Overview

Naturphilosophie, or the natural philosophy that was developed in nineteenth century Germany, was an attempt on the part of philosophers like Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854) and Lorenz Oken (1779-1851) to advance a philosophical understanding of Nature as opposed to the mere scientific study of it. One of the major German natural philosophers was Carl Gustav Carus (1789-1869), whose published works included several books on zoology, medicine, psychology, and physiology apart from his major natural philosophical work, Natur und Idee, oder das Werdende und sein Gesetz (1861). According to Carus, all philosophical study must begin with God, and one who is not conscious of the Idea of God in himself cannot pretend to philosophise. This consciousness is contained in the individual mind as the conscious mind, as 'its willing, feeling and understanding'. Of the organic bodies manifest on earth, man is thus the highest. However, man can develop spiritually to a high degree only within a state, which men design when they have progressed beyond the individual and the family. Since the highest endeavour of man must be his return to God, political life should be perfected in the spiritual. By providing a knowledge of the manifestation of the divinity within the macrocosm and the microcosm Carus' study of Becoming serves as a preparation for the highest human pursuits of spiritual philosophy and religion.

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