Karl Philipp Moritz
modernGerman Enlightenment / Early Aesthetic Autonomy1756 – 1793
Karl Philipp Moritz (1756-1793) was a German author, editor, and aesthetician of the late Enlightenment, best known for his psychological novel Anton Reiser and his influential theory of aesthetic autonomy. His essay 'On the Artistic Imitation of the Beautiful' (1788) argued that art should be self-contained and judged on its own internal coherence rather than utility, directly shaping Goethe, Schiller, and later German Idealist aesthetics.
Notable Achievements
1
Formulated the doctrine of aesthetic autonomy in 'Über die bildende Nachahmung des Schönen' (1788)
2
Authored the pioneering psychological novel Anton Reiser (1785-1790)
3
Founded the Magazin zur Erfahrungsseelenkunde, an early journal of empirical psychology
4
Influenced Goethe, Schiller, and Kant's Critique of Judgment on the concept of the beautiful as purposive without purpose
5
Wrote Götterlehre (1791), a widely-read handbook of Greek mythology