Schelling in Munich (1811–1841). Hybrid "Nachlass"-Edition

• Applicants: Dr. Eckhart Arnold; Professorin Dr. Lore Hühn; Professor Dr. Philipp Schwab
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy ; Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies ; General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies ; Ancient History ; Protestant Theology ; Greek and Latin Philology ; Art History ; History of Science
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 453904853

The aim of this long-term project is to, for the first time, exhaustively reconstruct the final great unpublished "Nachlass" of a philosopher from German Idealism, and to make it available to the public in a hybrid edition: the "Nachlass" to F.W.J. Schelling’s Munich period (1811–1841). This "Nachlass" is relevant far beyond the scope of philosophical research. On the one hand, Schelling, the latest of the Idealist thinkers, in this period successively pushes the traditional idea of an all-encompassing system of reason to its limits. In contrast, he develops a new conception of knowledge placing stronger emphasis on aspects of historicity and positivity. In this light, Schelling appears to be a central figure in a process of transformation of knowledge and the sciences in the 19th century, determining the cultures of knowledge to the present day. On the other hand, Schelling at the same time expands the forms of knowledge in such a way that he opens up new fields of research, and becomes an initiator and interlocutor for numerous scholars from other disciplines and artists: e.g., from classical studies, theology, legal studies and science of history, physics and biology, but also from painting, architecture, and literature. Furthermore, Schelling is in this period strongly engaged in science politics, and thus also practically and institutionally has a great impact on the processes of transformation and network-building in the cultures of knowledge. Schelling’s "Nachlass" (esp. at Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities) has to date never been explored systematically, and it poses special challenges. In his Munich period, Schelling hardly publishes larger treatises, but acts to the public mostly through lectures and correspondence. Yet he constantly works on a never to be published major opus, and over a period of 30 years produces a large number of concepts, extremely difficult to decipher, relating to his philosophy of the "Ages of the World", his "Philosophy of Mythology" and "Revelation". The material to be edited thus consists of a multitude of heterogeneous and also unsorted texts and types of texts, mainly, students notes to lectures, concepts, diaries, and letters. The long-term project meets these special challenges by, step by step, reconstructing the material from Schelling’s Munich period chronologically, thus making visible the links between the numerous documents, but also their links to contemporary discourses. The edition will be published in digital format (open access) and, selectively, in print. The project will be carried out cooperatively at two locations especially competent in digital humanities, editorial work and Schelling’s philosophy (Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, and Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Munich). Thus, the project can build on synergies between classical text edition, digital editorial technologies, and historical and systematical expertise in Classical German Philosophy.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants