Schelling's incomplete system

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Buchheim
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 464064048

The latest version of Schelling’s systematic philosophy is to be considered ‘incomplete’ for two reasons: First, he was unable to conclude the work on his latest system; second, the intended form of his latest system must necessarily contain incongruencies, that is, it is an open system that also includes essentially disjointed elements. This research project focuses on both of these aspects: It aims at the evaluation of these incongruencies and their intended philosophical implications as post-Kantian metaphysics; further, at reconstructing this last, incomplete version in line with comparative-anatomical analyses as a virtual silhouette with a clearly defined outline. There are two salient, well-established incongruencies in Schelling’s late system: (1) The positive “proof” of the real existence of God as the system’s principle as intended by Schelling's Philosophy of Revelation (following a Philosophy of Mythology) must inherently remain “incomplete”. (2) The transition from the ‘negative’ Representation of Pure Rational Philosophy to the ‘positive’ Philosophy of Mythology and Revelation can essentially not be realized within the system. To date, research has virtually neglected two additional incongruencies essential for the system’s conceptual genesis. While somewhat less obvious, they become apparent through hermeneutics and were pointed out explicitly by Schelling himself, namely (3) Schelling’s late philosophical program juxtaposes (intentionally and explicitly) two essentially incompatible notions of “system”. Only the ultimate “destruction” of a system in the first sense allows for an epistemically promising system in the second, positive sense. (4) Hence, Schelling’s incomplete system and its method bring about a selfdestruction or self-subversion of the “system” in the (pace the classical-idealist view) most prominent, first sense of the word. In what follows, Schelling’s incomplete system refers to that complex of works selected by Schelling himself from his late philosophy that contains all four systematic incongruencies. The first philosophical research question is therefore: Can we consider Schelling’s incomplete system to be intended as both, a systematic and philosophical concept, and if so, to what extent? Some of the relevant research has explicitly raised doubts about the systematic character of Schelling’s late philosophy. The second, more hermeneutical research question is whether the very last form of Schelling’s ‘incomplete system’ deviates once more significantly from his late versions from the Munich and first Berlin period. Here, too, – and irrespective of comprehensive additions to Schelling’s edited oeuvre – the predominant research opinion tends, at least concerning these additions’ systematic relevance – in the opposite direction. This project aims to harness Schelling’s latest works in order to motivate a clearly affirmative answer to both questions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants