play" puts "freedom" in opposition to "desire" or "end," providing a false illusion of freedom and a remedy for incurable social diseases. And his view of two drives is a typical dualism, which separates the world which was originally unified into two parts and then tries to patch the parts together. He relied on education to reform society and advocated to introduce educator from outside, but avoided the basic function of institutional transformation. In fact, only a social harmony can lead to harmony of human nature. In this sense, a critical reading of Schiller's works will certainly offer us some beneficial resources of theoretical considerations.
