Duty, Humanity, and Teleology in Beethoven How He Understood Himself

Abstract

This article deals with the concepts of duty, humanity, and teleology with respect to Beethoven, based on his letters, and aims toward an understanding of how he defined himself-his self-image-while being aware of its dependency upon conditions and consequences informed by contemporary influences. Beethoven considered himself as an autonomous subject, although he did not perceive himself as an intrinsic entity solely committed to himself. He felt the necessity for something objective that he could as a matter of principle take for granted and to which he felt obligated. His subjectivity was autonomous yet not self-referential, therefore exhibiting a distinct proximity to the anthropology of the Enlightenment of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.