Schelling’s Dante

The importance of the Lectura Dantis for Schelling’s philosophy, at least between Das erste Systemprogramm (First System Programme) and Die Weltalter (The Ages of the World), has for many years now been clearly highlighted by Wolfram Hogrebe and there is no need to repeat here his reflections on it. I believe the link that ties Schelling and Dante goes beyond these limits and constitutes a special guideline to understanding general but fundamental key junctures in the maturing of his philosophical system, both in terms of Fichte and Hegel. This essay focuses on showing a viable course of investigation on this, with particular attention to Schelling’s philosophy of nature and the role assigned by him to Dante in his general concept of the myth.