Det metafysiske, det sanselige og det etiske: nye naturforståelser hos Schelling, Humboldt og Günderrode

Around 1800, a radical turn towards nature took place on the German intellectual scene. As an important event in the history of ideas, this turn has been highly topical in contemporary philosophical, literary, and historical research. One reason for this is that the representatives of this turn developed different understandings of nature – philosophical, scientific, aesthetic and ethical – which are seen by many as possible sources of inspiration for ecocritical research. These historical insights have provided new perspectives on acute questions about humanity’s relationship with nature that the climate and biodiversity crisis has put on the agenda. In this article, we examine this turn towards nature through three romantic thinkers, who collectively represent three interrelated yet diverse contributions to the period’s relevancy in light of modern ecocritical research: F. W. J. Schelling (1775-1854), Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) og Karoline von Günderrode (1780-1806). In these three authorships, a common understanding of nature erupts in varied ways as metaphysics of nature, aesthetics of nature, and ethics of nature. We describe how each author contributes towards this novel understanding of nature, while comparing ideas, inspirations, and differences across the three.