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What a Young Philosopher Discovered More Than 200 Years Ago About Nature

Philosopher Friederich Schelling introduced the idea that there is a “secret bond connecting our mind with nature.” His idea, that the self and nature are in fact identical, was both sample and radical.

Schelling was only 23-years-old when he had become the youngest professor at the University of Jena in the winter of 1798. Large groups of young men rushed to the town university’s biggest auditorium to listen to their new professor. And Schelling explained to them his idea by pointing to the moment when the self becomes aware of the world around it.

“At the first moment, when I am conscious of the external world, the consciousness of my self is there as well,” he said, “and vice versa — at my first moment of self-awareness, the real world rises up before me.” According to Schelling, being in nature was always a self-discovery, a journey into oneself. This philosophy of one-ness became the heartbeat of Romanticism.

Many 18th century travelers would describe a village, city, landscape or country as detached observes. They would see the countryside through the windows of their carriages and they would describe art and architecture through the prism of their learning and books. But then, in the early 19th century, Schelling’s idea had started to spread. The young Romantics began to feel a deeper sense of connection to the world around them. Now, instead of just visiting museums and cities, people wanted to feel nature rather than to observe what they were seeing. People wanted to discover themselves in nature.

When people think more about Schelling’s philosophy, nature can be understood as a web and its vulnerability will become obvious. If one part gets damaged, other parts might suffer as a result of that. This concept of nature still shapes our thinking today.

Not everyone would say that this article is newsworthy because it has a very clear topic: philosophy. Not everyone would necessarily be interested in that. However, this article very much is newsworthy. The article discusses a philosophical theory that was created 200 years ago but still influences people’s thinking to this day. The article presents a clear story about how Schelling created his idea and how his idea impacted people to this day. I do think that there are certain parts in the article could have been explained a little bit less detailed but these parts don’t interfere with the main topic. Before I read this article, I wasn’t consciously aware of the idea that everything is one. How after Schelling’s idea spread, people wanted to feel nature, rather than to observe it. This article helps people realize the impact that this idea had on the human way of thinking. In my opinion, this is a well written article. The information in the article is written in a way that everyone can understand it even if they don’t know a lot about philosophy.

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