Inspiring the idea of social sculpture

Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) : In reading Schiller one is aware that freedom is always connected to beauty. Beauty not in a reduced, external 'aesthetic' sense, but in a sense of moral beauty. Beauty in Schiller is closely connected to an inner beauty. Just as the sculptor works on the outer body to show the beauty of things, we come to know through Schiller that there is an inner artwork that we can and need to shape in ourselves. 

Creating an inner beauty was the aim that Schiller set himself as an educator of the nation. This is the driving force of the aesthetic letters. It is the motif which informed thinkers like Humboldt and had a seminal influence on the theory and practice of education in Germany throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Its influence continues to be felt now, inspiring the idea of social sculpture and the aesthetic education of human beings.  

Text: Wolfgang Zumdick  Translation: Shelley Sacks