Inverted identities: F.W.J. Schelling’s philosophies of Nature and of Spirit

Marshall, Jonathan Anthony Fort (2014) Inverted identities: F.W.J. Schelling’s philosophies of Nature and of Spirit. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The pivot of this thesis is F.W.J. Schelling’s (1775-1854) proposition that Nature is to be conceived as visible Spirit, and Spirit as invisible Nature. In light of Schelling’s distinction, this thesis will attempt to restate the purposes of Schelling’s Naturephilosophy and transcendental idealism in light of one another. My contention is that Schelling’s early philosophy is generally concerned with the nature of manifestation and specifically with the manifestation of the Absolute according to the dual aspects of Nature and Spirit. Schelling explains manifestation as a process or transition from a state of infinite activity or productivity to finite product. To demonstrate this point, I will consider Schelling’s ideas, first, on the possibility and manifestation of Nature (Chapter I) and, second, on the possibility and manifestation of Spirit (Chapter II). In exploring the former, I will concentrate on the First Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature (1799); in terms of the latter, I will focus on the System of Transcendental Idealism (1800). Grounding my interpretation in Schelling’s proposition concerning the visibility and invisibility of Nature and Spirit, in the Conclusion I will interpret Nature and Spirit as inverted identities, i.e. as a bond of opposing organic and spiritual potencies, and outline how each identity is directed toward manifesting the Absolute according to its own inner necessity. By interpreting Nature and Spirit in this way, I attempt to show that their purposes are to manifest their counterpart as an expression of the Absolute—the underlying original identity.

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