Abstract
The minutiae of F.W.J. Schelling’s Naturphilosophie have been perennially dismissed due to its allegedly infeasible and indefensible assertions about Nature, such as his designation of Nature as “universal organism.” In the realm of post-Kantian German Idealism, such a dismissive attitude toward Schelling’s so-called objective idealism, more often than not, develops itself along the lines of Hegel’s critique of Schelling’s conception of the Absolute (i.e., as static, fixed, undifferentiated, dull, and so on). In turn, I aim to accomplish two tasks in the following investigation. First, I intend to clarify Schelling’s characterization of Nature as universal organism through a practical or teleological, instead of a theoretical or metaphysical, approach. Second, I seek to undermine the Hegelian-influenced criticisms of Schelling’s “Absolute” by demonstrating the ways in which the practico-teleological characterization of Schelling’s formulation of Nature extends into his later philosophical works (i.e., his Identitätsphilosophie and his Freiheitsschrift). Through these clarifications, I hope to emphasize the uniqueness and richness of Schelling’s configuration of Nature.
References
Beiser, F. C. 2002. German Idealism: The Struggle Against Subjectivism, 1781–1801. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.4159/9780674020702Search in Google Scholar
Fichte, J. G. (1794) 1889. The Science of Knowledge, trans. A. E. Kroeger. London: Trübner and Co.Search in Google Scholar
Fichte, J. G. (1796) 2017. The Science of Rights, trans. A. E. Kroeger. Coppell: Anodos Books.10.1037/12992-000Search in Google Scholar
Fisher, N. 2017. “The Epistemology of Schelling’s Philosophy of Nature.” History of Philosophy Quarterly 34 (3): 271–90.10.2307/44985505Search in Google Scholar
Foster, R. 2008. “The Creativity of Nature: The Genesis of Schelling’s Naturphilosophie, 1775–1799.” PhD diss., Houston: Rice University.Search in Google Scholar
Grant, I. H. 2006. Philosophies of Nature After Schelling. New York City: Continuum International Publishing Group.Search in Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (1807) 1977. Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A. V. Miller. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (1812/1831) 1989. Hegel’s Science of Logic, trans. A. V. Miller. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press International, Inc.Search in Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1786) 2017. Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, trans. J. Bennett (Online). Also available at https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/kant1786.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Schelling, F. W. J. (1800) 1978. System of Transcendental Idealism, trans. P. Heath. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.Search in Google Scholar
Schelling, F. W. J. (1797/1803) 1988. Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature, trans. E. E. Harris and P. Heath. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Schelling, F. W. J. (1799) 2004. First Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature, trans. K. R. Peterson. Albany: State University of New York Press.Search in Google Scholar
Schelling, F. W. J. (1809) 2006. Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom, trans. J. Love and J. Schmidt. Albany: State University of New York Press.Search in Google Scholar
Schelling, F. W. J. (1801) 2012. “Presentation of My System of Philosophy.” In The Philosophical Rupture between Fichte and Schelling: Selected Texts and Correspondence, trans. M. Vater and D. Wood. Albany: State University of New York Press.Search in Google Scholar
Schelling, F. W. J. (1802) 2012. “Further Presentations from the System of Philosophy.” In The Philosophical Rupture between Fichte and Schelling: Selected Texts and Correspondence, trans. M. Vater and D. Wood. Albany: State University of New York Press.Search in Google Scholar
Schelling, F. W. J. (1806) 2019. „Ueber des Verhältnis des Realen und Idealen in der Natur oder Entwickelung der ersten Grundsätze der Naturphilosophie an den Principien der Schwere und des Lichts.“ In F.W.J. Schelling Ausgewählte Schriften, Band, Vol. 3, 1804–6. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Search in Google Scholar
Vater, M. 2013. “Bringing Nature to Light: Schelling’s Naturphilosophie in the Early System of Identity.” Analecta Hermeneutica 5: 1–15.Search in Google Scholar
Wandschneider, D. 2010. “The Philosophy of Nature of Kant, Schelling and Hegel.” In The Routledge Companion to Nineteenth Century Philosophy, trans. P. Leland. Online Publishing: Routledge.10.4324/9780203856581.ch3Search in Google Scholar
White, A. 1983. Schelling: An Introduction to the System of Freedom. New Haven: Yale University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Žižek, S. 2012. Less than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. Brooklyn: Verso.Search in Google Scholar
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- The Transcendental Parameters of “Nature as Universal Organism” in Schelling’s Naturphilosophie
- A Relational Account of Moral Normativity: The Neo-Kantian Notion of We-Subject
- Book Reviews
- Giorgi Lebanidze: Hegel’s Transcendental Ontology
- Samantha Matherne: Cassirer
- Dominique Pradelle: Intuition et idéalités. Phénoménologie des objets mathématiques
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- The Transcendental Parameters of “Nature as Universal Organism” in Schelling’s Naturphilosophie
- A Relational Account of Moral Normativity: The Neo-Kantian Notion of We-Subject
- Book Reviews
- Giorgi Lebanidze: Hegel’s Transcendental Ontology
- Samantha Matherne: Cassirer
- Dominique Pradelle: Intuition et idéalités. Phénoménologie des objets mathématiques