Schelling and the Frankfurt School

The contemporary importance of the resonances between the thought of F.W.J. Schelling and the thinkers of the Frankfurt School, especially on nature, materialism, freedom, and aesthetics, is becoming increasingly acknowledged. Confrontations between Schelling and thinkers such as Adorno raise questions about the origins of the domination of nature and how we should respond to the uses and abuses of human freedom and rationality. At the same time, such encounters pose methodological challenges. How can Frankfurt School Critical Theory, as a school of thought that explores the intersections of social research and philosophy, come to terms with philosophical works from the 1790s–1800s in a transformed historical context? While the influences of Kant and Hegel, among others, on this tradition have been examined in great detail, the discussion of Schelling's relevance to the Frankfurt School has not received the same attention. Revisiting this relationship today will contribute to assessing the historical influence of Schelling’s understanding of nature, freedom and aesthetics on the Frankfurt School. A renewed reading of Schelling through Frankfurt School Critical Theory could moreover inform systematic discussions of contemporary challenges, such as the climate crisis.

The two-day workshop will feature five talks and a concluding panel discussion on the first day. Presentations will be given by Peter Dews, Camilla Flodin, Philipp Höfele, Sean McGrath, and Philipp Schwab. On the second day, a reading seminar will focus on the relationship between Schelling's Freiheitsschrift (1809) and Adorno's Negative Dialectics (1966).

 

The workshop is organized by Kyla Bruff, Tobias Heinze, and Martin Saar, in cooperation between the Institute for Social Research, the Department of Philosophy at Carleton University, and the Institute for Philosophy at Goethe University Frankfurt.

The presentations on the first day of the workshop will take place in person, with the option for online participation. The reading seminar on the second day will take place in person only. The program can be downloaded here.

Times: June 16: 11:00 – 19:30, June 17: 10:00 – 13:30.

 

Registration is required. Please register with Tobias Heinze by emailing t.heinze@em.uni-frankfurt.de before June 2. Please indicate clearly whether you want to participate in the workshop and/or the reading seminar. Space for in-person participation is limited. Texts for the reading seminar will be shared approximately two weeks in advance.