Abstract

This article presents a new interpretation of the notorious "Horen" dispute between Schiller and Fichte by examining the text that was the catalyst for it, Fichte’s "On Spirit and Letter in Philosophy" (1795-1800), from the overlooked perspective of Schiller’s 1793 essay "On Grace and Dignity". It demonstrates that the Horen dispute is based on a theoretical misunderstanding rather than an irreconcilable opposition, arguing that Schiller’s notion of grace as beauty in movement provides the idealism and aesthetics of Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre with a powerful conceptual tool that was lacking in Kant’s critical philosophy.