A construção estetica e teorica de personagens no iluminismo alemão : Lessing, Moses Mendelssohn, Mozart e Kant

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2004

RESUMO

The main purpose of this dissertation is to show how ideal characters were constructed by major German philosophers and writers during the second half of the eighteenth century. Chapter One (?Lessing?) is concerned with establishing and clarifying the relation between Enlightenment philosophy and literature in the German-speaking world. G. E. Lessing is certainly the most critical author in this respect, as he was both a major creative artist and a theoretician to boot. To fully appreciate this powerful combination, it is necessary to study his plays in light of his aesthetic, political and educational ideas and vice versa. It is especially interesting to see the tense coexistence between concerns for national German political and linguistic unity on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a yearning for cosmopolitan, abstract, humanity (the so-called Mensch). Although not exhaustive, my examination covers several texts which are crucial to an adequate understanding of Lessing?s Enlightenment project: the play, written in his youth, The Jews, the Masonic dialogue Ernest and Falk, the philosophical and theological theses in The education of humanity, and his masterpiece Nathan, the wise, whose title character was inspired by Moses Mendelssohn. Chapter Two (?Moses Mendelssohn as Nathan?) reviews, among other writings, the essay Jerusalem, in which Moses Mendelssohn attacks church and state authority, claims a monotheist mission for Judaism and argues for Jewish rights. It is particularly enlightening to compare Lessing?s fictional Nathan to Mendelssohn himself. Chapter Three (?Mozart and The magic flute?) is an attempt to show the philosophical relevance of W. A. Mozart?s The magic flute, while focussing on characters such as Papageno, Tamino, Pamina, Papagena, Monostatos and Sarastro. For some reason, this Singspiel raises several controversial issues of modernity such as male chauvinism, racism and homosexuality, despite its apparent lack of narrative coherence. I acknowledge the esoteric character of the narrative but follow the literal expression of these conflicts as the characters interact throughout the play. Chapter Four (?Kant and the Mensch?) deals with I. Kant?s pre-critical anthropology and relates it to his concept of the enlightened Mensch. Contrary to the previous authors, however, who were concerned with an aesthetic construction of characters, in Kant?s case, the construction of anthropological types is, properly understood, theoretical, even if it relies on data gleaned from the then popular travel book literature. Proof of this is his explicit attempt to construct a concept of human race upon the criterion of skin coloration

ASSUNTO(S)

filosofia moderna identidade filosofia politica antropologia filosofica filosofia alemã musica teatro alemão iluminismo

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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