„Communism of Spirits.“ Conceptions of Political Life in Classical German Philosophy between Critique and Aesthetics

How can a social condition be criticized and transformed that only functions at the price of restricting and suppressing the freedom and needs of the people living within it? And how can a new form of political coexistence be made possible in which self-determination is not a privilege but a common good on which collective order is based? These issues are at the heart of classical German philosophy. However, when asked about its contemporary relevance and critical potential, the debate still focuses mostly on the line leading from the mature Hegel to Marx. Complementing this discussion, this conference will concentrate on the aesthetic discussion around 1800 which outlines a “Communism of Spirits” (Hölderlin) and contains unexplored resources for a trenchant critique of contemporary society.

Keywords: Classical German Philosophy, Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, Hölderlin, Political Philosophy, Social Philosophy, Philosophy of History, Aesthetics, Philosophy of State, Emancipation.