Abstract

Schelling’s understanding of the concept of pain acquires a major theoretical significance in the writings of the period 1809-1811 (Philosophical Inquiries into the Essence of Human Freedom, the fragmentary dialogue Clara, the Private Lectures in Stuttgart, the uncompleted work about the Ages of the World). Intriguingly, the notion of pain is not only connected to the problem of evil, but to other pivotal topics in Schelling’s philosophical work, such as the notions of life and organism. In particular, the metaphor of birth is closely intertwined with the definition of pain both as concerns the analysis of the single living being and as regards the universe as a whole and the problem of God.