CFP: Call for Papers: Schelling and his Kantian Legacy: Metaphysical and Epistemological Perspectives – Special Issue of Discipline Filosofiche (35, 2025-2)

Call for papers

Schelling and his Kantian Legacy: Metaphysical and Epistemological Perspectives

Special Issue of Discipline Filosofiche (35, 2025-2)

Editors: Tommaso Mauri and Ludovica Neri

“Whoever wishes to make philosophy their major field of study must always begin with Kant” (SW XIII, 33). This assertion, taken from the Berlin introduction to the Philosophy of Revelation of 1842/43, not only constitutes the programmatic statement of the mature Schelling but also expresses the conviction that animated his entire philosophical journey. As has been aptly noted, “among the three great ‘German idealists’, Schelling is the one who engages with Kant most intensely and who most emphatically reconnects with Kant” (Schmied-Kowarzik 1996). From Schelling’s viewpoint, only by going through a confrontation with Kant’s thought is it possible to go beyond Kant.

In this sense, it can be said that Schelling’s philosophy, in its entire constellation of themes and problems, serves this precise purpose. While acknowledging his debt to Kant’s critical-transcendental legacy, Schelling strives to go beyond it and rehabilitate, from a post-Kantian perspective, the questions of metaphysics and ontology that transcendental idealism had bracketed or only partially addressed. For example, in his early writings on the philosophy of nature and transcendental idealism, Schelling lays the groundwork for overcoming transcendental philosophy by identifying the philosophy of nature as the real part of the system, to be placed alongside the ideal part. Later, in Philosophy and Religion (1804) and the Freedom Treatise (1809), he focuses on those phenomena (such as religion, freedom, evil, and history), whose investigation transcends the boundaries of critical-rational philosophy and heralds the need to place alongside it a positive or historical philosophy. Finally, with the Spätphilosophie this demand becomes programmatic, and the confrontation with Kant is instrumental, on the one hand, in exhausting the negative potential of a merely critical-rational philosophy and, on the other, in lending philosophical legitimacy to the transition to a historical-positive philosophy that addresses metaphysical questions about the ideas (such as God, soul, world, and freedom) whose knowledge had been barred by the Transcendental Dialectic.

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Schelling’s birth, this issue of Discipline Filosofiche aims to contribute to the investigation of the metaphysical and epistemological implications of the Kantian legacy in Schelling’s thought. Although Schelling’s work has been studied already also in relation to Kant’s critical philosophy, renewed interest in his writings, including the unpublished works from the Munich and Berlin periods, suggests that this topic still warrants further study. In this perspective, the submission of papers addressing the following topics is encouraged:

1. Schelling and transcendental philosophy;
2. The teleology of nature in Kant and Schelling;
3. Schelling’s confrontation with the Kantian theory of space and time;
4. Kant’s legacy in Schelling’s concept of freedom;
5. Schelling’s critique of Kant’s ethics and philosophy of religion;
6. The influence of Kant’s critical philosophy on Schelling’s distinction between “negative” and “positive” philosophy;
7. Schelling’s redefinition of the Kantian concept of “system”;
8. The differences between Kant’s and Schelling’s epistemologies;
9. Schelling’s philosophy of history in relation to Kant;
10. The post-Kantian metaphysics of the late Schelling.

Guidelines for the authors: Submissions should not exceed 9,000 words including abstract, references and footnotes. Manuscripts may be submitted in Italian, English, French, German, or Spanish. They must be sent as an email attachment in .doc or .docx format, along with a .pdf version, to Tommaso Mauri ([email protected]) and to Ludovica Neri ([email protected]). Submitted manuscripts will be sent to two independent reviewers, following a double-blind peer review process. The reviewers may ask authors to make changes or improvements to their contributions in view of publication. Authors are kindly requested to attach both an anonymous version of their contribution entitled “Manuscript” and a separate “Cover Page” stating their name, academic affiliation, and contact details. Manuscripts must include an English abstract of less than 150 words and 5 keywords. Any property of the file that might identify the author must be removed to ensure anonymity during the review process. A notification of receipt will be issued for each submission. In drafting their text, authors can adopt any clear and coherent style, but should the text be accepted for publication, they will be required to send a final version in keeping with the style guidelines of the journal (please refer to the style guidelines at https://www.disciplinefilosofiche.it/en/norme-redazionali/). Submission of a manuscript is understood to imply that the paper has not been published before and that it is not being considered for publication by any other journal. Should the manuscript be accepted for publication, the author will be required to transfer copyrights to the University of Bologna. Requests to republish the article may be made to the Editorial Board of the Journal.

Deadline for the submission of manuscripts: June 15, 2025

Notification of acceptance, conditional acceptance, or rejection: August 31, 2025

Deadline for the submission of the final draft: October 15, 2025

For more information, please write to Tommaso Mauri ([email protected]) and to Ludovica Neri ([email protected]) or visit the website: