The Organic Heuristic Model in F. W. J. Schelling's Works and its Reception in Russia in the Early 19th Century

Abstract

Presenting a brief history of the idea of organism throughout the eighteenth century, we will try to describe the developments this idea went through before becoming a fundamental element in the debate on the Russian nationality promoted by Russian literate elite after the Napoleonic Wars. In this process, the ideas developed by German romanticism – in particular those of the philosophers J. G. Herder and especially F. W. Schelling – played a fundamental role. We will thus try to show how some of the thoughts from his so-called "Identity Philosophy", expressed in works such as "Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature" and "Philosophy of Art", were essential for Russian intellectuals and writers to advocate a distinctive artistic and cultural project for their own country.