German Classical Philosophy

The Philosophy of F. W. J. Schelling

Philosophy of Revelation

The lectures that Schelling delivered at the University of Berlin from 1841 onward were collectively termed "Philosophy of Revelation." In essence, this was a "philosophy of religion," which he gradually developed over the course of at least forty years. Following the premature death of Fichte and the subsequent rise of Hegelian philosophy, Schelling ceased to define the trajectory of German philosophical thought. Initially an advocate of constructing rationalist systems, Schelling began to reject them, considering them exemplars of negative philosophy as a means of countering Hegel. The very potentialities that arose from his longstanding attraction to the philosophy of religion he termed positive philosophy.

Schelling characterized all philosophy that preceded him as negative. From where does this division of philosophy arise? He answers this question by drawing upon Kant. Kant noted that in cognition, humanity relies on reason and experience. Reason comprehends through a priori forms. Yet we must ask: what is apprehended a priori in all that exists—its essence, the nature of existence, or what it is? The answer to the question "what is it?" recognizes the essence of the thing and indicates that I understand the thing, possessing its concept; while the answer to "what is it?" presents the existence of the thing, rather than its essence. This latter understanding constitutes knowledge, yet it must be noted that knowledge is impossible without concepts. Knowledge is, in essence, recognition, as it presupposes that concepts precede cognition: in anything that exists, I recognize a concept that I previously held regarding that "something." A priori knowledge defines only everything that is or can be, if something exists, but not what it is.

Philosophy that focuses solely on the answer to the question "what is?"—that is, its essence—presents it as necessary, eliminating the contingent. Such a philosophy, in Schelling's view, may be termed negative. To recognize that something ("what is") also exists—namely, what it is—pertains to a different realm, specifically that of positive philosophy.

Positive philosophy is not simply that which succeeds negative philosophy, displacing or nullifying it. They have distinct tasks. What becomes the proper subject of positive philosophy has been left by negative philosophy as something further unknowable. What the negative philosophy transmits to the positive is merely a task to be resolved further by positive philosophy, although it may independently pose this same task without reference to the negative. However, both philosophies can be represented as two facets of the same philosophical inquiry.

Schelling traces both sides or lines of philosophy back to ancient times. Negative or rationalist philosophy, which in its developed form becomes a priori philosophy, is already represented in Heraclitus and the Eleatics. The development of rational, negative philosophy culminates in Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" and its ideas of God. Schelling notes breakthroughs to positive philosophy in Socrates, Plato, and the Neoplatonists. He connects these breakthroughs to empiricism in a certain manner. By empiricism, it is generally understood that all our knowledge is experiential, and the foundation of experience consists of a collection of perceptions produced by things existing outside ourselves. Conventional empiricism excludes the supersensory from the realm of experience. Yet Schelling does not equate the appeal to experience solely with empiricism; instead, he expands the notion of experience to encompass the supersensory realm. For him, positive philosophy is not empiricism in this sense; its relation to experience is more nuanced. For this philosophy, experience serves as confirmation, but not as a means to prove a priori knowledge. For negative philosophy, experience serves as proof—not of the existence of the absolutely primary (God), but rather of its consequence, which must be empirically verified, thereby confirming that God indeed exists. The existence of such a consequence further confirms that the primary itself exists as we have understood it—that is, that God exists. Positive philosophy is not a religious philosophy, nor even a Christian one. Schelling terms it the philosophy of revelation.

In his quest to elucidate the concept of revelation and desiring to be correctly understood, Schelling asserts that the content of revelation is primarily historical, though not in the ordinary temporal sense. It is a content that, while revealed (in this sense, the term “revelation” is employed) at a particular time—manifesting as an earthly phenomenon—essentially had taken place and had been prepared "before the foundation of the world"; the content of the world recedes into something transcendent and also into a pre-worldly time. Revelation is an experience in the aforementioned sense. The content of revelation is an act of divine will. Understanding and substantiating this fact constitute the philosophy of revelation. The fact of revelation is that humanity, having strayed from God, is reconciled to Him through Christ. The emergence of Christianity and its very essence possess universal-historical significance. Before humanity had spiritually matured enough to perceive the fact (event) unveiled in Christianity, the mythological process had to be entirely exhausted. Christ appeared when the time was fulfilled. Earlier, He was revealed, but not as Christ. Universal history corresponds to the epoch of this world, which is preceded by a time before the beginning and creation of the world, as well as a time after the end and destruction of the world.

Schelling introduces the concepts of temporal time and eternal time. The former reflects a purposeless, repetitive process of emergence and disappearance, a time in which nothing is achieved, nothing is realized. In this temporal time, there is no genuine sequence. The latter concept reflects true sequence, wherein one can discern the past, present, and future: a sequence of times, each with its own purpose and eternal content. These fulfilled times Schelling terms world epochs or aeons (eternities). Universal history is an aeon; it represents the time of the present world, the eternal content of which—its beginning and end, cause and purpose—is Christ.