Absztrahált szabályok szerint alkotni: Johann Elias Schlegel és Immanuel Kant az utánzásról

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Johann Elias Schlegel is remembered primarily as one of Lessing’s intellectual forerunners, but he made a major contribution to the transformation of German Enlightenment aesthetics with his theorems on similarity and his concept of imitation in art. Although it has been suggested that Immanuel Kant may have been familiar with some of J. E. Schlegel’s early writings, no direct evidence has yet been found; however, he may have been influenced indirectly by some of Schlegel’s ideas. More important than the problematic nexus of influence is the fact that the dramatist made conceptual modifications to the imitation theory that dominated the period, which partly paved the way for the Kantian conception of genius. In this paper I discuss the extent to which J. E. Schlegel’s concept of the limits and framework of imitation contributed to the Kantian theory of imitation, which further restricted imitation and advocated the following of non-conceptual rules abstracted from works. I consider the similarities and differences between Schlegel’s two studies on imitation and Kant’s writings on aesthetics and anthropology, focusing on concepts and themes such as wit, rhyme, genius and imagination. Comparing the two authors may also provide an intermediate, transitional picture of the conceptual shift between Enlightenment and Romantic aesthetics.