PHILOSOPHICAL AND AESTHETIC FOUNDATIONS OF CLASSICISM: HUMANISM, ENLIGHTENMENT, AND WEIMAR CLASSICISM IN GOETHE AND SCHILLER

Classicism represents a central intellectual and aesthetic tradition in Western culture, grounded in ideals of harmony, proportion, rationality, and moral order. This article examines the philosophical and aesthetic foundations of Classicism with a particular focus on its transformation during the Enlightenment and its culmination in Weimar Classicism. The study explores how thinkers such as Goethe and Schiller redefined classical ideals in response to modern philosophical concerns, especially those related to humanism, freedom, and aesthetic education. Using an interdisciplinary methodology combining literary analysis, intellectual history, and aesthetic theory, the research investigates how Classicism evolved from a formal artistic doctrine into a comprehensive worldview. The findings show that Weimar Classicism represents a synthesis of Enlightenment rationality and humanist idealism, in which aesthetic experience becomes a means of moral and intellectual development. The article argues that Goethe and Schiller did not simply revive ancient classical models but transformed them into a dynamic philosophy of human cultivation. Ultimately, Classicism emerges as a bridge between reason and emotion, nature and freedom, and individuality and universality.