Schelling, Friedrich

shel'ing, Friedrich (1775-1854), a German philosopher. He was a native of Wurtemberg. He studies at the universities of Tubingen, Leipsic, and Jena. At the latter he came under the influence of Fichte. He held university positions at Erlangen, Vurzburg, Munich, and Berlin. In the development of German philosophy he follows Fichte and precedes Hegel. The kernel of his thought is difficult to state. He taught that the mere mind or intellect of man recognizes two divisions of the universe. They are matter and mind,--the objective and the subjective, the real and the ideal, being and thought, body and soul, the finite and the infinite. "In fact, however," says Schelling, "the two are one. God and Nature are the same."