Utopias of the Enlightenment between moral sense theory and practical aesthetics

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The aim of the project is to examine the productive and critical references of the enlightened utopian discourse to theories of moral sense as well to those of sensuous perception. Thereby, those references promise to elucidate the relation between moral sense theories and aesthetics. Though research has analysed the relation between reason and sensuality in enlightened thought in detail, it gave only little attention to any further differentiation of sensuality, i.e. to the relation of the lower parts of the soul to each other. Particularly concerning questions of practical philosophy, there is a rivalry between moral sense theorists and aestheticians: the former define moral sense as an appetite, which guarantees moral action and conduct without any act of reflection; the latter also locate moral judgement in the lower parts of the soul and nevertheless define it as an effort of reflection. Both paradigms pursued the goal to perfect the moral state of man and community – that is the exact same goal, whose quality and achievement are disputed by utopias. Especially 18th century utopias are not only static descriptions of ideal morality, but also describe the process of moralization. In doing so, they refer both to conceptions of moral appetites and to those of sensuous moral judgement. Hence, the proposed project does not only try to provide deeper insights into disregarded efforts of enlightened utopias, which are, apart from that, elaborately explored, but it also intends to elucidate a philosophical controversy, whose fundamental problems are commented namely by utopias.