Home Philosophy 14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System

  • Benjamin Berger
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
The Concept of Nature in Classical German Philosophy
This chapter is in the book The Concept of Nature in Classical German Philosophy

Abstract

This chapter explores two models that Schelling employs in the 1804 System to clarify the ontological relationships between the most general forms of life (plants, infusoria, animals, and human beings). The first model is a more traditional model for thinking about these forms of life; it describes a unilinear, atemporal development from one form of life to another. The second model-which is largely implicit in the System’s philosophy of life-describes a bifurcated series of lifeforms in which more advanced forms emerge from more simple forms in history along two lines of development. The chapter argues that this second model should be interpreted as a moment in Schelling’s intellectual development in which he begins to understand the history of nature as philosophically significant.

Abstract

This chapter explores two models that Schelling employs in the 1804 System to clarify the ontological relationships between the most general forms of life (plants, infusoria, animals, and human beings). The first model is a more traditional model for thinking about these forms of life; it describes a unilinear, atemporal development from one form of life to another. The second model-which is largely implicit in the System’s philosophy of life-describes a bifurcated series of lifeforms in which more advanced forms emerge from more simple forms in history along two lines of development. The chapter argues that this second model should be interpreted as a moment in Schelling’s intellectual development in which he begins to understand the history of nature as philosophically significant.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. 1 Introduction: The Resurgence of Classical German Natural Philosophy 1
  4. Part I Visions of Nature
  5. 2 Three Visions of Nature for German Idealism: Kant, Herder, Goethe 21
  6. 3 Nature as a “You”: Novalis’s Philosophical Extension of Fichte 45
  7. 4 Schelling on Comprehending Nature as an Absolute Activity: From Intellectual Intuition to Ecstasy of Reason 61
  8. 5 Hegel and the Rationality of Nature 77
  9. 6 Ludwig Feuerbach’s Ecological Humanism 91
  10. Part II Inorganic Nature
  11. 7 Kant’s Concept of Force and its Application in Physics and Psychology 111
  12. 8 From Kant to Schelling: Metaphysics of Nature and the Rise of Modern Science 135
  13. 9 Goethe’s Rational Empiricism 157
  14. 10 Hegel’s Concept of Inorganic Nature as Umwelt 183
  15. Part III Organic Nature
  16. 11 Nature versus Life: Dialectics and Physiology in Schelling 209
  17. 12 Anatomopathology of Reason: Bichat’s Legacy in Hegel’s Philosophy 229
  18. 13 The Emergence of Sentience: Hegel’s Conception of Animals 247
  19. 14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System 263
  20. 15 In What Sense is Nature a Scale of Degrees? Schelling and Hegel on “Degrees” in Nature 283
  21. Index of Names 295
  22. Index of Subjects 297
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111002453-014

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. 1 Introduction: The Resurgence of Classical German Natural Philosophy 1
  4. Part I Visions of Nature
  5. 2 Three Visions of Nature for German Idealism: Kant, Herder, Goethe 21
  6. 3 Nature as a “You”: Novalis’s Philosophical Extension of Fichte 45
  7. 4 Schelling on Comprehending Nature as an Absolute Activity: From Intellectual Intuition to Ecstasy of Reason 61
  8. 5 Hegel and the Rationality of Nature 77
  9. 6 Ludwig Feuerbach’s Ecological Humanism 91
  10. Part II Inorganic Nature
  11. 7 Kant’s Concept of Force and its Application in Physics and Psychology 111
  12. 8 From Kant to Schelling: Metaphysics of Nature and the Rise of Modern Science 135
  13. 9 Goethe’s Rational Empiricism 157
  14. 10 Hegel’s Concept of Inorganic Nature as Umwelt 183
  15. Part III Organic Nature
  16. 11 Nature versus Life: Dialectics and Physiology in Schelling 209
  17. 12 Anatomopathology of Reason: Bichat’s Legacy in Hegel’s Philosophy 229
  18. 13 The Emergence of Sentience: Hegel’s Conception of Animals 247
  19. 14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System 263
  20. 15 In What Sense is Nature a Scale of Degrees? Schelling and Hegel on “Degrees” in Nature 283
  21. Index of Names 295
  22. Index of Subjects 297
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 2.11.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111002453-014/html
Scroll to top button