Hi everyone. I am creating this post because I am wanting to clarify a philosophical question I have been pondering recently in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind.

I have become very interested in idealism (along with panpsychism) — which stands opposed to both dualism and physicalism. However, at the moment, I am an atheist, and it appears that most historical idealists (such as Berkeley, Leibniz or Hegel) have been theists of some kind (or belonging to some religious faith). Even further, other people I have spoken with recently about the notion of ‘atheistic idealism’ or ‘non-theistic idealism’, have also said that it is “virtually impossible” to affirm atheism (or naturalism or non-theism) while maintaining an idealist metaphysics.

Due to this, I was therefore wondering do you think it is either coherent or possible to affirm both idealism and atheism (or non-theism, in-general) together? Have there been any prominent philosophical idealists (either today or in the past) who have affirmed both idealism and atheism/non-theism simultaneously? Would it be possible to have an ‘atheistic’ or ‘non-theistic’ idealistic metaphysical system for either a stricter all-encompassing 'monistic idealism' or more ontologically diverse 'pluralistic idealism' (the same could apply to forms of 'objective idealism' and 'subjective idealism')? 

I appreciate any help with this. 

Thank you. 

Thanks!

A Review of Mark J. Thomas's Freedom and Ground: A study of Schelling's Treatise on Freedom by Christopher Satoor

There is undoubtedly a renaissance occurring in Schelling Studies. With many new texts appearing from University Presses. Almost a decade ago the name Schelling was one cited only in passing or perhaps to speak about the movement of thought from Fichte to Hegel. However, now, scholars, students and philosophical enthusiasts have a good set of secondary sources to select from. Habermas, Heidegger, Tillich, Jaspers, Pareyson, and Zizek have all found a common philosophical bond in Schelling's writings. And they all have a common ground in Schelling's Freedom Essay. The Question is, how many of them have really tried to give us a rich In-depth account of all the central issues and themes in the short but dense 1809 treatise?

Most Schellingian's are acquainted with Zizek's popular monograph on Schelling entitled "The Indivisible Remainder." And although Zizek's text is thorough, insightful, and exciting, one can't help but think that the Zizekian-Hegelian-Lacanian lens is molding Schelling into something that he is not. The same could be said of Heidegger's 1936 lectures on Schelling's Freedom Essay. While Heidegger gives the reader a highly accessible, and rich account of concepts like Ground and Existence, and focuses his study on Ontology; one cannot help but feel a little disappointed at Heidegger's own conclusion that Schelling's system has undoubtedly collapsed into onto-theology, leaving the Schellingian reader terribly unsatisfied.

Aside from these two popular works, the basis of scholarship on the Freedom Essay is excellent when thinking of selected chapters and articles by passionate scholars like: Sean J. McGrath, Jason Wirth, Paul W. Franks, Michelle Bosch, Marcella Garcia, Charlottle Alderwick, Christopher Laur, Dalia Nassar, Karin Nisenbaum, David Farrell Krell, Joeseph Lawrence, Dale Snow, Andrew Bowie, and Markus Gabriel. However, in the Anglo-American world there have only been two real monographs on Schelling's Freedom Essay. Allen White's 1983 text Schelling an Introduction to the System of Freedom, and Paul Freydberg 2008 text Schelling's Dialogical Freedom Essay. We could also include Dale Snow's lengthy and succinct text on Schelling. All three texts are worth reading and supply good textual analysis, the only short coming with White's text is that it focuses on more of an entire survey of Schelling's system with a focus on Freedom. White also has some rather dismissive and reserved claims about Schelling's over-all project; while Dale Snow applies an even wider scope of Schelling's entire writings with good philosophical treatment on the Freedom Essay. Paul Freydberg's text is lively and presents an interpretive text following a single thread through the dialogical structure of the Freedom Essay and while all of these texts are important pieces of scholarship.

What is still needed is an approach that is able to grasp the living logic of Schelling's Freedom Essay and this is what leads to Mark Thomas's 2023 text Freedom and Ground: A Study of Schelling's Treatise on Freedom. One of the first things that strikes me about Thomas's text is the need to explain how important the logical framework of "Ground" is for Schelling.

For Thomas, the question of Ground is not an isolated one but brings together the major problems that Schelling is grappling with such as "pantheism, Identity, evil, the origin and nature of God, and the conflict between freedom and necessity" (Thomas, pg. 3). Each of these specific philosophical problems requires what Thomas calls careful "consideration regarding the ground and structures of grounding relations" within Schelling's system. Thus, Thomas's new found approach, is to focus on Schelling's decisive insight into the "problems of ground," and how all of the following aforementioned themes have a deep interconnected relation that must be treated together (Thomas, pg. 3). As Thomas points out that even though the Freedom Essay doesn't have a strictly systematic form, and appears more as a presentation of Freedom, Schelling, in fact wants to present a systematic approach to freedom. But how so? Thomas continues ... "This means that the treatise is systematic insofar as it investigates freedom not as an isolated topic, but connected with everything else and this presupposed that freedom can be connected with everything in a system, and that Freedom and system are not essentially incompatible. Thus, for Schelling to accomplish the two primary tasks of the treatise, he must accomplish this by establishing a third, which is the possibility of a system of Freedom" (Thomas, Pg. 19). Thomas's methodological approach to reading the Freedom Essay is one that seeks to find each point of Schelling's treatise that can be grounded by the conditions of possibility by ... "Beginning something radically new."

And this is what Thomas's text gives us, a radically new reading not just from its philosophical presentation, but also from the academic sources which he uses including both English, and German sources which provides a wider scope of scholarly research. This text forms the basis and ground of a new epoch in Schelling Studies, one that scholars and students alike will be returning to for years to come

Which is the best English translation of Schelling's 'Ages of the World'?

Hello. We have organised a colloquium where graduate students (mostly PhD) from all around the globe convene to discuss a theme in Kant. The Colloquium starts next Sunday at 5 CET and will go on every other Sunday.

The title of the upcoming colloquium is: Kant on Self-Consciousness in the B-Deduction.

If you are interested feel free to comment below or sent me a PM to share the invites for the sessions.