Os conceitos da natureza: ideia e experiência nos sistemas de Schelling e Humboldt

Abstract

This work aims to demonstrate the hypothesis of a dialogue between philosophical-scientific systems of Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854) and Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), based on the analysis of the works Ideen zu einer Philosophie der Natur (1797) by Schelling and Ideen zu einer Geographie der Pflanzen/Essai sur la Geographie des Plantes (1805 [1807]) and Ideen zu einer Physiognomik der Gewächse from Ansichten der Natur (1808) by Humboldt. Therefore, we will start with a study of the letters exchanged between Schelling and Humboldt. Then, we will analyze the Schelling theses of “nature as a whole”, the “powers of nature” and the “organization of nature”. In a subsequent moment, a point of convergence between both philosophies of nature is elucidated. We will then present a first comparison between Schelling’s and Humboldt’s philosophies of nature through the analysis of Humboldtian concepts of “forms of nature”, “physiognomy of nature” and “paintings of nature” present in their works of 1805 and 1808. Finally, we will demonstrate the strength of the dialogue between Schelling and Humboldt through the understanding of the concepts of nature and imagination, presented respectively in the works of Schelling in 1797 and Humboldt in 1805.