4 Schelling on Comprehending Nature as an Absolute Activity: From Intellectual Intuition to Ecstasy of Reason
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Johanna Hueck
Abstract
Since the absolute activity of living nature cannot be grasped by the discursive mind, Schelling’s early Naturphilosophie raises the question of the possibility of a mode of cognition that would enable a non-objectifying access to nature. The chapter puts forward the thesis that Schelling succeeds in making such a mode of cognition plausible less with the intellectual intuition of nature than with the figure of ecstasy in the Erlanger Vorlesungen of 1821, which he develops in structural parallelism to the motifs of early Naturphilosophie. By calling for a fundamental transformation of subjectivity, Schelling gives a description and a justification of the mode of cognition that can grasp a processually constituted subject (as the living and productive nature) in a non-reductionist manner.
Abstract
Since the absolute activity of living nature cannot be grasped by the discursive mind, Schelling’s early Naturphilosophie raises the question of the possibility of a mode of cognition that would enable a non-objectifying access to nature. The chapter puts forward the thesis that Schelling succeeds in making such a mode of cognition plausible less with the intellectual intuition of nature than with the figure of ecstasy in the Erlanger Vorlesungen of 1821, which he develops in structural parallelism to the motifs of early Naturphilosophie. By calling for a fundamental transformation of subjectivity, Schelling gives a description and a justification of the mode of cognition that can grasp a processually constituted subject (as the living and productive nature) in a non-reductionist manner.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- 1 Introduction: The Resurgence of Classical German Natural Philosophy 1
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Part I Visions of Nature
- 2 Three Visions of Nature for German Idealism: Kant, Herder, Goethe 21
- 3 Nature as a “You”: Novalis’s Philosophical Extension of Fichte 45
- 4 Schelling on Comprehending Nature as an Absolute Activity: From Intellectual Intuition to Ecstasy of Reason 61
- 5 Hegel and the Rationality of Nature 77
- 6 Ludwig Feuerbach’s Ecological Humanism 91
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Part II Inorganic Nature
- 7 Kant’s Concept of Force and its Application in Physics and Psychology 111
- 8 From Kant to Schelling: Metaphysics of Nature and the Rise of Modern Science 135
- 9 Goethe’s Rational Empiricism 157
- 10 Hegel’s Concept of Inorganic Nature as Umwelt 183
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Part III Organic Nature
- 11 Nature versus Life: Dialectics and Physiology in Schelling 209
- 12 Anatomopathology of Reason: Bichat’s Legacy in Hegel’s Philosophy 229
- 13 The Emergence of Sentience: Hegel’s Conception of Animals 247
- 14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System 263
- 15 In What Sense is Nature a Scale of Degrees? Schelling and Hegel on “Degrees” in Nature 283
- Index of Names 295
- Index of Subjects 297
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- 1 Introduction: The Resurgence of Classical German Natural Philosophy 1
-
Part I Visions of Nature
- 2 Three Visions of Nature for German Idealism: Kant, Herder, Goethe 21
- 3 Nature as a “You”: Novalis’s Philosophical Extension of Fichte 45
- 4 Schelling on Comprehending Nature as an Absolute Activity: From Intellectual Intuition to Ecstasy of Reason 61
- 5 Hegel and the Rationality of Nature 77
- 6 Ludwig Feuerbach’s Ecological Humanism 91
-
Part II Inorganic Nature
- 7 Kant’s Concept of Force and its Application in Physics and Psychology 111
- 8 From Kant to Schelling: Metaphysics of Nature and the Rise of Modern Science 135
- 9 Goethe’s Rational Empiricism 157
- 10 Hegel’s Concept of Inorganic Nature as Umwelt 183
-
Part III Organic Nature
- 11 Nature versus Life: Dialectics and Physiology in Schelling 209
- 12 Anatomopathology of Reason: Bichat’s Legacy in Hegel’s Philosophy 229
- 13 The Emergence of Sentience: Hegel’s Conception of Animals 247
- 14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System 263
- 15 In What Sense is Nature a Scale of Degrees? Schelling and Hegel on “Degrees” in Nature 283
- Index of Names 295
- Index of Subjects 297