Nineteenth Century Philosophy

Friedrich Schelling

Who was Friedrich Schelling?

The literary and artistic Romantics of his era deeply influenced the philosophy of Arthur Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1776–1854). He studied at Tübinger Stift (the seminary of the Protestant Church in Württemberg) and graduated from the philosophy faculty there in 1792. He then attended lectures at the University of Leipzig while working as a tutor to aristocratic youth. At the age of 23 he received an unprecedented offer to teach philosophy at the University of Jena. He subsequently held chairs at the universities at Würzberg, Erlangen, Munich, and finally Berlin, where he was expected to oppose the Hegelians. His primary motivation in philosophy appears to have been aesthetic, and he became known for his “nature philosophy,” as developed in his System of Transcendental Idealism (1800).

