Customer Reviews

Schelling and Modern European Philosophy:: An Introduction

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Bowie's book excels in a number of ways.
First, Bowie gives an exposition of Schelling that is engaging and readable without sacrificing any of the complexity of Schelling's thought. The book's readability is no mean feat considering the difficulty of Schelling's work.
Second, more than just an introduction to an unfairly obscure figure in the history of philosophy, Bowie argues convincingly for the importance of Schelling in understanding important matters in the history of philosophy as well as in ongoing debates. Bowie notes similarities between debates within german idealism and analytic philosophy and pragmatism, and points out that the resurgence of pragmatism and pragmatics in the philosophy of language raises issues addressed earlier (though in a different vocabulary) by Schelling.
Third, by demonstrating the importance and relevance of Schelling to contemporary matters, Bowie makes clear that the history of philosophy is relevant to contemporary philosophy, something occasionally lost to more problem driven approaches.
All in all, I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in the history of philosophy, german idealism and the traditions which grew out of german idealism, pragmatism, and questions of interdisciplinarity and the arts in relation to philosophy.

It seemed for a long time that Schelling would be condemned to the status of a footnote in texts on Hegel, but recent interest -- including the Zizek's Indivisible Remainder -- has made Schelling a second-to-none must-read. Bowie's text is both encyclopedic in its range of topic, and sensitive to topics once eschewed by philosophers. While I do not hold the same low opinion of Hegel as Bowie seems to (quite to the contrary, in fact), I nevertheless agree almost entirely with his reading of Schelling. And it is a good read, too boot.