Study Questions
What is the effect of the exercise of reason on human beings, according
to Schiller?
What was Schiller's view of the ancient Greeks? In his opinion, how do modern
civilized people compare to such precedents? What is the problem with modern
people? How does this fit in with notions of human progress over time?
How does Schiller define excellence and perfection in humanity? What are
the philosophical origins of such notions?
Why does Schiller believe that modern people develop only part of their
potentialities? What prevents full development? What specific causes does
he mention? Are there any advantages to such "stunted growths"?
How does Schiller characterize the distinction between "Nature"
and "Intellect"? What are the differences? What are their specific
effects?
How do Schiller's concerns fit in with the issue of "interdisciplinarity"
which a course like ours seeks to address?
What different sorts of divisions and discriminations does Schiller associate
with the modern condition?
How does Schiller characterize the opposition of reason and imagination?
(keep this issue in mind when reading Dickens's Hard Times)
What governmental and political forms does Schiller associate with Greek
antiquity and with modern civilized states?
What does he mean when he says that "enjoyment was divorced from labour,
the means from the end, the effort from the reward" (218)? How does
this relate to issues of economic justice and to the notions of the good
life advanced by ancient philosophers?
In Schiller's opinion what is the role and place of the individual in the
modern political and economic apparatus?
What problems does Schiller identify in the content and methods of learning
in modern societies? What are the main aims of such an "education"?
What is rewarded and what is punished in modern society? What are the effects
of such incentives?
What does he means when he says that "it is rarely a recommendation
in the eyes of the State if a man's powers exceed the tasks he is set"
(218-219)? (keep this is mind when reading Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron")
In the modern context described by Schiller, what happens to the relationship
between the State and its citizens? What happens to society as a whole?
What does he mean by suggesting that "public authority ... [is] hated
and circumvented by those who make authority necessary, and only obeyed
by such as are capable of doing without it" (219)? Do such descriptions
have any relevance to our contemporary situation? What do they suggest about
the law and law enforcement in modern societies?
What specific problems and limitations does Schiller associate with "the
spirit of speculation" and the "practical spirit"?
Why does he suggest that "there was no other way in which the species
as a whole could have progressed" (220)? What is meant by progress
here? How does Schiller distinguish between individual progress and the
progress of the species? What is the cost of the progress of the species?
What are the dangers? What ancient philosopher does Schiller have in mind
when considering such questions?
What is Schiller's ultimate assessment of the progress achieved by modern
societies?
What solutions does Schiller envision for the problems he describes? What
does he mean by "a higher Art"?
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