Publisher's Synopsis
"The whole of knowledge has no status if it is not supported by some thing which maintains itself by its own power, and this is nothing but that which is real through Freedom. The beginning and end of all philosophy is - Freedom." - F.W.J. von Schelling
A PENETRATING STUDY OF HUMAN FREEDOM, AS ELOQUENT IN ITS LITERARY EXPRESSION AS IT IS INCISIVE IN ARGUMENTATION - BY FRIEDRICH VON SCHELLING, THE PRINCE OF ROMANTIC IDEALIST PHILOSOPHERS IN 19th CENTURY GERMANY. THIS IS ONE OF HI8 MOST SIGNIFICANT AND ACCESSIBLE WORKS.Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling's 'Philosophical Investigations' tackles a subject at the very basis of all moral philosophy - whether a human being can exercise real freedom through their actions or is, on the other hand, completely determined in what they do by every single event that occurred previously.Perhaps the most insightful essay on the topic of free-will ever written, alongside that written by von Schelling's contemporary, Arthur Schopenhauer - 'On the Freedom of the Will' (1839) - which presents an opposite argument. Where Schopenhauer presents an essentially deterministic universe, in which all actions follow upon motives, von Schelling presents Freedom as an act of absolute undetermined free-will, whose basis he sees as nothingness or 'The Groundless', an idea appearing earlier in the work of German mystic Jakob Böhme (Jacob Behmen). BENEFICIAL FEATURES OF THIS LIVING TIME(TM) PRESS EDITION:- Fully Revised J.R. Gutman Translation, by Edouard d'Araille
- New Chapter-Divisional Structure for the original, continuous essay
- Biographical Preface on the Life and Work of F.W.J. von Schelling, by Edouard d'Araille
- Introduction to Schelling's Thought by acclaimed American philosopher Josiah Royce
- Textual Annotations, following the text, by F.W.J. von Schelling, exploring textual terms and ideas
- Three Portraits of F.W.J. von Schelling, from three different periods in his life
In his 'Introductory Remarks' von Schelling introduces his personal standpoint on the concept of freedom at issue: "Philosophical investigations into the nature of human freedom may, in part, concern themselves with the correct conception of the term; for though the feeling of freedom is ingrained in every individual, the fact itself is by no means so near to the surface that merely to express it in words would not require more than common clarity and depth of perception. In part such investigations may be concerned with the relation of this concept to a whole systematic world view. But here, as indeed everywhere, these two sides of the investigation coincide, since no conception can be defined in isolation, and depends for its systematic completion on the demonstration of its connections with the whole. This is especially the case in the conception of freedom, for if it has any reality at all it cannot be a merely subordinate or incidental conception but must be one of the dominant central points of the System. To be sure, according to an ancient but by no means forgotten tradition, the idea of freedom is said to be entirely inconsistent with the idea of system, and every philosophy which makes claim to unity and completeness is said to end in denying freedom. It is not easy to dispute general affirmations of this sort; for who knows what restricting notions have already been attached to the word "System" itself, so that the assertion declares something which, to be sure, is very true but also very commonplace. Or if the opinion be advanced that the concept of freedom contradicts the concept of System altogether and inherently, then it is extraordinary that some sort of system must be present and coexist with freedom at least in the divine understanding. For individual freedom in some manner or other has a place in the
