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F. W. J. Schelling

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Also known as Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Friedrich Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling

1775 – 1854 · Leonberg, Tübingen, Jena, Würzburg, Munich, Berlin

Traditions: Modern European

Schools: German Idealism

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Tradition
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F. W. J. Schelling was a German philosopher and one of the leading figures of German Idealism, alongside Fichte and Hegel, who had been his fellow student at the Tübingen seminary. Against Fichte, he argued that nature is not mere material for the self but a living, self-organising whole of which mind is the highest expression. His System of Transcendental Idealism ends by treating art as the place where conscious and unconscious activity are united. His later work on human freedom, evil and mythology influenced existentialism, theology and Heidegger.

Key ideas

  • Nature is visible spirit and spirit is invisible nature: mind and nature are two sides of one absolute.
  • The philosophy of nature and transcendental philosophy are complementary routes to the same reality.
  • In the work of art, conscious and unconscious production meet, which makes art the 'organ' of philosophy.
  • Human freedom is a real capacity for good and evil, rooted in a dark ground within God.

Major works

  • System of Transcendental Idealism (1800)
  • Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature (1797)
  • Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom (1809)

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F. W. J. Schelling shaped 1

In the Book corner

  • System of Transcendental Idealism 1800 · Advanced
    The most systematic book of the young Schelling, published in 1800 while he was teaching at Jena among the early Romantics and…

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  • Jena taught here, 1798–1803
  • Berlin taught here, 1841

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Tradition: Modern European philosophyThinkers A–Z

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