Aesthetical and philosophical essays : $b introducing the dissertation on the "connection between the animal and spiritual man"Schiller, Friedrich
Philosophy
Aesthetical and philosophical essays : $b introducing the dissertation on the "connection between the animal and spiritual man"
Schiller, Friedrich
Aesthetics; Philosophy
The difference separating the agreeable, the good, and the beautiful
being thus established, it is evident that the same object can be ugly,
defective, even to be morally rejected, and nevertheless be agreeable
and pleasing to the senses; that an object can revolt the senses, and
yet be good, _i.e._, please the reason; that an object can from its
inmost nature revolt the moral senses, and yet please the imagination
which contemplates it, and still be beautiful. It is because each one of
these ideas interests different faculties, and interests differently.
But have we exhausted the classification of the æsthetic attributes? No,
there are objects at the same time ugly, revolting, and horrifying to
the senses, which do not please the understanding, and of no account to
the moral judgment, and these objects do not fail to please; certainly
to please to such a degree, that we would willingly sacrifice the
pleasure of these senses and that of the understanding to procure for us
the enjoyment of these objects. There is nothing more attractive in
nature than a beautiful landscape, illuminated by the purple light of
evening. The rich variety of the objects, the mellow outlines, the play
of lights infinitely varying the aspect, the light vapors which envelop
distant objects,—all combine in charming the senses; and add to it, to
increase our pleasure, the soft murmur of a cascade, the song of the
nightingales, an agreeable music. We give ourselves up to a soft
sensation of repose, and whilst our senses, touched by the harmony of
the colors, the forms, and the sounds, experience the agreeable in the
highest, the mind is rejoiced by the easy and rich flow of the ideas,
the heart by the sentiments which overflow in it like a torrent. All at
once a storm springs up, darkening the sky and all the landscape,
surpassing and silencing all other noises, and suddenly taking from us
all our pleasures. Black clouds encircle the horizon; the thunder falls
with a deafening noise. Flash succeeds flash. Our sight and hearing is
affected in the most revolting manner. The lightning only appears to
render to us more visible the horrors of the night: we see the electric
fluid strike, nay, we begin to fear lest it may strike us. Well, that
does not prevent us from believing that we have gained more than lost by
the change; I except, of course, those whom fear has bereft of all
liberty of judgment. We are, on the one hand, forcibly drawn towards
this terrible spectacle, which on the other wounds and repulses our
senses, and we pause before it with a feeling which we cannot properly
call a pleasure, but one which we often like much more than pleasure.
But still, the spectacle that nature then offers to us is in itself
rather destructive than good (at all events we in no way need to think
of the utility of a storm to take pleasure in this phenomenon), is in
itself rather ugly than beautiful, for the darkness, hiding from us all
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