Aristotelis Ioannis Paschalidis

In this paper, I explore the role of the history of intelligence in relation to the realization of the ideal in F.W.J. Schelling’s System of Transcendental Idealism (1800). To this end, I examine Schelling’s concept of history as an unfolding process and analyze his division of history into three “periods”. A central theme here is how Schelling’s depiction of consciousness evolves throughout these periods and how it relates to the concepts of death and God, with dead nature functioning both as a remnant and a necessary condition for historical progress. Additionally, I engage with the problem Schelling poses concerning how the self can become conscious of the original harmony between subjective and objective, offering a novel interpretative approach. I conclude by arguing that Schelling’s concept of history should be understood as the development of an overarching self reflecting on itself, ultimately striving toward the attainment of full self-knowledge.