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A study of the genesis of Schelling's philosophy of nature and absolute idealism, highlighting the importance of A. C. A. Eschenmayer
During the first decade of the nineteenth century, F. W. J. Schelling was involved in three distinct controversies with one of his most perceptive and provocative critics, A. C. A. Eschenmayer. The first of these controversies took place in 1801 and focused on the philosophy of nature.
Berger and Whistler provide a ground-breaking account of this moment in the history of philosophy. They argue that key Schellingian concepts, such as identity, potency and abstraction, were first forged in his early debate with Eschenmayer. Through a series of translations and commentaries, they show that the 1801 controversy is an essential resource for understanding Schelling's thought, the philosophy of nature and the origins of absolute idealism.
Additionally, Berger and Whistler demonstrate how the Schelling-Eschenmayer controversy raises important issues for the philosophy of nature today, including questions about the relation between identity and difference and the possibility of explaining sensible qualities in terms of quantity. This ultimately leads to the formulation of the most basic methodological question for the philosophy of nature: must this philosophy be based upon a prior consideration of consciousness - as Eschenmayer insists - or might it simply begin with nature itself? By arguing for the latter position, Schelling challenges us to entertain the possibility that the philosophy of nature is first philosophy.
Benjamin Berger is Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Haverford College. Daniel Whistler is Reader in Modern European Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London.
List of contents
Preface; Abbreviations
Translators' Note
Introduction: Schelling and Eschenmayer in 1801
Part I: TextsA. K. A. Eschenmayer, Spontaneity = World Soul, or the Highest Principle of Philosophy of Nature
F.W.J. Schelling, On the True Concept of Philosophy of Nature and the Correct Way of Solving its Problems
Part II: Commentaries1. Quality
2. Potency
3. Identity
4. Drive
5. Abstraction
Part III: Appendices1. A. K. A. Eschenmayer and F.W.J. Schelling, Correspondence, 1799-1801
2. A. K. A. Eschenmayer, Principles of Nature-Metaphysics Applied to Chemical and Medical Subjects [Extracts]
3. A. K. A. Eschenmayer, Deduction of the Living Organism [Extracts]
4. A. K. A. Eschenmayer, Review of Schelling's First Outline and Introduction to the Outline
About the author
Benjamin Berger is Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Kent State University. He is editor of a special issue of Pli, on
Schelling: Powers of the Idea, 2014.Daniel Whistler is Reader in Modern European Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is author of
Schelling's Theory of Symbolic Language: Forming the System of Identity (Oxford University Press, 2013) and has edited, among other volumes,
The Edinburgh Critical History of Nineteenth-Century Theology (Edinburgh University Press, 2017). He currently leads the production of a two-volume edition,
Hegel and Schelling in Early Nineteenth-Century France, for Springer's
International Archives of the History of Ideas series and is co-editor of the forthcoming,
Oxford Handbook of Modern French Philosophy.
Summary
Berger and Whistler provide a ground-breaking account of Schelling's first controversy with his critic A. C. A. Eschenmayer in 1801, which focused on the philosophy of nature. They argue that key Schellingian concepts, such as identity, potency and abstraction, were first forged in his early debate with Eschenmayer.
