ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a transformative aesthetics in two senses of the word. It illustrates the factual obstacles and inconsistencies Schiller's aspirations to an aesthetic education encountered in the theatre practice of classical Weimar. In spite of its great fascination, Schiller's aesthetic theory remains somewhat vague with respect to the transition between the two above transformations, that is, the transition from an aesthetic condition to an Aesthetic State of lasting freedom and equality. Schiller and Goethe also gave consideration as to how the stage action might contribute to enhance the audience's silence and attention. The transformation of theatre, thus, was not an end in itself but the means of a transformative aesthetics, which, at least from Schiller's perspective, essentially pursued political ideals. Schiller's reflections on the aesthetic education were triggered by two almost simultaneous events: namely, by the consequences of the French Revolution, and by the publication of Kant's Critique of Judgment.
