Friedrich Schiller verfasste 1780 im Rahmen seines Medizinstudiums in Stuttgart eine
lateinische „Prüfschrift“ (Dissertation) über Fieberkrankheiten. Er beschuldigt darin
die Natur, durch überschießenden Widerstand Entzündungen zu verschlimmern. Dieses
Fieberkonzept steht in Wechselwirkung mit Schillers frühen literarischen Texten und
unterstützt seine Anthropologie hinsichtlich der Annahme psychophysischer Wechselwirkungen.
Abstract
Friedrich Schiller wrote a Latin "Prüfschrift" (thesis) on fever diseases in 1780
as part of his medical studies in Stuttgart. In it, he accuses nature of aggravating
inflammation through excessive resistance. This concept of fever interacts with Schiller’s
early literary texts: In his first drama, „Die Räuber“ (1781), the two protagonists
embody the two main types of fever. Accordingly, the descriptions of the two main
types of fever in the "Prüfschrift" do not turn out to be "objective" either but contain
positive and negative connotations: In a sense, personified heroes and hypocrites
are medically juxtaposed and pathologised. In another early poem about the plague
(1782), Schiller also interpreted and used fever as an expression of human vitality
and natural power, as an anthropological sign for the interconnectedness of soul and
body: soul forces are revealed in fever, and the drama of human existence becomes
particularly clear in the struggle between nature and disease.
Schlüsselwörter
Fieber - Natur - Medizingeschichte (18. Jahrhundert) - Deutsche Literatur - Schiller
Keywords
Feaver - Nature - Medical History (18th Century) - Medical Humanities - German Literature
