ABSTRACT
Aristotle develops a concept of the whole human being, and to this extent makes a first step similar to Friedrich Schiller’s. In Schiller’s anthropology, play therefore fulfills the unique function of letting people experience and feel their existence as human beings. The significance of Schiller’s thought may also be described in this way: Instead of an anthropology trying to develop the best possible foundation for a propositional definition of a human being, Schiller gives a description of an aesthetic practice from which a person can attain “a complete intuition of his human nature.” For Schiller, implementation substitutes for philosophy. The text becomes a kind of travel guide or training manual for the reader, helping him to do what is necessary to have the experiences that Schiller had in a state of play. With the structural affinity in the background, Schiller’s Letters seem to be guided by the idea that there are anthropologically pregnant moments in the life of human beings.
