Friedrich Schiller · 1795
On the Aesthetic Education of Man, in a Series of Letters
- Original title
- Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen
- Language
- German
- Form
- Letter
- Text
- Full text
- English
- No English translation · Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man, in Aesthetical and Philosophical Essays (19th-c. translation), Project Gutenberg.
- Source text
- gutenberg.org
- Selected
- Ben Breen, 2026-09-29; suggested by Claude research agents, 29 Sep 2026
- Status
- Arguments unverified; quotations chosen by machine, unchecked
Q35STATE
Does treating the state as an artificial machine give its members grounds to redesign it?Yes. with limits; redesign must happen without halting the machine. The state may be rebuilt on reason, but unlike a clock it cannot be stopped for repair; the living clockwork of the state must be repaired while it runs.
The great point is, therefore, to reconcile these two considerations, to prevent physical society from ceasing for a moment in time, while the moral society is being formed in the idea; in other words, to prevent its existence from being placed in jeopardy for the sake of the moral dignity of man. When the mechanic has to mend a watch he lets the wheels run out; but the living watchworks of the state have to be repaired while they act, and a wheel has to be exchanged for another during its revolutions. Accordingly props must be sought for to support society and keep it going while it is made independent of the natural condition from which it is sought to emancipate it.
Letter III · Letter 3 text on monadnock.net contains the clockwork passage; Project Gutenberg Aesthetical and Philosophical Essays page.