Mythical and Pre-Socratic Elements in F.W.J. Schellings Philosophy

The paper is focused on the absolute in Schelling's philosophy. The authoress confronts Schelling's thought with Plato's dialectic and Hegel's critique, and defends the thesis that both early and late Schelling's ideas contained many mythological and figurative elements, whose importance is best highlighted against Pre-Socratic philosophy. This seems to be true with respect to both Schelling's claims and style. His notion of indifference or original identity of opposite terms in the absolute are a variation on the themes suggested by Pre-Socratics and they play a major role in Schelling's early philosophy. The notion of basis or a fundamental (Grund), the concept of God's Wisdom and the problem of original creative forces identified with God are equally a transformation of Pre-Socratic themes in his late philosophy. This connection to mythical and early Greek elements helps to emphasize the 'aesthetic' aspect of Schelling's and explains his understanding of the dialectic of the principle of mythology and the sense the principle of revelation in Schelling's late philosophy.