Nunez De Caceres Gonzalez, Barbara;
(2022)
Nature's visibility: the metaphysical origin of living beings in F. W. J. Schelling's philosophy of nature.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
This thesis examines the philosophy of nature of Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, with the aim of showing that the metaphysical framework of absolute identity makes possible a retrospective clarification of his early theory of living beings: in other words, that the 1790s Naturphilosophie is properly explained by Schelling’s conception of living beings as individuations of absolute identity. I show that Schelling’s early philosophical essays show him doctrinally independent from Fichte and projecting a path leading to the Identitätssystem of 1801. In order to support this continuity interpretation: (1) I show that the structural properties of organisation—identity, self-reference, metamorphosis, and purposiveness— presuppose the concept of absolute identity. (2) I suggest that the metaphysical origin of living beings is a function of absolute identity, which obtains according to a process of individuation in which the absolute’s two identical modes of being—viz., the infinite and eternal activity of self-positing, and its real being—are differentiated by a contingent limit imposed on the absolute. (3) I propose a strategy based on the perceptual Gestalt in order to support Schelling’s claim that a contingent limit can be introduced in the method of absolute construction. (4) I describe the metaphysical emergence of living beings as a contingent limit imposed by the finite factor, which captures and embodies a particular form differentiated from the eternal stream of absolute identity; this unleashes a dual process of metamorphosis [Ineinsbildung]—viz., progression to reach a unity and reversion to retain its form. (5) I explain the emergence of visibility as a universal mode of being that exists in potentia in nature, and which emerges when absolute identity becomes relative. Finally, I suggest that a stronger commitment to an ontological opposition is needed in order to give actuality to the subject-object structure that Schelling identifies in living beings.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Nature's visibility: the metaphysical origin of living beings in F. W. J. Schelling's philosophy of nature |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2021. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| Keywords: | Schelling, Organisms, Metaphysics of Identity, Post-Kantian philosophy, Organization in Nature |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10162063 |
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