Schiller's Philosophy of Man as Homo Ludens

Abstract

We can conceive of man both as homo sapiens and, along lines indicated by such thinkers as Plato and H. Read, as homo ludens. Friederich Schiller's philosophy of man, as developed especially in his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, can certainly be said to be a philosophy of man based on transcendentalism. Schiller, that is to say, conceives of man as composed of three basic impulses the motivational Formtrieb, the Sachtrieb, and the Spieltrieb.It is this third impulse, the Spieltrieb discovered by Schiller at the very center of human nature, which enables man to escape from the exclusive domination of the first two impulses, to enter into a state of reciprocal action and of harmonious union with his fellows, and to. rejoice in freedom as a total unit. It is this Spieltrieb which is man's highest perfection. Its object, according to Schiler, is beauty, and it is precisely homo ludens, man as seeing for beauty, who is the key figure in the transforming action that leads to the ideal moral kingdom. It is at this point that Schiller's philosophy of man is revealed in its educational significance.