Negative, Positive and Complementarity: Remarks on Schelling´s Absolute Idealism

Schelling's late philosophy consists of two philosophical representations, i.e., his negative and his positive philosophy. Whereas his negative philosophy focuses on the question of how the absolute emerges, his positive philosophy is concerned with the question of why the absolute emerges. At first sight, it seems as if these two philosophies would not interrelate. Although Schelling indicates their unity, he does not offer a systematical concept on how these philosophies are effectively related. This paper will show that a complementary interpretation allows to combine them. Thus, we get a unified understanding of Schelling's late philosophy; furthermore, this interpretation clarifies how we can describe the absolute in a reasonable and science-related manner.