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Schelling's Naturalism: Motion, Space, and the Volition of Thought View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Scholarship@Western Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 9-23-2015 12:00 AM Schelling's Naturalism: Motion, Space, and the Volition of Thought Ben Woodard The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Tilottama Rajan The University of Western Ontario Joint Supervisor Joan Steigerwald The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Ben Woodard 2015 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the History of Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Woodard, Ben, "Schelling's Naturalism: Motion, Space, and the Volition of Thought" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3314. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3314 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Schelling's Naturalism: Motion, Space, and the Volition of Thought (Thesis Format: Monograph) by Benjamin Graham Woodard A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Theory and Criticism The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Ben Woodard 2015 Abstract: This dissertation examines F.W.J. von Schelling's Philosophy of Nature (or Naturphilosophie) as a form of early, and transcendentally expansive, naturalism that is, simultaneously, a naturalized transcendentalism. By focusing on space and motion, this dissertation argues that thought should be viewed as a natural activity through and through. This view is made possible by German Idealism historically, and yet, is complicated and obscured by contemporary philosophy's treatment of German Idealism in both analytic and continental circles. The text engages with the foundations of Schelling's theory of nature as well as geometry, field theory, inter-theory relations, epistemology, and pragmatism. Keywords F.W.J. von Schelling, German Idealism, Gilles Châtelet, Iain Hamilton Grant, Transcendental Naturalism, Naturphilosophie, Philosophy of Nature ii Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................ii Table of Contents..................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgements................................................................................................................v Introduction...........................................................................................................................1 0.1 - Schelling and Contemporary Philosophy..........................................................1 0.2 - Schelling's Ablative Systematicity..................................................................10 0.3 - Schelling's Synthetic Method..........................................................................15 0.4 - Chapter Outline................................................................................................20 1.0 - The Natural Forge of the Transcendental: The Movement of Thought and the Space of Nature...................................................................................................................................28 1.1 - Thought as Direction: Schelling via Kant........................................................28 1.2 - Thought as Activity: Schelling via Fichte........................................................35 1.3 - Thought as Nature: Schelling via Spinoza.......................................................41 1.4 - The Missing Gesture: Plato and Aristotle via Schelling..................................50 2.0 - Castles of Ether and Asymptotic Bridges: Kant, Maimon, Schelling, and the Relation of Inner and Outer Sense..........................................................................................................................59 2.1 - Kant's 'What is Called Orientation in Thinking?'............................................61 2.2 - The Ether Proofs: Crystallizing Space or Concretizing Ideality?....................67 2.3 - Magnitudes and Determination: Maimon's Polarized Ideality.........................75 2.4 - Schelling's Dynamization of The Critique of Judgment..................................84 3 - The Force of the Continuous: Schelling's Naturalization of Mathematics.....................89 3.1 - Schelling on Mathematics................................................................................91 3.2 - Schelling's Extensity/Intensity Relation.........................................................103 3.3 - Potencies and Trajectories..............................................................................110 3.4 - (Re)Constructing Continuity or Folding Math into Nature............................116 4 - The Red Threads of the World: Potenzen, Construction, and Inexistence....................121 4.1 - Schelling's Dynamics as Proto-Potenz in The First Outline, The Ideas, System of Transcendental Idealism (1795-1800)....................................................................126 4.2 - Schelling's Potenz in the Universal Deduction, Presentation, and Philosophy of Art (1804)......................................................................................................................137 4.3 -Philosophy of Religion (1804), Freedom Essay (1809), Stuttgart Seminars (1810).......................................................................................................................143 4.4 - Ages of the World (1813, 1815), History of Modern Philosophy (1832-1833) Darstellung, Grounding (1842-1843)............................................................................................149 4.5 - Potencies and Modalities..................................................................................164 5 – Lamps, Rainbows, Unicorns, and Horizons: Spatializing Knowledge in Naturphilosophical Epistemology.............................................................................................................171 5.1- Epistemology and the Stufenfolge (Derivation).................................................173 5.2 - Epistemology and the Field Problem (Determination)......................................181 iii 5.3 - Rationalizing Rainbows: Between Sense and Observation...............................189 5.4 - Rationalizing Unicorns: Between Facts and Sense...........................................197 5.5 - Gestural Scars: Châtelet and Intuitive Anchoring.............................................207 6 - Speculative Pragmatism: Traversing the Richtungen of Nature and Thought..................213 6.1 - Abducting Matter: Peirce and Schelling............................................................214 6.2 - What Does Naturalism do to the Brain?/What Does Nature do the Mind?.......225 6.3 - Impure Immediacies: Sellars and Schelling.......................................................234 6.4 - Netting Nature through Norms?: McDowell and Brandom...............................242 6.5 - Tethered Ekstasis or The Speculative 'Go of It'..................................................250 Bibliography............................................................................................................................259 Curriculum Vitae.....................................................................................................................268 iv Acknowledgements During the two years I wrote this dissertation, I lived in over twenty cities across ten countries. Given that the theme of this text is space and motion, that now seems like a perfectly appropriate, if exhausting, choice. This also means that these acknowledgements are longer than what is generally acceptable. First, deepest thanks to Tilottama Rajan and Joan Steigerwald for their extraordinary patience and rigor in co-supervising this project. The finer pages no doubt due reflect their cautious and clear remarks while, as far as the rougher patches are concerned, I have only myself to blame. I owe many and scattered thanks for the indefinable assistance of a rag-tag and international community of brilliant minds who taught me much while tolerating my rants about Schelling, and who, in many cases, fed, transported, and hosted me globally: Lendl Barcelos, Ray Brassier, Katrina Burch, Edia Connole, Florin Flueras, Teresa Gillespie, Irina Gheorghe, Matt Hare, Amy Ireland, Heather and Nicola Masciandaro, Anna Mikkola, Reza Negarestani, Alina Poppa, Patricia Reed, Mohammad Salemy, and Pete Wolfendale. Thanks also are due to my fellow Schellingians: G. Anthony Bruno, Marcela Garcia, Tyler Tritten, Daniel Whistler and, most of all, to Iain Hamilton Grant and Diana Khamis. You are a university unto yourselves. Much gratitude to fellow students who challenged and encouraged me in equal measure: Svitlana Mativyenko, and especially Karen Dewart McEwen. Thanks to Nandita Biswas-Mellamphy and Dan Mellamphy for luring me to Western in the first place. Thanks are also due to Alisha Vasquez for always listening, and to Jillian Traskos for going with me anywhere and everywhere. I am very grateful to everyone at
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