Schelling’s Naturphilosophie was, from the outset, more concerned with ontogeny than ontology, i.e. not on what nature is but on what it does: ubiquitous creation. Therefore, the processes articulated in the Philosophy of Mythology remain instances of a philosophy driven by what might be called a post-naturalist naturalism. The two aims of this paper are, firstly, to demonstrate this nature-philosophical continuity throughout Schelling’s so-called Protean philosophical projects in order, secondly, to re-prepare Schellingian themes for current debates concerning ontology. To this (...) end, I draw on the worldmaking and abundance postulates of Goodman and Feyerabend, respectively, to demonstrate the persistence of Schellingian ontogenetic pathways for remodelling process metaphysics for contemporary philosophy. Finally, the paper argues that the logical form of the hypothesis (antecedent and consequent) is itself consequent upon the ontogeny it hypothesises. (shrink)

Die "Aphorismen uber die Naturphilosophie" (1806/07) wie auch die zugehorigen "Aphorismen zur Einleitung in die Naturphilosophie " (1805) sind in der Forschung bisher weitgehend unbeachtet geblieben, obwohl sie einen bedeutenden ubergangstext von der Natur zur Freiheitsphilosophie Schellings darstellen. SIe wurden ursprunglich in der kurzlebigen, in nur sechs Ausgaben erschienenen Zeitschrift "Jahrbucher der Medicin als Wissenschaft" veroffentlicht, die Schelling zwischen 1805 und 1808 herausgab und zu der er die maSSgeblichen Beitrage beisteuerte. DIe 469 "Aphorismen", die sich in zwei Hauptteile sowie eine (...) vorangehende Einleitung gliedern, sind in wesentlichen Teilen Reflexionen uber das Absolute und knupfen zwar noch an das "System der gesammten Philosophie" von 1804 an, enthalten aber zugleich auch den ubergang von der fruhen, von Kant und Fichte ausgehenden Identitatsphilosophie hin in "ein langsames Abdriften zu den dunklen Bereichen des Seins" (X. TIlliette), denen sich Schelling nach 1806 verstarkt zuwendet. SPrachlich und gedanklich entfernt er sich vom "System", spricht von der "Liebe" und den "Relationen" und in Wendungen, die an Jacob Bohme erinnern, von der "Seele" der Dinge, "welche also zwar an sich betrachtet gleich dem Centro, relativ aber auf das Ding, das verworrene Gegenbild ihrer Einheit, nur ein Geschopf des Centri ist". HIer vollzieht sich die systematische Voraussetzung fur das, was die folgenden Schriften wesentlich ausmacht: das Ausloten des Dunklen in der Natur und damit in uns selbst. Die Textgattung "Aphorismus" war um 1800 noch nicht auf jene Bedeutung verengt, die uns heute an ein isoliertes "Kurzestfragment" denken lasst. ES handelt sich um kurze Abschnitte einer genetischen Darstellung, die jedoch anders als ein durchkomponierter Text einzelne Motive freier variieren und von verschiedenen Seiten her beleuchten kann. (shrink)

Dieser Band bietet ausser einer kritischen Edition des Textes der Ideen, der ersten naturphilosophischen Schrift Schellings, auch eine Fulle erklarender Anmerkungen mit Nachweisen von Zitaten und Anspielungen sowie Erlauterungen zu nicht mehr gebrauchlichen Begriffen und Bezeichnungen. Ein editorischer Bericht schildert die Entstehungsgeschichte der Ideen. In addition to a critical edition of the text of the Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature, Schellings first work on the philosophy of nature, this volume also provides an abundence of explanatory annotations with evidence of (...) quotations and allusions as well as explanations of terms which are no longer in use. An editorial report describes the history of the origins of the Ideas. (shrink)

1. Be it in science, in religion or in art, there is no higher revelation than that of the divinity of the All, and in fact those three start from this revelation and have significance only through it.

Die unter dem Titel "Metaphysik "überlieferte kleine Abhandlung des Aristotelesschülers Theophrast enthält eine ebenso kompakte wie kritische Rekonstruktion ungelöster systematischer Grundlagenprobleme der klassischen griechischen Philosophie, angefangen bei den Vorsokratikern über Platon und die Akademie bis hin zu Aristoteles. Es geht vornehmlich um fundamentale Aporien der Ontologie und der Naturphilosophie, wie die Frage nach der Interdependenz ideeller Prinzipien und wahrnehmbarer Phänomene oder die Plausibilität der Teleologie als methodisches Prinzip der Naturerklärung. Theophrast analysiert und bewertet die geläufigen konkurrierenden Lösungsvorschläge und zeigt ihre (...) Defizite unerbittlich auf: ein Stück synoptischer Metaphysikkritik, das an zeitgenössische Typen der Dekonstruktion erinnert. Der Text hat seinen Wert als Dokument für den Übergang von einer konstruktiven zu einer eher skeptischen, in Teilen sogar destruktiven Phase der klassischen griechischen Tradition und zeigt exemplarisch, vor allem am Verhältnis der theophrastschen zur aristotelischen "Metaphysik", wie sehr die jeweiligen philosophischen Positionen sich in Abhängigkeit von der jeweiligen Rezeption vorgängiger Rezeptionsprozesse entwickelten. Die erstmals mit einer deutschen Übersetzung erscheinende kritische Edition dieses philosophiehistorischen Schlüsseltextes hat das Ziel, diese Bedeutung des bislang zu wenig beachteten Dokuments aus der Schule des Aristoteles sichtbar zu machen. (shrink)

In his book from 1799 "Einleitung zu dem Entwurf eines Systems der Naturphilosophie" Schelling defines philosophy of nature (Naturphilosophie) as science of nature (Wissenschaft der Natur) a priori but emphasises nonetheless the importance of experience to develop such a science of nature. This raises the problematical question of how this science of nature as an science a priori that has concrete phenomena (Naturerscheinungen) as it's objects can be possible. In this text the author argues that it is Schelling's critical concept (...) of system respective systematicity of nature itself that allows him to develop a (philosophical) system of nature that for us might be known through experience but - as systematical knowledge - must be considered as necessary and therefor a priori. (shrink)

Die "Zeitschrift für spekulative Physik" diente der Verbreitung und Diskussion der von Schelling inaugurierten Naturphilosophie des Deutschen Idealismus. Der bedeutendste Beitrag ist die im zweiten Band enthaltene "Darstellung meines Systems der Philosophie", mit der die Periode der Identitätsphilosophie begann.

Traduçáo do original alemáo: Schelling, F. W. J. "Einleitung zu dem Entwurf eines Systems der Naturphilosophie oder über den Begriff der speculativen Physik und die innere Organisation eines Systems dieser Wissenschaft". In: Schelling, K. F. A. (Org.). Sämmtliche Werke. 14 Bdn. 1 Abt. I-X; 2 Abt. I-IV, Stuttgart/Augsburg: Cota, 1856-1861.

Humans are equipped with the remarkable ability to comprehend an infinite number of utterances. Relations between grammatical categories restrict the way words combine into phrases and sentences. How the brain recognizes different word combinations remains largely unknown, although this is a necessary condition for combinatorial unboundedness in language. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate pattern analysis to explore whether distinct neural populations of a known language network hub—Broca’s area—are specialized for recognizing distinct simple word combinations. The phrases (...) consisted of a noun (flag) occurring either with a content word, an adjective (green flag), or with a function word, a determiner (that flag). The key result is that the distribution of neural populations classifying word combination in Broca’s area seems sensitive to neuroanatomical subdivisions within this area, irrespective of task. The information patterns for adjective + noun were localized in its anterior part (BA45) whereas those for determiner + noun were localized in its posterior part (BA44). Our findings provide preliminary answers to the fundamental question of how lexical and grammatical category information interact during simple word combination, with the observation that Broca’s area is sensitive to the recognition of categorical relationships during combinatory processing, based on different demands placed on syntactic and semantic information. This supports the hypothesis that the combinatorial power of language consists of some neural computation capturing phrasal differences when processing linguistic input. (shrink)

Various commentators have acknowledged the fact that Schelling was influenced by Spinoza’s philosophical views (cf. Bowie 1993, 2003; Copleston 1963; Esposito 1977; White 1983; Lawrence 2003; Hegel 1995; Beiser 2002; Richards 2002). However, these commentators have not spelled out in detail this influence, and this situation is particularly true of the Anglo-American tradition. In this article, I investigate Schelling’s Naturphilosophie project in search of its Spinozistic roots and I argue that this provides us with a better understanding of the Schelligian (...) system. (shrink)

This chapter focuses on Schelling’s philosophy of nature and shows that it contains an original theory of freedom. I argue that human freedom is a potentiated form of a kind of freedom that can already be found in organic life: my claim is that human freedom and other forms of productivity within nature are instances of the same process. I argue that we should see the relationship between different forms of natural productivity and human freedom in the same way that (...) the Schelling of the Naturphilosophie argues that we should see the relationship between mechanical, chemical, and organic phenomena. To say that there is no difference between these phenomena would be absurd; the claim is rather that they are all different manifestations of the same process (the process which drives nature as a whole), and therefore that their difference is one of degree rather than kind. I further demonstrate that Schelling’s Freedom essay builds upon this notion of freedom introduced in the philosophy of nature and offers a solution to the problem of the human ownership of freedom. (shrink)

El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar hermenéuticamente el desencuentro que se produce en primer lugar entre Aristóteles y los autores presocráticos a los que él mismo denomina como physiologoi y, en segundo lugar, el desencuentro que se produce entre la Naturphilosophie de Schelling y la Physica aristotélcia. No se tratará en ningún caso de criticar o juzgar dichos desencuentros, antes bien el análisis de los mismos servirá para sugerir que una correcta comprensión del proceso histórico tiene lugar justamente gracias (...) a errores, desencuentros y malentendidos. (shrink)

Various commentators have acknowledged the fact that Schelling was influenced by Spinoza’s philosophical views (cf. Bowie 1993, 2003; Copleston 1963; Esposito 1977; White 1983; Lawrence 2003; Hegel 1995; Beiser 2002; Richards 2002). However, these commentators have not spelled out in detail this influence, and this situation is particularly true of the Anglo-American tradition. In this article, I investigate Schelling’s Naturphilosophie project in search of its Spinozistic roots and I argue that this provides us with a better understanding of the Schelligian (...) system. (shrink)

Die Nähe der Philosophie Schopenhauers zu derjenigen Schellings wurden oft beschworen und bereits zu Schopenhauers Lebzeiten häufig – bis hin zum Plagiatsvorwurf gegen Schopenhauer – thematisiert. Besonders auffällig werden die Ähnlichkeiten, wenn man sich den Naturkonzeptionen beider Denker zuwendet: Beide Philosophen versuchen auf je eigene Weise die Natur als selbsttätig zu denken. Ausgehend von diesen Überlegungen werden im vorliegenden Band die Naturphilosophie Schellings und Naturmetaphysik Schopenhauers ausführlich vor dem Hintergrund einer in ihrer Selbsttätigkeit als prozessual gedachten Natur gegenübergestellt und diskutiert. (...) Dabei versteht sich diese Arbeit als systematisch-komparatistischer Beitrag zur Schelling- und Schopenhauer-Forschung, indem sie erstmals einen detaillierten Vergleich der Naturkonzeptionen anstellt und zugleich für eine prozessphilosophische Interpretation – sowohl der Naturphilosophien, als auch der gesamtphilosophischen Systeme argumentiert. (shrink)

[1] Die Dialektik in Schellings Ansätzen zu einer Naturphilosophie.--2. Die Dialektik in Schellings Transzendental- und Identitätsphilosophie.--3. Der Durchbruch in Dialektik in Hegels Denken.--4. Kontinuität und Diskontinuität in Hegels Jenaer Anfängen.

Prácticamente toda la producción de Heidegger en relación con Schelling orbita en torno a las Investigaciones sobre la esencia de la libertad humana, y así lo hace también la literatura secundaria que se ocupa del tema. En este artículo queremos preguntarnos, sin embargo, por otros materiales menos conocidos, para preguntarnos hasta qué punto han ejercido también alguna influencia en el desarrollo del pensamiento de Heidegger. Podemos, efectivamente, ver, en la superación schellingiana del Idealismo de Fichte, un avance del Dasein de (...) SZ y, en la posición sistemática que la obra de arte adquiere en su filosofía, una cierta prefiguración de la filosofía del arte del Heidegger posterior. Pero será la liberación con respecto a la metafísica idealista, que se opera en la Filosofía de la Naturaleza de Schelling, lo que se nos revelará como la aportación más notable del pensamiento de este al de Heidegger. (shrink)

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. 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. Through these clarifications, I hope to emphasize the uniqueness and richness of Schelling’s configuration of Nature. (shrink)

This paper investigates the implicit aesthetics of Schelling’s early Naturphilosophie. Within the framework of Naturphilosophie, Schelling naturalizes the categories of the beautiful and the sublime, making not only the purposiveness of the beautiful, but also the disorder and perturbation of the sublime into part of the internal dynamic of nature. A disequilibrium between the transcendental forces of attraction and repulsion conditions all systems of differentiation, thus giving rise to an aesthetics of production inherent within nature that moves throughout the order (...) and disorder of signs, things, and conscious states. (shrink)

This paper is about Kant’s late unfinished manuscript, Opus postumum (1796–1803) and some of the resonances it has with Schelling’s early Naturphiloso­phie (1797–1800). Most of the secondary literature on Opus postumum investigates its relation to the rest of Kant’s corpus, often framing the drafts as an attempt to fill a so-called “gap” in the Critical philosophy whilst ignoring the relationship it has to the wider landscape of late eighteenth century German philosophy. Whether Opus postumum may provide grounds for reviewing the (...) relationship between Kant and Schelling’s Naturphilosophie, for example, is rarely discussed. Some scholars have remarked upon the striking parallels between Opus postumum and Naturphilosophie, but there has yet to appear a single monograph-length text on the relation. Whilst certainly “Schelling’s Post-Kantian confrontation with nature itself begins with the overthrow of the Copernican revolution” (Grant 2008, 6), what if Kant was himself overthrowing the Copernican revolution? In this paper, I will outline some of the points of contact to start from in support of posing this question. (shrink)

O artigo mostra como se originou a Naturphilosophie , filosofia-da-natureza, de Schelling a partir do seu confronto crítico com a biologia de Kielmeyer, as concepções de natureza de Goethe e sobretudo com a teoria do organismo da Terceira Crítica de Kant.

1. These first two decades of the xxi century have witnessed an authentic Schelling Renaissance, a rebirth of interest in the Leonberg philosopher, occurring in English speaking area, thanks to numerous translations, collective volumes and important monographs. It meant and actually still means a rebirth that has in some cases been an out and out discovery of a long-forgotten author, overshadowed by more successful philosophers, that has in general aroused international interest in Schelling...

The Origins of Schelling’s Naturphilosophie and its relation to his transcendental philosophy have for a long time intrigued historians of philosophy.1 When did Schelling’s interest in the philosophy of nature commence,2 and what inspired this apparent transition in his thought?3 How did his Naturphilosophie figure into his later departure from Fichte, and in what ways did his early commitments influence this departure?4 These have been the overarching questions of the debate, and they have been answered from varying angles. However, by (...) emphasizing a transition or even a break between Schelling’s earlier views and his Naturphilosophie, this debate has been largely concerned with locating a moment in Schelling’s .. (shrink)

After the exposition of I. Kant's theory of nature as a mechanism, we turn to Kant's idea that organisms are an exception and cannot be explained through the mechanism of nature. Organisms are characterized through a circular causality. The idea of the whole, an idea of the thinking subject, causes the functioning of organisms. F.W.J.Schelling takes up Kant's conception that the organism is characterized through the interaction of the parts, but he dispenses with the idea of the whole as a (...) causal agent. The part has a generative power to produce the whole. With this, Schelling's Naturphilosophie suggests that mind depends on matter. (shrink)

Analyzes Schelling's arguments for his idealism and pieces together a description of his theory of nature from among the large number of his writings in this area. It also traces the influence of Naturphilosophie on 19th-century science and connects it with recent System Theory.

One of the most significant moments in the development of German idealism is Schelling's break from his mentor Fichte. On account of its significance, there have been numerous studies examining the origin and meaning of this transition in Schelling's thought. Not one study, however, considers Goethe's influence on Schelling's development. This is surprising given the fact that in the fall of 1799 Goethe and Schelling meet every day for a week, to go through and edit what came to be Schelling's (...) most path-breaking work. This paper considers Goethe's influence on the development of Schelling's thought, and argues that it was by appropriating Goethe's idea of metamorphosis that Schelling was able to put forth a conception of nature as independent from the mind. (shrink)

Johann Jakob Wagner (1775-1841), disciple de Schelling et important acteur de la Naturphilosophie allemande, publie en 1803 un ouvrage intitulé Von der Natur der Dinge où il lance le projet d’une réforme de la mathématique visant à l’intégrer à la philosophie. Il provoque ainsi un débat animé dans lequel divers acteurs, scientifiques et philosophes, vont exprimer leur point de vue sur la relation entre les deux disciplines. Nous nous intéresserons en particulier à la réponse de Johann Schön (1771-1839), un mathématicien (...) qui publie l’année suivante un livre aujourd’hui oublié dans lequel il rejette vigoureusement le projet de Wagner. L’analyse de ce débat aide, dans le contexte des réformes universitaires du début du xixe, à comprendre l’histoire de l’émergence en Allemagne d’une discipline mathématique autonome, ainsi que l’apparition de nouvelles problématiques autour de l’axiomatisation et de la systématique. (shrink)

Schelling’s philosophy can be seen as a unitary project of dynamic philosophy in which the philosophy of nature is the theoretical core within a general frame of a philosophy of identity. According to this assumption, that is developed and argued in the first section, this essay shows moreover as Schelling’s philosophy is a sort of process philosophy capable of integrating the standard definition of it, given for example by Nicholas Rescher, introducing the ‘necessary’ ungroundedness of being which frees ‘actions’ and (...) ‘creativity’ from the necessary chain of the process of nature. Thus described, the process indeed guaranties in particular that freedom that must be at the basis of moral action, seen by Schelling as that action capable of reactivating and freely reproducing that ‘love’ that guides Copula (the bond of the bonds) in its original and steady movement towards the concretedness of what exists. (shrink)

I explore how the "synthesis of history and nature" that defines the Anthropocene might signal the advent of the “new mythology” Schelling hoped would emerge from his Naturphilosophie. The epistemological dimension of this new mythology is to be understood through Schelling’s idea of Mitwissenschaft, in which humanity is the essential active agent in the reflexive system of the world. Such an inquiry derives not from a sentimental longing for an enchanted world, but from the impending “annihilation of nature” Schelling foresaw (...) in 1804. The resulting organic episteme introduces a new realism in which nature, because absolute, becomes normative. (shrink)