Schelling, Freedom, and the Immanent Made Transcendent: From Philosophy of Nature to Environmental Ethics

This book offers a new interpretation of F.W.J. Schelling's philosophy, highlighting its relevance for debates on ethics and freedom. It argues that Schelling's philosophy should be read as an ontology of immanence, building on his concept of the philosophy of revelation. The author identifies Jaspers, Heidegger, and Deleuze as key interpreters of Schelling's work and demonstrates that reading Schelling as an ontology of immanence avoids their criticisms and better fits his original meaning. The book proposes an innovative reading of freedom as a matter of resistance and philosophy as an activity seeking the actual extent and place of (human) life and freedom within nature. It will appeal to scholars and advanced students in 19th-century Continental philosophy, German idealism, and Postcolonial Critical Theory and Environmental Ethics.

Format: Hardback
Length: 282 pages
Publication date: 28 September 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book offers a groundbreaking interpretation of F.W.J. Schelling's philosophy by critically reevaluating the interpretations of some of his "successors." It argues that Schelling's philosophy should be read as an ontology of immanence, emphasizing its relevance to ongoing debates on ethics and freedom. The book builds on a fundamental notion from Schelling's Philosophy of Revelation, where he outlines the process through which transcendence must return to immanence in order to be grasped and understood. The author identifies Jaspers, Heidegger, and Deleuze as the primary interpreters of Schelling's philosophical activity, highlighting their significance for subsequent Schelling scholarship. Heidegger and Jaspers refer to Schelling's philosophy in negative terms, namely as an incomplete and unviable philosophical system, whereas Deleuze holds the immanent core of Schelling's ontological discourse in high regard. The author's analysis demonstrates that reading Schelling's philosophy as an ontology of immanence not only avoids Heidegger and Jaspers's criticisms but is also more fitting to Schelling's original meaning. Accordingly, his reading allows us to fully grasp Schelling's thought in all its strength and consistency: as a philosophy that avoids metaphysical abstractions and maintains the concreteness of concepts like God, nature, freedom, by binding them to a solid and material account of Being. Finally, the author uses Schelling to propose an innovative reading of freedom as a matter of resistance and of philosophy as an activity whose main purpose is that of seeking the actual extent and place of (human) life and freedom within nature.

The author originally emphasizes the relevance of these conclusions to contemporary debates in Postcolonial Critical Theory and Environmental Studies.

Weight: 710g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032351544