Hellenism and productivity in the early Schelling

This thesis explores F.W.J. Schelling’s conception of philosophical productivity during his early period in the context of Griechentum or German Hellenism. Schelling is a German Hellene and grows under the influence of Johann J. Winckelmann, considered the father of Griechentum. That Schelling understands philosophy as productive, means that he conceives of philosophy as a matter of producing intellectual intuitions and Hen kai Pan; in fact, these two are inseparable. For the production of intellectual intuition is according to the ambit of Hen kai Pan. That he does so as a German Hellene means two things: first, he formulates this conception of philosophy out of a direct engagement with Ancient Greek philosophical texts, primarily Plato’s; this is apparent especially in his early notes on Plato. In his engagement with the philosophical and religious doctrine of Hen kai Pan, Schelling inscribes himself in a tradition of philosophy that mostly consists of Ancient Greek philosophers; this doctrine informs his understanding of Wissenschaft and potencies. Second, this understanding of Ancient Greek philosophy is as philosophical as it is religious. Indeed, Hellenism undergirding Schelling’s conception of philosophical productivity entails a serious engagement with Greek religion, specifically Greek Mystery religions. A historiographical revision of Deutscher Idealismus and Jenaer Romantik, two contexts in which scholars generally place him, arises, and reveals the portrait of Schelling as a philologist, or, at least, a philosopher heavily informed by philology.