Debate on sublime in the end of 18th century: Burke, Kant, Schiller

Abstract

In the article the authors are examining three positions within the 18th Century aesthetic discussion on the sublime - Edmund Burke's, Immanuel Kant's and Friedrich Schiller's. They are also trying to reconstruct the political backgrounds of each of this theoretical positions: old regime conservatism (Burke), republican liberalism (Schiller) and romantic longing for the 'third way' (Kant). The most sophisticated and mature theory of sublime is found in Schiller's aesthetic works, especially in those following his disappointment in French Revolution, in which the relationship between sublime and paradoxes of historical violence is most thoroughly reflected.

Keywords

• sublime
• violence
• history
• politics
• aesthetics
• French revolution