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Thinkers

F. W. J. Schelling

German Idealism · Europe · 1775 to 1854

German thinker who sought a unity of nature and mind and later turned to freedom, myth and the limits of pure reason.

What it is

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775 to 1854) was a German philosopher and, with Fichte and Hegel, one of the three most influential thinkers of German idealism. He taught at Jena, and later in Munich and Berlin.

His thinking changed so often that it is hard to attribute one fixed view to him, yet he was a rigorous thinker. His continuing importance rests mainly on his philosophy of nature, his idea of the absolute, and his late work on freedom, mythology and revelation.

The main ideas

  • Philosophy of nature. He developed a Naturphilosophie in which nature is not a dead mechanism but is itself active and productive, which opens a view of nature that is not limited to what science measures.
  • The absolute. In his identity philosophy he sought a single absolute from which both nature and mind can be understood.
  • Freedom and evil. In his later work he gave central weight to human freedom and to the possibility of evil.
  • Positive philosophy. Late in life he set a positive philosophy against the purely rational system of Hegel, and gave lectures on mythology and revelation in Berlin.

What it looks like in practice

Picture someone looking at a forest and asking whether it is only a collection of parts, or something that grows and organises itself. Schelling's philosophy of nature takes the second view seriously, and asks whether the order we find in nature is of the same kind as the order in our own minds. This is an illustration of the idea, not a quotation.

Books and moments

  • The writings on the philosophy of nature and identity belong to his Jena years.
  • The Ages of the World is an unfinished work from his middle period.
  • The late Berlin lectures on mythology and revelation drew listeners such as Kierkegaard and Engels.

Questions and criticism

  • Is there one Schelling? His thinking changed so often that it is debated whether it forms a single development or several systems.
  • Can nature be a subject and not only an object? His view that nature is productive is admired by some and doubted by others.
  • Is a positive philosophy possible? His critique of Hegel asks whether pure reason can reach what actually exists, and the question remains open.

Close neighbours

He is grouped with Fichte and Hegel as one of the three great German idealists, and Kierkegaard and Engels heard his Berlin lectures. The pages on Fichte, Hegel and Kierkegaard show the people around him.

Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 9 October 2026. The sources are listed below.

Who they connect to

Influenced

  • G. W. F. Hegel · The two were friends and worked together in Jena before Hegel moved away from Schelling's approach.
  • Martin Heidegger · Heidegger lectured on Schelling's essay on human freedom.
  • Søren Kierkegaard · Kierkegaard attended Schelling's Berlin lectures on freedom and revelation.

Influenced by

  • Baruch Spinoza · Schelling's philosophy of nature took up Spinoza's picture of a single living whole.
  • Johann Gottlieb Fichte · Schelling first worked as Fichte's follower before developing his own system.

Reacted against by

  • G. W. F. Hegel · Hegel's Phenomenology mocks a knowledge that begins in an undivided absolute.

Other German Idealism thinkers

Sources we used

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