Abstract

The paper presents Schelling’s conception of matter and mind and shows how it overcomes the traditional Cartesian notion of an essential difference between the two. First, it thematises the basic ontological structure which, according to Schelling, all individuals exhibit, then it discusses the development of nature from inanimate matter through organic nature to the human spirit, and it concludes with an explicit focus on the interrelationship between the human body and the human spirit that Schelling considers in his view of the person.