Dialectic of Love analyses the arguments of Schiller's major writings on aesthetics and argues that his philosophical thought, theories, and concepts are characteristic of the Platonic tradition. Schiller's conception of beauty is seen as synthesis, the sublime as separation. Pugh connects these concepts to Aristotle's critique of Plato's theory of ideas, in which Aristotle points out an aporia of chorismos (separation) and methexis (participation). In Schiller's thought, Pugh argues, beauty and the sublime operate primarily as metaphysical relations of methexis and chorismos and only secondarily as aesthetic concepts. While Schiller, Pugh reveals, is not very well suited for the role of champion of the Enlightenment, he remains a crucial figure in the transmission of the Platonic tradition to modern idealism and in the application of the Platonic metaphysical heritage to nineteenth-century aesthetics.
- ISBN10 0773510206
- ISBN13 9780773510203
- Publish Date 5 March 1997 (first published 1 January 1997)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint McGill-Queen's University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 456
- Language English