Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling: References & Edit History

Schelling’s works have been published by his son, K.F.A. Schelling (ed.), Sämtliche Werke, 14 vol. (1856–61), and reprinted unchanged as the “Münchner Jubiläumsdruck,” entitled Werke, ed. by Manfred Schroeter, 12 vol. (1927–54). The Schelling-Kommission, which existed for a time at the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Munich, prepared a critical new edition of his works that includes the unpublished manuscripts. His instructive and often intimate correspondence with influential persons was edited by Gustav L. Plitt, Aus Schellings Leben: In Briefen, 3 vol. (1869–70). Important for the change in Schelling’s thought is his correspondence with Fichte: Walter Schulz (ed.), Fichte-Schelling: Briefwechsel (1968), which presents the philosophical development that characterized his position in German idealism.

An older classical work, Kuno Fischer, Geschichte der neuern Philosophie, 4th ed., vol. 7 (1923), details Schelling’s life and interprets his individual writings. Joseph L. Esposito, Schelling’s Idealism and Philosophy of Nature (1978), examines his thoughts on nature and his influence on 19th-century American thought. Karl Jaspers, Schelling: Grösse und Verhängnis (1955), is an important work that achieves a critical understanding of Schelling from the standpoint of existentialism. Horst Fuhrmans, Schelling: Briefe und Dokumente (1962), and two other works, Schellings letzte Philosophie (1940), and Schellings Philosophie der Weltalter (1954), provide guidance on the salient problem of whether Schelling changed from the building of a system of idealism to espousing a philosophy of freedom that also recognizes the irrational.