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In the recent Econtalk podcast, I noted that I was ignorant of (among other things) the meaning of the "English Dance" Schiller refers to in his letter.

Russ and I got this email (name redacted):

Hello Gentlemen. 

Thanks for your continued efforts in spreading education through your podcasts. I am a listener of EconTalk. 

Recently Professor Munger you made a reference to Schiller and a dance form that he refered to. I asked my uncle, a Schiller and Goethe academic, for more information as you stated that your research hadn't turned up the specifics of the dance in question. 

Here is his response : 

"'Der englische Tanz” (sometimes “Anglaise") could mean several things back in Schiller’s day, but most usually indicated a contradance, in which couples form lines facing each other. Schiller considered such a dance a metaphor for an ideal of freedom, in which each individual moved freely, but at the same time did not intrude on the others’ movements. The whole had form and order (and beauty), while the individual practiced “rücksichtsvolle Selbstbestimmung'." (The last term one can translate as perhaps "thoughtful self-determination.")

So, folks:  Have a “rücksichtsvolle Selbstbestimmung" Friday!