An Art of the Ugly in Schelling’s Philosophie der Kunst: Questions concerning the ‘umgekehrt Symbolische’ of §103

I argue that §103 of Schelling’s Philosophie der Kunst— particularly the use therein of the categories of the ‘umgekehrt Symbolische’ and ‘das Entgegengesetzte der Idee’—poses challenges for the identity philosophy. Indeed, I argue that this section presents what looks, at first blush, like a scandal for the very identity philosophy itself, and that even after extensive reconstruction, it is still one of the identity philosophy’s most radical statements.