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The Provocations of Nihilism: Practical Philosophy and Aesthetics in Jacobi, Kant, and Schelling

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The Provocations of Nihilism: Practical Philosophy and Aesthetics in Jacobi, Kant, and Schelling THE PROVOCATIONS OF NIHILISM THE PROVOCATIONS OF NIHILISM: PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY AND AESTHETICS IN JACOBI, KANT, AND SCHELLING Jeremy Proulx, H.B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University ©Copyright by Jeremy Proulx, October 2010 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2010) McMaster University (Philosophy) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: The Provocations ofNihilism: Practical Philosophy and Aesthetics in Jacobi, Kant, and Schelling AUTHOR: Jeremy Proulx, H.B.A. (Trent), M.A. (Western) SUPERVISOR: Professor Brigitte Sassen NUMBER OF PAGES: viii; 195. 11 Abstract The purpose of the dissertation is to describe how Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi's diagnosis of nihilism at the heart of the rationalist metaphysics of the Enlightenment provokes a tum to practical philosophy and aesthetics as alternative areas of philosophical scrutiny. I divide my analysis into two basic parts, treating practical philosophy and aesthetics respectively. The first part argues that Jacobi's debate with Moses Mendelssohn provokes the development of two unique approaches to practical philosophy, Jacobi's and Kant's. I interpret Jacobi's famous salto mortale as a balance between passively accepting feeling as a legitimate revelation of truth and actively creating the practical context in which feeling can appear as meaningful in the first place. I also argue that in his practical response to the Jacobi-Mendelssohn debate, Kant is still susceptible to Jacobi's critique of Enlightenment rationalism. In the second part, I tum my attention to how Kant and the early Schelling both develop their aesthetic theories as a response to Jacobi's diagnosis of nihilism. I show that Schelling's reinterpretation of Kant's theory of the postulates subtlety introduces an aesthetic dimension to philosophy in the process of employing Jacobian ideas to address problems in Kant. I continue on to interpret Kant's Critique of Judgment as unified in its attempt to respond to Jacobi by accounting for the sensible elements of experience as legitimate domain for philosophers. But I also argue that Kant's unwillingness to see the world as a creative accomplishment of human reason ultimately condemns his project to failure. I conclude by showing that Schelling's System of Transcendental Idealism finally makes good on Jacobi's call to develop a philosophy that accounts for the active role that agents have in the constitution of a meaningful world of experience. iii Acknowledgements Several people contributed to the final form of this thesis. First and foremost, my PhD advisor, Brigitte Sassen, was as a constant source of support. I remember being intimidated by the sheer volume of material in the German philosophical tradition and Brigitte was a remarkably helpful guide through several complicated texts. Brigitte somehow managed to relentlessly push me to write while at the same time allowing me to find my own way. I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of my other committee members, John Russon and Richard T.W. Arthur. John's impressive knowledge of German philosophy helped me see problems in my interpretations and his own original work is an inspiration. Richard's knowledge of the Enlightenment and modem philosophy more generally helped me see connections between my own research and thinkers I would not have encountered otherwise. Richard's insightful comments on early versions helped avoid some problematic points. I also extend my gratitude to the Department of Philosophy at McMaster University for providing me with resources and a home in which to pursue my research. A CGS Grant from the SSHRC provided me with financial support that, among other things, made it possible for me to spend time in Germany. A seminar on philosophical anthropology taught by Prof. Dr. Gerald Hartung at the Philipps-Universitiit Marburg helped me to organize and deepen my understanding of Kant and Schelling. I also thank the ARPA, the CPA and the International Kant Congress for providing me with the opportunity to present my research. I would like to thank my parents Diane Sebastian and David Proulx and my grandparents George and Betty Proulx for supporting me from the beginning. I also acknowledge my friend Michael Hyman, whose remarkable creativity is an inspiration. Finally, I cannot imagine having been able to complete this work without the constant, unwavering support of my loving wife Barbara Slim. IV Table of Contents Abstract m Acknowledgments IV Table of Contents v Abbreviations and Primary Sources vu Introduction: The Aesthetic Question 1 Part 1: Practical Philosophy 14 Chapter I: Theory and Practice in the Jacobi-Mendelssohn Debate 15 1. Jacobi's Saito Mortale 19 2. Feeling as Orientation in Philosophy 28 3. Mendelssohn's Common Sense 34 4. Concluding Remarks 39 Chapter II: Rational Faith and Practical Postulates 41 1. On Orientation in Thinking 42 2. Kant's Theory ofthe Postulates 50 3. Concluding Remarks 60 Chapter III: Jacobi's Philosophy of Action 62 1. Jacobi on Kant 65 2. Consciousness and Action 69 3. The Life ofReason 74 4. Concluding Remarks 78 Part 2: From Practice to Aesthetics 79 Introductory 80 Chapter IV: Schelling's Philosophical Letters 89 1. Precarious Postulates: The Tiibingen Interpretation ofKant 92 2. Creativity in the Early Schelling 98 3. The "Proper Principle ofAesthetics" 102 4. How to Read Kant, or Schelling's Theory ofthe Postulates 105 5. Schelling's Jacobian ism 112 6. Concluding Remarks on Greek Tragedy 117 Excursus: On the Letter form in Philosophy 120 v Chapter V: Freedom, Beauty and Destination in Kant's third Critique 122 1. Kant's Critique ofSpinoza 127 2. The Miracle ofBeauty 134 3. Art and the Fecundity of Nature 141 4. Sublime Impotence 149 5. Concluding Remarks 151 Chapter VI: The Art of Self 153 1. Transcendental Idealism and Natural Prejudice 155 2. Activity and Passivity in the Self 165 3. Practical Philosophy and the Moral Order ofthe World 169 4. Art as Keystone 17 5 5. Concluding Remarks 181 Conclusion 184 Bibliography 188 VI Abbreviations and Primary Sources F.H Jacobi References to Jacobi are to: Jacobi, F.H. 1812-25. Werke, 6 volumes. Edited by F.H. Jacobi and F. Koppen. Leipzig: Fleischer. 1815 Preface Preface to David Hume iiber den Glauben, oder Idealismus und Realismus. Ein Gesprach (1815) DH David Hume iiber den G/auben, oder Idealismus und Realismus. Ein Gesprach SB Uber die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn (1785) SB2 Uber die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn (1 789) Immanuel Kant References to Kant are to the standard Akademie edition of Kant's works: Kant, Immanuel. 1968. Werke. 8 volumes. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. CPR Critique ofPure Reason CPrR Critique ofPractical Reason CJ Critique ofJudgment Orientation Was heipt: sich in denken orientieren? Moses Mendelssohn AFL An die Freunde Lessings Morgenstunden Morgenstunden, oder Vorlesungen iiber das Daseyn Gottes Vll F. W.J. Schelling References to Schelling are to: Schelling, F. W.J. 1927. Schellings Werke. Edited by Manfred Schroter. Munich: Beck. DC Philosophical Letters on Dogmatism and Criticism I Of the I as the Principle ofPhilosophy SP Das A"ltestes System Programme des deutschen Idealismus System System ofTranscendental Idealism TE Treatise Explicatory of the Idealism in the Science of Knowledge Vlll Introduction: The Aesthetic Question These earnest ones may be informed of my conviction That art is the highest task And the proper metaphysical activity of this life. -Friedrich Nietzsche, Forward to Richard Wagner How is it that the world has meaning for us? This is a large question, too large indeed for a doctoral thesis. But it is precisely questions of this sort that motivated the classical German philosophers. This period of the history of philosophy, running for about fifty years from the late eighteenth to the early-mid nineteenth century, was an immensely rich period that witnessed the meteoric rise of several leading figures in the West. And the continuing influence of this period is due precisely to the bold risks it takes, its ambitious projects, lofty ideals and ostentatious claims. Beginning with such a large question, then, is part of what is involved in writing about classical German philosophy. Indeed, it is this very question that is at issue in one of the most captivating and enigmatic documents of the classical German tradition, the fragmentary, so-called "A./testes System-Programme des deutschen Idealismus/The Oldest System Program of German Idealism." Here, three central figures in late eighteenth-century Germany (Holderlin, Schelling and Hegel, all of them the fragment's putative authors) propose a new direction for philosophy. The thematic thrust of the fragment - and the note on which it concludes - is the desire to find a philosophy that would be able to re-enchant the dead concepts of classical metaphysics with a renewed, an aesthetic meaning. Here is the relevant passage: Until we make the ideas aesthetic, i.e., mythological, they will have no interest for the people; and conversely, until the mythology is rational, the philosopher will perforce be ashamed of it. Thus the enlightened and the unenlightened must at long last clasp hands; mythology must become philosophical, and the people rational, while philosophy must become mythological, in order to make the philosophers sensuous. Then eternal unity will prevail among us. No more the contemptuous glance, no more the blind quaking of the people before their sages and priests. Only then can we expect the equal formation of all forces, in particular persons as well as in all individuals. No longer will any force be suppressed; universal freedom and equality of spirits will then prevail! - A higher spirit, sent from heaven, will Jeremy Proulx Philosophy have found this new religion among us; it will be the very last and the grandest of the works ofhumanity.
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