The Schelling Reader Edited by Benjamin Berger and Daniel Whistler BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC LONDON (cid:127) NEW YORK (cid:127) OXFORD (cid:127) NEW DELHI (cid:127) SYDNEY BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC Bloomsbury Publishing Pic 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1 B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, NewYork, NY 10018, USA Preface BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2021 Introduc Reprinted 2021 of F.W.J. Copyright © Benjamin Berger and Daniel Whistler, 2021 Benjamin Berger and Daniel Whistler have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editors of this work. Part I l For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. ix constitute an extension of this copyright page. Cover design by Charlotte Daniels 1 The Cover image: Friedrich W.J. von Schelling (1775-1854) Introdi (© Granger Historical Picture Archive / Alamy) Of the All rights reserved. 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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 2 Iden1 A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Introdc Library of Congress Control Number: 2020941214 Present ISBN: (cid:9) HB: 978-1-3500-5332-8 Bruno, P B : 978-1-3500-5333-5 (1802) ePDF: 978-1-3500-5334-2 On the eBook: 978-1-3500-5335-9 Philoso Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Related Printed and bound in Great Britain Stuttgai To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com Further and sign up for our newsletters. Contents 30 (cid:9) Preface and acknowledgements ix Introduction to the Reader: The life and thought of F.W.J. Schelling 1 Copyright, work. Part I Metaphysics 11 The unconditioned 13 Introduction 13 Of the I as Principle of Philosophy (1795) nsmitted in 15 First Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature (1799) :opying, 24 prior The Ages of the World, 3rd version (1815) 29 Presentation of the Purely Rational Philosophy (c. 1847) 33 ibility for, Alternative Deduction of the Principles of Positive Philosophy ses given (c. 1845) 40 Publisher Further reading s have 44 Iges. ary. 2 Identity and difference 45 tress Introduction 45 Presentation of My System of Philosophy (1801) 46 Bruno, or On the Natural and the Divine Principle of Things (1802) 55 --- On the Relation of the Ideal and the Real in Nature (1806) 59 Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom and Related Matters (1809) 63 Stuttgart Private Lectures (1810) 69 y.com Further reading 77 vi (cid:9) Contents — Lectu 3 Nature 79 Lectu Introduction 79 —On th Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature (1797) 81 Furth Introduction to the Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature (1799) 86 7 Sys1 System of Philosophy in General and the Philosophy of Nature in Intro( Particular (1804) 98 Clara (c. 1810) 105 Philo Syster -- On Faraday's Most Recent Discovery (1832) 110 - Preset Further reading 120 Philo: On th 4 Time, space and the categories 123 Furth Introduction 123 Of the I as Principle of Philosophy (1795) 124 8 Hist Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature (1803) 130 Introc Ages of the World, 1st version (1811) 133 Presentation of the Purely Rational Philosophy (c. 1847) 143 `Tima —Imma Further reading 153 Lectui Lectui Part II Philosophical methods 155 Furth 5 Intuition, construction and recollection 157 Part Ill Introduction 157 Treatises Explaining the Idealism of the Science of Knowledge 9 Free (1797) 158 Introd -- Lectures on the Method of Academic Study (1803) 165 On Construction in Philosophy (1803) 169 Philos Systen The Ages of the World, 3rd version (1815) 177 Systen Further reading 183 Partie Philos 6 Reason and experience 185 and RI Introduction 185 Furth( Is a Philosophy of History Possible? (1798) 186 Introduction to the Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature (1799) 192 Contents (cid:9) vii Lectures on the System of Positive Philosophy (1832/3) 197 Lectures on the Philosophy of Revelation (1842/3) 207 On the Source of the Eternal Truths (1850) 214 Further reading 223 of Nature 7 System 225 ature in Introduction 225 Philosophical Letters on Dogmatism and Criticism (1795) 227 System of Transcendental Idealism (1800) 232 Presentation of the Transition from a Philosophy of Nature to a Philosophy of the Spirit World (1810?) 242 On the Nature of Philosophy as Science (1821) 247 Further reading 254 8 History of philosophy 257 Introduction 257 43 `Timaeus' (1794) 258 Immanuel Kant (An Obituary) (1804) 265 Lectures on the History of Modern Philosophy (1833/4) 270 Lectures on the Philosophy of Revelation (1842/3) 277 Further reading 283 In 157 Part Ill The ideal world 285 :dge g Freedom 287 Introduction 287 Philosophical Letters on Dogmatism and Criticism (1795) 288 System of Transcendental Idealism (1800) 292 System of Philosophy in General and the Philosophy of Nature in Particular (1804) 297 Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom and Related Matters (1809) 303 Further reading 314 of Nature viii (cid:9) Contents 10 Art and mythology 317 Introduction 317 System of Transcendental Idealism (1800) 318 Lectures on the Philosophy of Art (1802-4) 325 On the Relationship of the Plastic Arts to Nature (1807) 327 Historical-Critical Introduction to the Philosophy of Mythology (1845) 346 Further reading 350 F.W.J. Schel Hegel in tho 11 Religion 351 of Immanut takes the hi: Introduction 351 his enormo -- Heinz Widerporst's Epicurean Confession of Faith (1799) 353 `the twenty- Lectures on the Method of Academic Study (1803) 361 Reason of I Philosophy and Religion (1804) 370 that, to po: Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom and And yet, Sc Related Matters (1809) 376 the German Lectures on the Philosophy of Revelation (1841/2) 381 `shattered' i Further reading 392 other rebelli younger Ma 12 Politics 395 scientific ad Introduction 395 of evolutior -- New Deduction of Natural Right (1796) 396 represents, i System of Philosophy in General and the Philosophy of Nature in or, as Gabri Particular (1804) 400 heroic adve Stuttgart Private Lectures (1810) 402 remain an e: Presentation of the Purely Rational Philosophy (c. 1847) 406 The Schell' Further reading 420 of Schelling': diversity - tl Index 422 reception his selection of t many of the well as lesser- hope is therel readers excit( In order tn approaching employed in Preface and acknowledgements 7 : ology F.W.J. Schelling (1775-1854) stands between J.G. Fichte and G.W.F. Hegel in the sequence of great German thinkers that follow in the wake of Immanuel Kant's Copernican revolution in philosophy. Anyone who takes the history of philosophy seriously will find it impossible to gainsay his enormous contribution, not only to what has recently been called 353 `the twenty-five years of philosophy'1 (running from the Critique of Pure Reason of 1781 to the Phenomenology of Spirit in 1807), but, beyond eedom and that, to post-Hegelian currents and debates in the 1830s and 1840s. . And yet, Schelling is also much more than an important figure within the German Idealist tradition: according to Martin Heidegger, Schelling `shattered' idealism;2 for Paul Tillich, he is to be listed alongside `the other rebelling existentialists of the nineteenth century (Kierkegaard, the younger Marx, Nietzsche)';3 and his philosophies of nature inspired later scientific advances in dynamics, electromagnetic field theory and theories of evolution.4 Indeed, for Schellingians from Coleridge to Zizek, he represents, in Karl Jaspers's words, `a prototype of modern possibilities;'5 sture in or, as Gabriel Marcel puts it: `For thought that regards philosophy as a heroic adventure entailing risks and skirting abysses, he will always remain an exhilarating companion:6 06 The Schelling Reader is the first comprehensive, English-language anthology of Schelling's writings, designed to introduce students to their r ange and diversity - those very features which have given rise to such a multifaceted reception history. It functions as a textbook to give students access to a large selection of readings from his philosophy in one volume. Hence, it includes many of the most important passages' from all of Schelling's major works, as well as lesser-known yet illuminating lectures, essays, dialogues and poems. The hope is thereby to help encourage, through this anthology, a new generation of readers excited by the experience of thinking alongside Schelling. In order to make the Reader as accessible and helpful as possible to those approaching Schelling for the first time, the following principles have been employed in our editing: x (cid:9) Preface and acknowledgements 1 Unlike any other volume on Schelling, chapters are here arranged Letters thematically, and, within each chapter, there are extracts spanning the Idealis whole of his career from the mid-1790s to 1850. In this way, every Plastic period of Schelling's philosophical trajectory is fully represented, of soul but, at the same time, extracts on the same theme - no matter how Schelli far apart chronologically - are placed next to one another. Such a to stre . structure, we hope, will allow readers to judge for themselves whether the im Schelling approaches these themes in the same way throughout his in ordo life or whether he changes his mind. That is, it addresses the Hegelian 3 The th accusations of Schelling as a 'Proteus of philosophy' who `carried out his reader philosophical education in public:$ Is Schelling simply an inconsistent follow philosopher who changes his mind and his system from one year to Freder the next? And is this the case for each element of his thinking? Or of Scf are there ways in which Schelling's thought develops in a continuous metho fashion, building and elaborating upon his earlier ideas? This Reader who w is structured so that students can decide for themselves - when it intuitio comes to the absolute, to nature or to freedom - what continuities and of the < discontinuities determine the path of Schellingian philosophy. in sep 2 The Schelling Reader includes both expected and unexpected extracts his me from Schelling's corpus. For example, alongside the venerated passages of myt on art from the conclusion to the System of Transcendental Idealism materi and on the copula from the Philosophical Investigations into the Essence to eng, of Human Freedom, we have included lesser-known texts, such as And yo the poem Heinz Widerporst's Epicurean Confession of Faith and the of the mystic novel-cum-dialogue Clara. We have also been able to include, philos( alongside previously translated works, a host of new translations of there i key Schellingian writings. Translated for the first time into English accessi in this volume are the early programmatic Is a Philosophy of History that he Possible?; sections on life, freedom and the state from the 1804 and in Würzburger System; an obituary for Immanuel Kant; a lecture on the therefc historical significance of Michael Faraday; passages from the lectures sophist on philosophical empiricism from the 1830s; sections from Schelling's attemp first lectures in Berlin (those at which Kierkegaard, Bakunin and Engels The Scl were present); the Alternative Deduction of the Principles of Positive works, Philosophy; and three sustained extracts from the Presentation of the 4 Schelli Purely Rational Philosophy on topics as diverse as the unconditioned teaches in negative philosophy, the spatial orientation of the organism and aniholo the nature and purpose of the state. What is more, the following also to fill t includes new translations of central passages from the Philosophical period Preface and acknowledgements (cid:9) xi ere arranged Letters on Dogmatism and Criticism, the Treatises Explaining the spanning the Idealism of the Science of Knowledge and On the Relationship of the s way, every Plastic Arts to Nature. The reason behind the inclusion of such a range represented, of sources is to highlight the many different methods, styles and genres matter how Schelling adopted over the course of his life; it is - in other words - nther. Such a to stress the ever-experimental nature of Schellingian philosophizing, Ives whether the impulse to try out new forms, new vocabularies and new concepts roughout his in order to articulate what matters for thinking. the Hegelian 3 The thematic arrangement of the chapters means, furthermore, that arried out his readers can dive into this anthology at any point without needing to inconsistent follow a linear or cumulative sequence. We have nominally followed L one year to Frederick Beiser's and lain Hamilton Grant's influential interpretations hinking? Or of Schelling by beginning with metaphysical topics, rather than : a continuous methodological or epistemological ones. Nevertheless, any reader This Reader who wishes to begin by getting to grips with the concept of intellectual - when it intuition or human freedom need not be constrained by the ordering [tinuities and of the chapters. There is, indeed, necessarily an element of arbitrariness Dphy. in separating, for example, Schelling's description of the absolute from cted extracts his methodological accounts of intuition or, similarly, his discussions ited passages of mythology from those of religion. Throughout, we have selected ntal Idealism material that students dipping in and out of the volume will be able the Essence to engage without a previous understanding of Schelling's philosophy. !xts, such as And yet, this evidently does not mean - and cannot mean - that all 'aith and the of the chapters are easy reads: Schelling is an extraordinarily difficult [e to include, philosopher, writing difficult prose and dealing with difficult concepts; anslations of there is no getting around that. While some of his texts are more into English accessible on first read, others are simply daunting. And this means by of History that he should be read - as all philosophers should - with patience m the 1804 and intellectual charity. From the very beginning of the anthology, .cture on the therefore, students will be faced with the high level of philosophical [ the lectures sophistication to which Schelling forever aspired. We have in no way m Schelling's attempted to bowdlerize or simplify Schelling's writings: the aim of n and Engels The Schelling Reader is to provide a genuine experience of reading his es of Positive works, with all its joys and frustrations. station of the 4 Schelling's philosophy has often presented formidable challenges to [conditioned teachers, and this has not been helped by the lack of a one-volume rganism and anthology or textbook in English. The Schelling Reader is intended llowing also to fill this gap not only by including a range of readings from every ► Philosophical period of Schelling's output and by showcasing the vast array of