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Schelling’s Depotentiated Philosopher: Thinking Nature without the Human

Schelling’s Depotentiated Philosopher: Thinking Nature without the Human

Daniel Whistler, “Schelling’s Depotentiated Philosopher: Thinking Nature without the Human,” Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 82, nos. 1–2 (2026): 61–82, https://doi.org/10.17990/RPF/2026_82_1_0061.

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  • Schelling’s Depotentiated Philosopher: Thinking Nature without the Human

    Item Type Journal Article
    Author Daniel Whistler
    Abstract This essay concerns the transfiguration of philosophical reason outside of life—something which I take to be a defining feature of Schelling’s philosophy of nature, at least during one short period from 1800 to 1801. I reconstruct Schelling’s talk of an anti-anthropocentric philosophy achieved through a naturephilosophical epochē. In the first half of the essay, I sketch Schelling’s image of the philosopher of nature as it emerges during a short-lived moment in his intellectual journey—a moment that lasts, perhaps, three to four months from late 1800 to early 1801. What Schelling offers during these few months is an account of the impossible possibility of anti-anthropocentric thinking—a series of reflections on who the philosopher of nature must (but cannot) become to think nature without the human. In the second half of the essay, I expand on the practices of the depotentiated philosopher and, in particular, the ways in which depotentiated thinking, speaking and writing differ from their anthropocentric counterparts.
    Date 2026
    Language English
    Library Catalog 193; 113; 115; 126; 210
    License © 2026 by Aletheia - Associação Científica e Cultural
    Volume 82
    Place Braga
    Publisher Axioma - Publicações da Faculdade de Filosofia
    Section Schelling’s Legacy in Contemporary Philosophy. Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Schelling’s Birth
    Pages 61-82
    Publication Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia
    DOI 10.17990/RPF/2026_82_1_0061
    Issue 1-2
    Journal Abbr RPF
    ISSN 0870-5283 ; 2183-461X
    Date Added 7/31/2026, 8:54:14 PM
    Modified 7/31/2026, 9:57:21 PM

    Tags:

    • Philosophy of Nature
    • Asemics
    • Decorrelation
    • Mixing
    • Niobe
    • Series
    • The Neutral

    Notes:

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