Schellings Philosophische Briefe über Dogmatismus und Kriticismus

Abstract

Abstract The aim of the paper is to offer a pragmatic interpretation of Schelling’s Philosophical Letters on Dogmatism and Criticism by pointing out some important similarities with James’s Pragmatism. A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. Both authors share the assumption that fundamental philosophical conflicts cannot receive a theoretical solution. Most notably, I interpret Schelling’s idea of the two different ‘demands’ (Forderungen) that result from the two philosophical systems of dogmatism and criticism, as being similar to James’s idea of ‘practical consequences’ of a theoretical statement. Both Schelling’s conception of the ‘demand’ and James’s idea of ‘practical consequences’ fulfil a double function: they bring the crucial point of disagreement between opposite philosophical positions to light and open the possibility of settling the conflict. I argue that a pragmatic interpretation of Schelling helps in better understanding his specific conception of the primacy of the practical.