The Key Role of Chemistry in Schelling's Early Philosophy of Nature

Bibliographic Data

ID14949482
AuthorsLuis Fellipe Garcia (0000-0002-2856-4428, KU Leuven Belgium, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume33
Issue3
Pages958-973
Publication date2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-8373 • E-ISSN: 1468-0378
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ejop.13033
OpenAlexW4405647547
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited17

This article puts forward the thesis that Schelling's philosophical engagement with chemistry plays a key role in his project of a philosophy of nature. I claim that Schelling takes Lavoisier's new chemistry to indicate that Kant's dynamical theory of matter could provide the basis for a unified account of nature. By dynamical theory of matter, I understand a philosophical explanation of matter based on the fundamental forces of attraction and repulsion. I argue that Schelling combines Kant's dynamics with Lavoisier's new chemistry into what he calls dynamical chemistry, and that this notion of dynamical chemistry underlies his attempt at a unified system of nature

Computer security · Epistemology · Chemistry · Computer Science · Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Hegel · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Philosophy, Science, and History

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access