Natural Philosophy — The Living Cosmos
Natural philosophy asks what nature itself is: is the cosmos a dead mechanism or a living organism? On this page you will find my essays and lexicon entries on that question, from Schelling, Goethe and Novalis to the world soul and the relation between the inner and the outer world. Start with the way in that suits you.
Where are you starting from?
Natural philosophy has several ways in: through the concept, through the thinkers, or through your own experience.
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You are looking for a starting point: what is natural philosophy in the first place? Natural philosophy in the lexicon →
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You want to get to know the thinker who worked out the aliveness of nature as a system. Schelling, the genius of natural philosophy →
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You keep returning to the question of what holds the cosmos together as a whole. The world soul →
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You feel the tension between your own living inner world and an outer world that is described to you as dead. Outer world, inner world →
What does it mean to think of the cosmos as alive?
It means treating nature not as something to be measured but as a living whole to which the human being belongs. The essays and lexicon entries unfold that movement of thought, from the concepts to the thinkers.
- Natural Philosophy (Lexicon) Where to begin: why the question of what nature itself is lies at the foundation of all serious philosophy.
- Schelling — The Genius of Natural Philosophy Schelling thought of nature as a living organism rather than a dead mechanism: an alternative to mathematical abstraction that matters more today than ever.
- Goethe as Philosopher Goethe’s thinking perception and his critique of Newton: why knowledge begins with the living.
- Novalis — The Poet as Philosopher More than the poet of the Blue Flower: a thinker who met nature as a living counterpart and saw the human being as the place where nature comes to know itself.
- World Soul (Lexicon) Not a mystical belief but a principle of nature: the organising bond that holds the cosmos together as a living whole.
- The World-Will The German metaphysics of the will, from Schopenhauer through Schelling to Helmut Krause’s space-energy.
- Beauty and Cosmos Can beauty be trusted? From the Greek bond between cosmos and beauty to natural beauty as a promise.
- Outer World, Inner World — The Dual Nature of the Human Being Why the human being exists as a dual creature, between a living inner space and a dead outer space, and what that means for how you understand yourself.
- Aliveness (Lexicon) Not a biological property but an ontological foundation: the primary, the irreducible.
- Microcosm-Macrocosm (Lexicon) The whole of the cosmos is structurally present in the human being: not a poetic image but an ontological ground.
Frequently asked questions
What is natural philosophy?
What is the difference between natural philosophy and natural science?
Who is the most important natural philosopher?
Why does natural philosophy still matter today?
If these questions reach into your own life, you can think them through with me in a philosophical consultation.