Infinidade Afirmativa – Afirmação Infinita: Considerações matemáticas e filosóficas no Sistema de Würzburg de Schelling

Abstract

This article aims at bringing to light that Schelling’s reflections concerning mathematical infinity in the Würzbürger System from 1803-1806 in a certain sense anticipate and/or elucidate some aspects of the debate concerning actual infinity carried forth by intuitionists and formalists in the early 20th century. The argument departs from a consideration of Spinoza’s concept of (positive) infinity as affirmation and of Fichte’s partial spinozist influence pertaining the concept of the absolute I, and this in order to show how Schelling gave form to his own concept of infinity by means of a critique of potential infinity in Fichte and of a reinterpretation of actual infinity in Spinoza. By this strategy, it becomes clear how much Schelling’s Platonism – concerning the ideality, or symbolic character of mathematical objects – radically differs, e.g., from Frege’s Platonism.