Die Moralphilosophie des jungen Schiller. Ein ‚Kantianer ante litteram‘

Schiller’s early writings demonstrate an increasing interest in the problem of moral foundation, in which the metaphysical claim to eternal reward or punishment and the egoistic core of eudemonistic ethics are the major obstacles to the purity of virtue. Schiller became aware of this problem long before he started reading Kant. In the “Philosophisches Gespräch” (Philosophical Dialog, 1789) Schiller specifically pursues an earthly, non-egotistical principle of virtue. During his so-called Kantian break, beginning in 1791, Schiller eschewed literary and poetic work and studied Kant’s Critiques, but accepted only those Kantian arguments that supported revised solutions to problems addressed in his earlier works. In this sense, Schiller is not a Kantian, but a “Kantian ante litteram.”