Abstract

Andrew Bowie's translation of On the History of Modern Philosophy, which works from the accepted German edition of Schelling's lectures delivered at the University of Munich during the 1830s, presents one of the more complex figures in the history of philosophy in an appropriately complex struggle to define his place in modern thought. Although Bowie contends that the lectures make accessible the later period of Schelling's work, Schelling's readings are typically informed and accompanied by densely-argued claims about the nature of immediacy, originality, and the absolute. Bowie's introductory essay works hard to prepare the reader, organizing Schelling's thought historically, thematically, and chronologically, but there is a lot of ground to cover.