Action, Communication and the Problem of Form: J.M.R. Lenz's Social and Political Thought

Abstract

This article offers a fresh examination of J.M.R. Lenz's proposals for military, economic and social reform on the basis of unpublished sources. It charts the emergence of Lenz's reform proposals from his experiences in Strasbourg and his work on the play Die Soldaten. His interest in reform was arguably not a departure from his work from the early to mid-1770s on moral philosophy, theology, literature and aesthetics. Indeed, the moral and social aspects of human development are also central to his political writings of 1776. Here he sets out a vision of a transformed national community, in which individuals should have the opportunity for self-development through freely chosen action. But he also regards his project as a means of underpinning the absolutist system of rule. These emancipatory and authoritarian impulses co-exist uneasily in Lenz's political thought. His emphasis on communication – between rulers and ruled and between different social groups – can be seen as an attempt to mediate between paternalism and individualism. As the unpublished papers clearly show, Lenz also thought hard about the ways in which he, as a bourgeois writer, could communicate most effectively with aristocratic politicians. Thus the social problem was inextricably linked with an aesthetic problem, the problem of form.