Editing Friedrich Schiller (section)

==Writing==
[[File:Schiller, Friedrich – Kleinere prosaische Schriften vol 1, 1792 – BEIC 3285369.jpg|thumb|''Kleinere prosaische Schriften. 1'' (1792)]]

===Philosophical papers===
[[File:GoetheAndSchillerMonumentAtWeimar.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Goethe–Schiller Monument]]'' (1857), [[Weimar]]|alt=Photograph of a large bronze statue of two men standing hand-in-hand, side by side and facing forward. The statue is on a stone pedestal, which has a plaque that reads "Dem Dichterpaar/Goethe und Schiller/das Vaterland".]]
Schiller wrote many philosophical papers on ethics and [[aesthetics]]. He synthesized the thought of [[Immanuel Kant]] with the thought of the [[German idealism|German idealist]] philosopher, [[Karl Leonhard Reinhold]]. He elaborated upon [[Christoph Martin Wieland]]'s concept of ''{{Lang|de|die schöne Seele}}'' (the beautiful soul), a human being whose emotions have been educated by reason, so that ''{{Lang|de|Pflicht und Neigung}}'' (duty and inclination) are no longer in conflict with one another; thus beauty, for Schiller, is not merely an aesthetic experience, but a moral one as well: the Good is the Beautiful. The link between morality and aesthetics also occurs in Schiller's controversial poem, "[[Die Götter Griechenlandes]]" (The Gods of Greece). The "gods" in Schiller's poem are thought by modern scholars to represent moral and aesthetic values, which Schiller tied to [[Paganism]] and an idea of [[animism|enchanted nature]].{{sfn|Josephson-Storm|2017|pages=82–83}} In this respect, Schiller's aesthetic doctrine shows the influence of [[Christian theosophy]].{{sfn|Josephson-Storm|2017|p=81}}

There is general consensus among scholars that it makes sense to think of Schiller as a [[liberalism|liberal]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Nicholas |title=Schiller: A Birmingham Symposium |date=2006 |publisher=Rodopi |page=257}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Gray|first1=John|author-link=John Gray (philosopher)|title=Liberalism |date=1995 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sharpe |first1=Lesley |title=Friedrich Schiller: Drama, Thought and Politics |date=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=2}}</ref> and he is frequently cited as a [[cosmopolitanism|cosmopolitan]] thinker.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bell|first1=Duncan|author-link=Duncan Bell (historian)|title=Ethics and World Politics|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=147|isbn=978-0-19-954862-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cavallar |first1=Georg |title=Imperfect Cosmopolis: Studies in the history of international legal theory and cosmopolitan ideas |date=2011 |publisher=University of Wales Press |page=41}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sharpe |first1=Lesley |title=Schiller's Aesthetic Essays: Two Centuries of Criticism |date=1995 |publisher=Camden House |page=58}}</ref> Schiller's philosophical work was particularly concerned with the question of human freedom, a preoccupation which also guided his historical research, such as on the [[Thirty Years' War]] and the [[Dutch Revolt]], and then found its way as well into his dramas: the [[Wallenstein (trilogy of plays)|''Wallenstein'' trilogy]] concerns the Thirty Years' War, while ''Don Carlos'' addresses the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain. Schiller wrote two important essays on the question of the [[Sublime (philosophy)|sublime]] (''{{Lang|de|das Erhabene}}''), entitled "{{Lang|de|Vom Erhabenen}}" and "{{Lang|de|Über das Erhabene}}"; these essays address one aspect of human freedom—the ability to defy one's animal instincts, such as the drive for self-preservation, when, for example, someone willingly sacrifices themselves for conceptual ideals.

===Plays===
Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. Critics like F. J. Lamport and [[Erich Auerbach]] have noted his innovative use of dramatic structure and his creation of new forms, such as the melodrama and the bourgeois tragedy.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} What follows is a brief chronological description of the plays.
* ''[[The Robbers]]'' (''Die Räuber''): The language of ''The Robbers'' is highly emotional, and the depiction of physical violence in the play marks it as a quintessential work of Germany's [[Romanticism|Romantic]] ''[[Sturm und Drang]]'' movement. ''The Robbers'' is considered by critics like [[Peter Brooks (writer)|Peter Brooks]] to be the first European [[melodrama]]. The play pits two brothers against each other in alternating scenes, as one quests for money and power, while the other attempts to create revolutionary anarchy in the [[Bohemian Forest]]. The play strongly criticises the hypocrisies of class and religion, and the economic inequities of German society; it also conducts a complicated inquiry into the nature of evil. Schiller was inspired by the play ''[[Julius of Taranto]]'' by [[Johann Anton Leisewitz]].<ref name="britannica-Leisewitz">{{cite encyclopedia|date = 5 May 2023|url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335498/Johann-Anton-Leisewitz?anchor=ref141414 |title = Johann Anton Leisewitz|encyclopedia= [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref>
* ''[[Fiesco (play)|Fiesco]]'' (''Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua''):
* ''[[Intrigue and Love]]'' (''Kabale und Liebe''): The aristocratic Ferdinand von Walter wishes to marry Luise Miller, the bourgeois daughter of the city's music instructor. Court politics involving the duke's beautiful but conniving mistress Lady Milford and Ferdinand's ruthless father create a disastrous situation reminiscent of Shakespeare's ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''. Schiller develops his criticisms of absolutism and bourgeois hypocrisy in this [[bourgeois tragedy]]. Act 2, scene 2 is an anti-British [[parody]] that depicts a firing-squad massacre. Young Germans who refused to join the [[Hessian (soldiers)|Hessians]] and British to quash the [[American Revolutionary War]] are fired upon.<ref name=Ode>''The Autobiography of Col. John Trumbull'', Sizer 1953 ed., p. 184, n. 13</ref>
* ''[[Don Carlos (play)|Don Carlos]]'': This play marks Schiller's entrée into historical drama. Very loosely based on the events surrounding the real [[Carlos, Prince of Asturias|Don Carlos]] of Spain, Schiller's Don Carlos is another republican figure—he attempts to free Flanders from the despotic grip of his father, King [[Philip II of Spain|Phillip]]. The Marquis Posa's famous speech to the king proclaims Schiller's belief in personal freedom and democracy.
* The [[Wallenstein (trilogy of plays)|''Wallenstein'' trilogy]]: Consisting of ''Wallenstein's Camp'', ''The Piccolomini'', and ''Wallenstein's Death'', these plays tell the story of the last days and assassination of the treasonous commander [[Albrecht von Wallenstein]] during the [[Thirty Years' War]].
* ''[[Mary Stuart (Schiller play)|Mary Stuart]]'' (''Maria Stuart''): This history of the Scottish queen, who was Elizabeth I's rival, portrays Mary Stuart as a tragic heroine, misunderstood and used by ruthless politicians, including and especially, Elizabeth.[[File:Kaliningrad 05-2017 img49 Schiller monument.jpg|thumb|upright|Monument in [[Kaliningrad]] (formerly [[Königsberg]]), Russia]]
* ''[[The Maid of Orleans (play)|The Maid of Orleans]]'' (''Die Jungfrau von Orleans''): about [[Joan of Arc]]
* ''[[The Bride of Messina]]'' (''Die Braut von Messina'')
* ''[[William Tell (play)|William Tell]]'' (''Wilhelm Tell'')
* ''[[Demetrius (play)|Demetrius]]'' (unfinished)

===''Aesthetic Letters''===
{{main|Play drive}}
A pivotal work by Schiller was ''On the Aesthetic Education of Man in a Series of Letters''<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/schiller-education.html "Letters Upon The Aesthetic Education of Man"], [[Fordham University]]</ref> (''Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen''), first published 1794, which was inspired by the great disenchantment Schiller felt about the [[French Revolution]], its degeneration into violence and the failure of successive governments to put its ideals into practice.<ref>Schiller, ''On the Aesthetic Education of Man'', ed. Elizabeth M. Wilkinson and [[L. A. Willoughby]], 1967</ref> Schiller wrote that "a great moment has found a little people"; he wrote the ''Letters'' as a philosophical inquiry into what had gone wrong, and how to prevent such tragedies in the future. In the ''Letters'' he asserts that it is possible to elevate the moral character of a people, by first touching their souls with beauty, an idea that is also found in his poem ''Die Künstler'' (''The Artists''): "Only through Beauty's morning-gate, dost thou penetrate the land of knowledge."

On the philosophical side, ''Letters'' put forth the notion of ''der sinnliche Trieb / Sinnestrieb'' ("the sensuous drive") and ''Formtrieb'' ("the formal drive"). In a comment to [[Immanuel Kant]]'s philosophy, Schiller transcends the dualism between ''Formtrieb'' and ''Sinnestrieb'' with the notion of ''Spieltrieb'' ("the [[play drive]]"), derived from, as are a number of other terms, Kant's ''[[Critique of Judgment|Critique of the Faculty of Judgment]]''. The conflict between man's material, sensuous nature and his capacity for reason (''Formtrieb'' being the drive to impose conceptual and moral order on the world), Schiller resolves with the happy union of ''Formtrieb'' and ''Sinnestrieb'', the "play drive", which for him is synonymous with artistic beauty, or "living form". Modern interpretations consider Schiller to be one of the earliest known [[pansexual]] figures due to these ideals.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Beyond the Pleasure Principle|last=Freud|first=Sigmund|date=2011|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=978-1-55111-994-6|location=New York|pages=258}}</ref> On the basis of ''Spieltrieb'', Schiller sketches in ''Letters'' a future ''ideal state'' (a [[utopia|eutopia]]), where everyone will be content, and everything will be beautiful, thanks to the free play of ''Spieltrieb''. Schiller's focus on the dialectical interplay between ''Formtrieb'' and ''Sinnestrieb'' has inspired a wide range of succeeding aesthetic philosophical theory, including notably [[Jacques Rancière]]'s conception of the "aesthetic regime of art", as well as social philosophy in [[Herbert Marcuse]]. In the second part of his important work ''[[Eros and Civilization]]'', Marcuse finds Schiller's notion of ''Spieltrieb'' useful in thinking a social situation without the condition of modern [[social alienation]]. He writes, "Schiller's ''Letters'' ... aim at remaking of civilization by virtue of the liberating force of the aesthetic function: it is envisaged as containing the possibility of a new reality principle."<ref>[[Herbert Marcuse|Marcuse, Herbert]]. ''[[Eros and Civilization]]''. Beacon Press. 1966</ref>

===Freemasonry===
Some Freemasons speculate that Schiller was a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]], but this has not been proven.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/schiller_f/schiller_f.html |title=Friedrich von Schiller |publisher=Freemasonry.bcy.ca |access-date=6 November 2013}}</ref> In 1787, in his tenth letter about ''[[Don Carlos (play)|Don Carlos]]'', Schiller wrote: "I am neither [[Illuminati|Illuminatus]] nor Mason, but if the fraternization has a moral purpose in common with one another, and if this purpose for human society is the most important, ..."<ref name=IFL>Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: ''Internationales Freimaurer Lexikon''. Herbig Publishing, 2006, {{ISBN|978-3-7766-2478-6}}{{page needed|date=September 2023}}</ref> In a letter from 1829, two Freemasons from [[Rudolstadt]] complain about the dissolving of their Lodge ''Günther zum stehenden Löwen'' that was honoured by the initiation of Schiller. According to Schiller's great-grandson [[Alexander von Gleichen-Rußwurm]], Schiller was brought to the lodge by Wilhelm Heinrich Karl von Gleichen-Rußwurm. No membership document has been found.<ref name=IFL />