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gellok's review against another edition
3.0
This was a confusing text - possibly due to translation issues. In any event the text often seems messy (despite Schelling's rigorous attempts to systemize phenomena) and critical concepts are casually introduced with little explanation as to how they fit into Schelling's larger picture. In some ways this writing style seems fairly typical of German idealism at the time. I would argue that this text is messier than most of Hegel's writings and leagues behind Fichte's oeuvre in terms of clarity. Still, there are some compelling ideas.
One of the more valuable aspects of this text is Schelling's development of something that we could now call an "ontology of nature" as it relates to practical philosophical thought. It comes as no surprise that Hegel would later adopt similar naturalistic terms and extol biology as a chief science rather than root philosophy in the theoretical sciences of his day. Schelling, more than Hegel, tends to analyze and systemize natural phenomena in scientific terms we may be more familiar with in a modern context (at least I assume that's the case with the first section of the book - I don't know enough about the physics sections to comment on Schelling's lexicon). I would imagine sections of this book might make the text as a whole more approachable to those with a background in the history and philosophy of the sciences.
One of the more valuable aspects of this text is Schelling's development of something that we could now call an "ontology of nature" as it relates to practical philosophical thought. It comes as no surprise that Hegel would later adopt similar naturalistic terms and extol biology as a chief science rather than root philosophy in the theoretical sciences of his day. Schelling, more than Hegel, tends to analyze and systemize natural phenomena in scientific terms we may be more familiar with in a modern context (at least I assume that's the case with the first section of the book - I don't know enough about the physics sections to comment on Schelling's lexicon). I would imagine sections of this book might make the text as a whole more approachable to those with a background in the history and philosophy of the sciences.
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