A review of "Schelling and the End of Idealism"
I'm surprised this book hasn't any reviews. It's a good
introduction to and overview of the philosophy (or philosophies, or perhaps
anti-philosophies) of F W J Schelling, the German Idealist or Romantic. While
not for the general reader, I think college-level students of philosophy should
be able to digest it, provided they have some working knowledge of the context
(the Enlightenment, the Romantics, etc).
The author sounds sympathetic to Schelling, while being more negative towards Kant, Fichte and Hegel. Schelling's contributions include a strong emphasis on Nature, a discovery of the unconscious or subconscious, an evolutionary perspective, and the realization that evil is real and substantial. This led Schelling away from the more solipsistic and anthropocentric perspective of the Idealists, but also the strong belief in rationality typical of the Enlightenment (including Hegel). Instead, Schelling saw humans as intrinsic parts of a larger web of existence. The rational has its ground in the non-rational/irrational, and philosophy is powerless to explain the ultimate mysteries of creation or our own being. These can only be expressed in mythological form, and the elderly Schelling would therefore embrace a form of Christianity. The real is not “rational” as Hegel assumed, rather it is always larger than what is strictly “rational” or “logical” in human terms. Despite the idea that the rational is grounded on something unconscious and non-rational, Schelling also believed that good and evil are real, and that each soul has freedom to choose between them. To me, this suggests that the unconscious cannot be the *real* ground of existence, since good and evil are presumably conscious!
The similarities between Schelling and Whitehead's process philosophy are striking, but so are the similarities to certain esoteric speculations. Even the evolutionary perspective is compatible with esotericism, if it's viewed as successive waves of “devolution” from the divine ground and “evolution” towards it. The author mentions Schelling's studies of Jacob Böhme and friendship with Franz von Baader, but doesn't pursue these themes further. Too hot? “Schelling and Swedenborg” by Horn and Dole is a book exploring this field further.
If a hard-to-read German (anti-)philosopher will ever experience a renaissance is, at best, questionable. Still, it seems that Schelling stands as a necessary corrective to Kant's peculiar dualism, Fichte's megalomaniacal solipsism and Hegel's optimistic belief that Reason inevitably works itself out in history. In other words, Schelling was an antidote to the Western idea of progress, or rather its hubris, since progress as such is perfectly possible even in Schelling's system, the divine being infinitely fecund and creative.
Of course, if Dale E Snow is right, the consequences of Schelling's failure to complete the system of German Idealism is that philosophy as such might be impossible, presumably a sobering thought to philosophy professors everywhere... The alternatives are myth, revelation and, I suppose, letting go and living the mystery.
The author sounds sympathetic to Schelling, while being more negative towards Kant, Fichte and Hegel. Schelling's contributions include a strong emphasis on Nature, a discovery of the unconscious or subconscious, an evolutionary perspective, and the realization that evil is real and substantial. This led Schelling away from the more solipsistic and anthropocentric perspective of the Idealists, but also the strong belief in rationality typical of the Enlightenment (including Hegel). Instead, Schelling saw humans as intrinsic parts of a larger web of existence. The rational has its ground in the non-rational/irrational, and philosophy is powerless to explain the ultimate mysteries of creation or our own being. These can only be expressed in mythological form, and the elderly Schelling would therefore embrace a form of Christianity. The real is not “rational” as Hegel assumed, rather it is always larger than what is strictly “rational” or “logical” in human terms. Despite the idea that the rational is grounded on something unconscious and non-rational, Schelling also believed that good and evil are real, and that each soul has freedom to choose between them. To me, this suggests that the unconscious cannot be the *real* ground of existence, since good and evil are presumably conscious!
The similarities between Schelling and Whitehead's process philosophy are striking, but so are the similarities to certain esoteric speculations. Even the evolutionary perspective is compatible with esotericism, if it's viewed as successive waves of “devolution” from the divine ground and “evolution” towards it. The author mentions Schelling's studies of Jacob Böhme and friendship with Franz von Baader, but doesn't pursue these themes further. Too hot? “Schelling and Swedenborg” by Horn and Dole is a book exploring this field further.
If a hard-to-read German (anti-)philosopher will ever experience a renaissance is, at best, questionable. Still, it seems that Schelling stands as a necessary corrective to Kant's peculiar dualism, Fichte's megalomaniacal solipsism and Hegel's optimistic belief that Reason inevitably works itself out in history. In other words, Schelling was an antidote to the Western idea of progress, or rather its hubris, since progress as such is perfectly possible even in Schelling's system, the divine being infinitely fecund and creative.
Of course, if Dale E Snow is right, the consequences of Schelling's failure to complete the system of German Idealism is that philosophy as such might be impossible, presumably a sobering thought to philosophy professors everywhere... The alternatives are myth, revelation and, I suppose, letting go and living the mystery.
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