In this paper, I demonstrate that the concept of resistance (Widerstand) is fundamental in order to understand Schelling’s account of freedom. First, I argue that Schelling, in his early works, con...

Freedom as a Matter of Resistance in the Philosophy of Schelling

Kant was centrally concerned with issues in the philosophy of natural science throughout his career. The Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science presents his most mature reflections on these themes in the context of both his 'critical' philosophy, presented in the Critique of Pure Reason, and the natural science of his time. This volume presents a translation by Michael Friedman which is especially clear and accurate. There are explanatory notes indicating some of the main connections between the argument of the Metaphysical Foundations and the first Critique - as well as parallel connections to Newton's Principia. The volume is completed by an historical and philosophical introduction and a guide to further reading.

Immanuel Kant: Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science: Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science

Schelling’s 1809 Freiheitsschrift (Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom), perhaps his most widely read work, presents considerable difficulties of understanding. In this paper, I offer an interpretation of the work in relation to Kant. My focus is on the relation in each case of their theory of human freedom to their general metaphysics, a relation which both regard as essential. The argument of the paper is in sum that Schelling may be viewed as addressing and resolving a problem which faces Kant’s theory of freedom and transcendental idealism, deriving from the challenge posed by Spinozism. One major innovation in Schelling’s theory of human freedom is his claim that it presupposes the reality of evil. I argue that Schelling’s thesis concerning evil also provides a key to the new and highly original metaphysics of the Freiheitsschrift. The relation of Schelling’s theory of freedom to his general metaphysics is therefore complex, for it goes in two directions: the metaphysics are not simply presupposed by the theory of freedom but are also in part derived from it. These new metaphysics also, I argue, allow Schelling to resolve a problem which his own earlier Spinozistic system had left unresolved.

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The Metaphysics of Human Freedom: From Kant's Transcendental Idealism to Schelling's Freiheitsschrift

The Beginnings of Schelling's Philosophy of Nature

Notes on contributors Acknowledgments Method of citation Introduction Lara Ostaric 1. The early Schelling on the unconditioned Eric Watkins 2. Schelling and scepticism Michael N. Forster 3. The concept of life in early Schelling Lara Ostaric 4. Knowledge and pleasure in the aesthetics of Schelling Paul Guyer 5. 'Exhibiting the particular in the universal': philosophical construction and intuition in Schelling's Philosophy of Identity (1801-1804) Daniel Breazeale 6. 'Identity of identity and non-identity': Schelling's path to the 'absolute system of identity' Manfred Frank 7. Idealism and freedom in Schelling's Freiheitsschrift Michelle Kosch 8. Beauty reconsidered: freedom and virtue in Schelling's aesthetics Jennifer Dobe 9. Nature and freedom in Schelling and Adorno Andrew Bowie 10. Church and state: Schelling's political philosophy of religion Gunter Zoller 11. Schelling's critique of Hegel Fred Rush Bibliography Index.

Interpreting Schelling : critical essays

What is the world-soul referred to in Schelling’s 1797 treatise? Is he committed to the untenable view that the cosmos is alive? First, I argue that Schelling deploys a strategy pioneered by Maimon: the retrieval, within a post-critical framework, of Platonic and kabbalistic traditions consolidated in the Renaissance. In his essay on the world-soul as hypothesis, however, Maimon’s argument, though motivated by Kant’s interest in Blumenbach, remains pre-critical. Then I offer an interpretation of Schelling’s world-soul as an organizing principle intended to unify organic and non-organic matter, a principle that organizes forces by means of feedback and equilibration, and that is intended to provide the non-teleological basis for evolution into non-living bodies, living bodies, and ultimately conscious agents. According to Schelling’s understanding of Kant’s critical turn, the world-soul is a physicalized version of a Platonic-kabbalistic concept that plays a role within a post-critical, dynamic and evolutionary account of nature.

Freedom as a Matter of Resistance in the Philosophy of Schelling

References

Immanuel Kant: Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science: Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science

The Metaphysics of Human Freedom: From Kant's Transcendental Idealism to Schelling's Freiheitsschrift

The Beginnings of Schelling's Philosophy of Nature

Interpreting Schelling : critical essays

From World-Soul to Universal Organism: Maimon’s Hypothesis and Schelling’s Physicalization of a Platonic-Kabbalistic Concept

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