Grounding of Positive Philosophy

Bruce Matthews is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Bard High School Early College.

"Despite a strong resurgence of interest in his philosophy, Schelling's final Berlin lectures have remained unavailable to English-reading audiences. At long last, in Bruce Matthews's able hands, this lacuna has been remedied. This is a strong and rigorous translation of the inaugural lectures, which, along with Matthews's compelling and informative introduction, not only provides readers with a taste of these remarkable and unduly neglected lecture courses, but also provides an overview of Schelling's final project of positive philosophy and philosophical religion. These lectures are critical to a full appreciation of Schelling's accomplishments." — Jason M. Wirth, author of The Conspiracy of Life: Meditations on Schelling and His Time"With the publication of this translation, the last significant barrier to the reception of Schelling by the English-speaking philosophical community has been removed. As Bruce Matthews shows in his powerful introductory essay, Schelling's philosophical confrontation with Kant and Hegel gave birth to an utterly new and independent way of doing philosophy, one grounded not in the concept but in the intuition of existence itself." — Joseph P. Lawrence, College of the Holy Cross

• Acknowledgments Editorial Apparatus and Standard Abbreviations Translator’s Introduction The Singularity of F. W. J. Schelling Expectations in Berlin An Existential System of Philosophy The Grounding of Positive Philosophy Schelling’s Negative Philosophy Existence as the Inverted Idea Hegel Critiqued Abduction as the Method of Positive Philosophy Towards a Philosophical Religion Translator’s Note THE GROUNDING OF POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY: THE BERLIN LECTURESOn Philosophy On the Academic Study of Philosophy Metaphysics before Kant Kant, Fichte, and a Science of Reason The Difference between Negative and Positive Philosophy History of Negative and Positive Philosophy Metaphysical Empiricism The Grounding of Positive Philosophy Notes Index