ABSTRACT
This paper develops elements of the controversy between Fichte and Schelling regarding aesthetics, philosophy of language and philosophy of religion starting from Schelling's "Inquiry on human freedom" and Fichte's late presentation of the "Wissenschaftslehre" (1810-1813). The polemics between Fichte and Schelling is not just a speculative one, but it involves different implications and consequences of their philosophical systems, which can be deepened through an analysis of the role of analogy by the two authors. Analogy is a figure that combines aesthetics, philosophy of language and philosophy of religion; it is a significant that puts the problem of meaning, i.e., puts the problem of the relationship between finite and infinite (Schelling) and the relationship between absolute and factual knowledge (Fichte). This relationship will be investigated starting from some passages of the "Inquiry on human freedom" (§2); then the function of the concept of analogy and symbol in this context will be analysed (§3) and, at last, a different understanding of the church as a symbol of the absolute in "Schelling's Philosophy of art" and Fichtes's "System of ethics" of 1798 and 1812 (§4).
Keywords
Fichte; Schelling; Analogy; Philosophy of language; Philosophy of religion; Transcendental philosophy; Aesthetics; Science of knowledge; Absolute