Outline of development
The German Idealist philosopherGerman philosophy
''Naturphilosophie'' translated into English would mean "philosophy of nature", and its scope began to be taken in a broad way.Herder's dynamic view of nature was developed by Goethe and Schelling and led to the tradition of ''Naturphilosophie'' ../blockquote> LaterFriedrich Schlegel Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (after 1814: von) Schlegel (; ; 10 March 1772 – 12 January 1829) was a German poet, literary critic, philosopher, philologist, and Indologist. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figure ...theorised about a particular German strand in philosophy of nature, citingJakob Böhme Jakob Böhme (; ; 24 April 1575 – 17 November 1624) was a German philosopher, Christian mystic, and Lutheran Protestant theologian. He was considered an original thinker by many of his contemporaries within the Lutheran tradition, and his first ...,Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws ...andGeorg Ernst Stahl Georg Ernst Stahl (22 October 1659 – 24 May 1734) was a German chemist, physician and philosopher. He was a supporter of vitalism, and until the late 18th century his works on phlogiston were accepted as an explanation for chemical processes.K ..., withJan Baptist van Helmont Jan Baptist van Helmont (; ; 12 January 1580 – 30 December 1644) was a chemist, physiologist, and physician from Brussels. He worked during the years just after Paracelsus and the rise of iatrochemistry, and is sometimes considered to ...as an edge case.Frederick Beiser Frederick Charles Beiser (; born November 27, 1949) is an American philosopher who is professor of philosophy at Syracuse University. He is one of the leading English-language scholars of German idealism. In addition to his writings on German idea ...instead traces ''Naturphilosophie'' as developed by Schelling, Hegel, Schlegel andNovalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure of ...to a crux in the theory of matter, and identifies the origins of the line they took with the ''vis viva ''Vis viva'' (from the Latin for "living force") is a historical term used for the first recorded description of what we now call kinetic energy in an early formulation of the principle of conservation of energy. Overview Proposed by Gottfried L ...'' theory of matter in the work ofGottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathem .... Subsequently Schelling identified himself withBaruch de Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ..., to whose thought he saw himself as approaching. The ''Darstellung meines Systems'', and the expanded treatment in the lectures on a ''System der gesamten Philosophie und der Naturphilosophie insbesondere'' given inWürzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...in 1804, contain elements of Spinoza's philosophy.
Schelling
In a short space of time Schelling produced three works: ''Ideen zu einer Philosophie der Natur als Einleitung in das Studium dieser Wissenschaft'', 1797 (''Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature as Introduction to the Study of this Science''); ''Von der Weltseele'', 1798 (''On the World Soul''); and ''Erster Entwurf eines Systems der Naturphilosophie'', 1799 (''First Plan of a System of the Philosophy of Nature''). As criticism of scientific procedure, these writings retain a relevance. Historically, according to Richards:Despite the tentativeness of their titles, these monographs introduced radical interpretations of nature that would reverberate through the sciences, and particularly the biology, of the next century. They developed the fundamental doctrines of ''Naturphilosophie''.In ''System des transzendentalen Idealismus'', 1800 (''System ofTranscendental Idealism Transcendental idealism is a philosophical system founded by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the 18th century. Kant's epistemological program is found throughout his '' Critique of Pure Reason'' (1781). By ''transcendental'' (a term that des ...'') Schelling included ideas on matter and the organic in Part III. They form just part of a more ambitious work that takes up other themes, in particular aesthetics. From this point onwards ''Naturphilosophie'' was less of a research concern for him, as he reformulated his philosophy. However, it remained an influential aspect of his teaching. For a short while, he edited a journal, the ''Neue Zeitschrift für speculative Physik'' (bound volume 1802). Schelling's ''Naturphilosophie'' was a way in which he worked himself out of the tutelage of Fichte, with whom he quarrelled decisively towards the end of the 1790s. More than that, however, it brought him within the orbit ofJohann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ..., both intellectually and (as a direct consequence of Goethe's sympathetic attitude) by a relocation; and it broke with basicKantian Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The term ''Kantianism'' or ''Kantian'' is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, ...tenets. Iain Hamilton Grant writes:Schelling's postkantian confrontation with nature itself begins with the overthrow of theCopernican revolution The Copernican Revolution was the paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic model of the heavens, which described the cosmos as having Earth stationary at the center of the universe, to the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar Sys ...../blockquote> Schelling held that the divisions imposed on nature, by our ordinary perception and thought, do not have absolute validity. They should be interpreted as the outcome of the single formative energy which is the soul or inner aspect of nature. In other words he was a proponent of a variety oforganicism Organicism is the philosophical position that states that the universe and its various parts (including human societies) ought to be considered alive and naturally ordered, much like a living organism.Gilbert, S. F., and S. Sarkar. 2000. "Embrac .... The dynamic series of stages in nature, the forms in which the ideal structure of nature is realized, are matter, as the equilibrium of the fundamental expansive and contractive forces; light, with its subordinate processes (magnetism, electricity, and chemical action); organism, with its component phases of reproduction, irritability and sensibility. The continual change presented to us byexperience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ..., taken together with the thought of unity in productive force of nature, leads to the conception of the duality through which nature expresses itself in its varied products. In the introduction to the ''Ideen'' he argues againstdogmatism Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam o ..., in the terms that a dogmatist cannot explain the organic; and that recourse to the idea of a cosmic creator is a feature of dogmatic systems imposed by the need to explain nature as purposive and unified. Fichte's system, called the ''Wissenschaftslehre'', had begun with a fundamental distinction between dogmatism (fatalistic) and criticism (free), as his formulation of idealism. Beiser divides up the mature form of Schelling's ''Naturphilosophie'' into the attitudes of: # transcendental realism: the thesis that "nature exists independent of all consciousness, even that of the transcendental subject" (in Kantian terminology ('' Critique of Pure Reason'') the transcendental subject is thecondition of possibility In philosophy, condition of possibility (german: Bedingungen der Möglichkeit) is a concept made popular by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, and is an important part of his philosophy. A condition of possibility is a necessary framework fo ...of experience), and # transcendental naturalism: the thesis that "everything is explicable according to the laws of nature, including the rationality of the transcendental subject". Beiser notes how ''Naturphilosophie'' was first a counterbalance to ''Wissenschaftslehre'', and then in Schelling's approach became the senior partner. After that, it was hardly to be avoided that Schelling would become an opponent of Fichte, having been a close follower in the early 1790s. We are able to apprehend and represent nature to ourselves in the successive forms which its development assumes, since it is the same spirit of which we become aware in self-consciousness, though here unconsciously. The variety of its forms is not imposed on it externally, since there is no externalteleology Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...in nature. Nature is a self-forming whole, within which only natural explanations can be sought. The function of ''Naturphilosophie'' is to exhibit the ideal as springing from the real, not to deduce the real from the ideal.
Influence and critics of ''Naturphilosophie''
Criticism of ''Naturphilosophie'' has been widespread, over two centuries. Schelling's theories, however influential in terms of the general culture of the time, have not survived in scientific terms. Like other strands of speculation in thelife sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ..., in particular, such asvitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ..., they retreated in the face of experiment, and then were written out of the history of science asWhig history Whig history (or Whig historiography) is an approach to historiography that presents history as a journey from an oppressive and benighted past to a "glorious present". The present described is generally one with modern forms of liberal democracy .... But critics were initially not scientists (a term not used until later); rather they came largely from within philosophy and Romantic science, a community including many physicians. Typically, the retrospective views of scientists of the 19th century on "Romantic science" in general erased distinctions:Scientific criticism in the nineteenth century took hardly any notice of the distinctions between Romantic, speculative and transcendental, scientific and aesthetic directions.Dietrich von Engelhardt, ''Romanticism in Germany'' p. 112, inOne outspoken critic was the chemistRoy Porter Roy Sydney Porter, FBA (31 December 1946 – 3 March 2002) was a British historian known for his work on the history of medicine. He retired in 2001 from the director of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine at University College L ...and Mikulaš Teich, editors, ''Romanticism in National Context'' (1988).Justus von Liebig Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at t ..., who compared ''Naturphilosophie'' with theBlack Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi .... Another critic, the physiologistEmil du Bois-Reymond Emil Heinrich du Bois-Reymond (7 November 181826 December 1896) was a German physician and physiologist, the co-discoverer of nerve action potential, and the developer of experimental electrophysiology. Life Du Bois-Reymond was born in Berlin a ..., frequently dismissed ''Naturphilosophie'' as "bogus".
Role in aesthetics
Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...summed up the reasons why ''Naturphilosophie'' had a wide-ranging impact on views of art and artists:if everything in nature is living, and if we ourselves are simply its most self-conscious representatives, the function of the artist is to delve within himself, and above all to delve within the dark and unconscious forces which move within him, and to bring these to consciousness by the most agonising and violent internal struggle.
Philosophical criticism
Fichte was very critical of the opposition set up in Schelling's ''Naturphilosophie'' to his own conception of ''Wissenschaftslehre''. In that debate, Hegel then intervened, largely supporting his student friend Schelling, with the work usually called his ''Differenzschrift'', the ''Differenz des Fichteschen und Schellingschen Systems der Philosophie'' (The Difference Between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy); a key publication in his own philosophical development, his first book, it was published in September 1801. Schelling's Absolute was left with no other function than that of removing all the differences which give form to thought. The criticisms of Fichte, and more particularly of Hegel (in the Preface to the ''Phenomenology of Spirit ''The Phenomenology of Spirit'' (german: Phänomenologie des Geistes) is the most widely-discussed philosophical work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel; its German title can be translated as either ''The Phenomenology of Spirit'' or ''The Phenomen ...''), pointed to a defect in the conception of the Absolute as mere featureless identity. It was ridiculed by Hegel as "the night in which all cows are black."
Other views in Romantic science
Ignaz Paul Vitalis Troxler Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler (August 17, 1780 – March 6, 1866) was a Swiss physician, politician, and philosopher. Early life, education, and career Troxler was born in August 1780 in Beromünster, Switzerland. He studied in Jena and Göttin ..., a follower of Schelling, later broke with him. He came to the view that the Absolute in nature and mind is beyond the intellect and reason.
''Naturphilosophen''
* Adam Karl August von Eschenmayer, engaged in controversy with Schelling from 1801, published ''Grundriss der Natur-Philosophie'' in 1832 *Carl Friedrich Kielmeyer Carl Friedrich Kielmeyer (22 October 1765 – 14 August 1844) was a German biologist and naturalist born in Bebenhausen, today part of the city of Tübingen. He was a pioneer of '' Naturphilosophie'', helped to establish organic chemistry (''Pfl ..., an influence on Schelling's thinking, he was a founder rather than a follower, and a proponent ofrecapitulation theory The theory of recapitulation, also called the biogenetic law or embryological parallelism—often expressed using Ernst Haeckel's phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"—is a historical hypothesis that the development of the embryo of an a ...*Johann Friedrich Meckel Johann Friedrich Meckel (17 October 1781 – 31 October 1833), often referred to as Johann Friedrich Meckel, the Younger, was a German anatomist born in Halle. He worked as a professor of anatomy, pathology and zoology at the University of Halle, ...*Lorenz Oken Lorenz Oken (1 August 1779 – 11 August 1851) was a German naturalist, botanist, biologist, and ornithologist. Oken was born Lorenz Okenfuss (german: Okenfuß) in Bohlsbach (now part of Offenburg), Ortenau, Baden, and studied natural history and ...*Hans Christian Ørsted Hans Christian Ørsted ( , ; often rendered Oersted in English; 14 August 17779 March 1851) was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, which was the first connection found between electricity ...* Johann Wilhelm Ritter *Henrik Steffens Henrik Steffens (2 May 1773 – 13 February 1845), was a Norwegian philosopher, scientist, and poet. Early life, education, and lectures He was born at Stavanger. At the age of fourteen he went with his parents to Copenhagen, where he studie ...*August Ludwig Hülsen August Ludwig Hülsen (3 March 1765 – 24 September 1809), also known by the pseudonym Hegekern, was a German philosopher, writer and pedagogue of early German Romanticism. His thought played a role in the development of German idealism. Life ...*Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (4 February 1776, Bremen – 16 February 1837, Bremen) was a German physician, naturalist, and proto-evolutionary biologist. His younger brother, Ludolph Christian Treviranus (1779–1864), was also a naturalist ...*Karl Joseph Hieronymus Windischmann Karl Joseph Hieronymus Windischmann (25 August 1775, in Mainz – 23 April 1839, in Bonn) was a German philosopher and anthropologist. Biography Windischmann attended the Gymnasium in Mainz, and in 1772 took the course in philosophy at t ...
See Also
* ''Dialectics of Nature ''Dialectics of Nature'' (german: Dialektik der Natur) is an unfinished 1883 work by Friedrich Engels that applies Marxist ideas – particularly those of dialectical materialism – to nature. History and contents Engels wrote most ...''
Notes
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References
;19th century *F. W. J. Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him be ..., ''Einleitung zu den Ersten Entwurf'' (''Sämtliche Werke'' Vol. III) – the most accessible account of ''Naturphilosophie'' in Schelling's own work. *Kuno Fischer Ernst Kuno Berthold Fischer (23 July 1824 – 5 July 1907) was a German philosopher, a historian of philosophy and a critic. Biography After studying philosophy at Leipzig and Halle, became a privatdocent at Heidelberg in 1850. The Baden gover ..., ''Geschichte der neueren Philosophie'', Vol. VI, pp. 433–692 – a detailed discussion by a 19th-century historian of philosophy. ;Contemporary *Frederick C. Beiser Frederick Charles Beiser (; born November 27, 1949) is an American philosopher who is professor of philosophy at Syracuse University. He is one of the leading English-language scholars of German idealism. In addition to his writings on German idea ...(2002), ''German Idealism: The Struggle Against Subjectivism 1781-1801'' *Robert J. Richards Robert J. Richards (born 1942) is an author and the Morris Fishbein Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Chicago. He has written or edited seven books about the history of science as well as ...(2002), ''The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe'' * Iain Hamilton Grant (2006), ''Philosophies of Nature after Schelling'' *Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New Y ...(1996), ''The Indivisible Remainder: Essays on Schelling and Related Matters'', London: Verso. German idealism Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling Neo-Spinozism de:Naturphilosophie sk:Filozofia prírody