Startseite Philosophie 14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System
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14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System

  • Benjamin Berger
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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.

Heruntergeladen am 3.11.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111002453-014/html?lang=de
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