Andrew Bowie's book is the first introduction in English to present F W J Schelling as a major European philospher in his own right. Schelling and Modern European Philosophy, surveys the whole of Schelling's philosophical career, lucidly reconstructing his key arguments, particularly those against Hegel, and relating them to contemporary philosophical discussion. Dr Bowie traces how central ideas and conceptual strategies in the work of philosophers as diverse as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida and Davidson relate closely to Schelling's often misunderstood philosophy and focuses on Schelling's work as an alternative to, and critique of aspects of Hegel's thinking.

Acknowledgements -- INTRODUCTION -- Situating Schelling -- Metaphor and metaphysics -- Stages in Schelling's philosophy -- 1 ABSOLUTE BEGINNINGS -- Fichte and Spinozism -- Jacobi, Fichte, and the Pantheism controversy -- The ground of judgement -- 2 THE HERMENEUTICS OF NATURE -- Matter and life -- The productivity of nature -- Nature as visible mind -- The facticity of nature -- 3 THE HISTORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE TRUTH OF ART -- The path to the self -- Self-reference and art -- 4 IDENTITY PHILOSOPHY -- The identity of the Absolute -- Moving beyond the I: the break with Fichte -- Transitive being and identity -- Identity and 'differance' -- Schelling, Rorty and Davidson -- Absolute reflection -- The problem of transition -- 5 FREEDOM, ONTOLOGY AND LANGUAGE -- Ground and freedom -- World-making -- Word-making -- 6 SCHELLING OR HEGEL? -- Introduction -- Reflection and inversion -- The limits of negative philosophy -- Positive philosophy -- Concept and being -- The logic of reflection -- Non-identity -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- A list of translations of Schelling's works -- Index.