Seminari dell'Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici

Tutte le iniziative, ove non altrimenti specificato, si svolgono nella sede dell'Istituto e sono aperte al pubblico.

Biocentrism, Anthropocentrism, Ecocentrism: Conceptions of Nature in German Classical Philosophy

23-24 febbraio 2026

L'incontro si terrà in presenza e sulla piattaforma Zoom. Per iscrizioni alla piattaforma Zoom inviare richiesta di adesione all'indirizzo Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.

Biocentrism, Anthropocentrism, Ecocentrism: Conceptions of Nature in German Classical Philosophy

A cura di Stefania Achella (Università di Chieti)

Lunedì 23 febbraio, ore 15
Georg Oswald (University of Kiel)
Grounding Values in Nature: Kantian Responses to Challenges of Bio- and Ecocentrism

Stefania Achella (University of Chieti-Pescara)
Become Terrestrial. The legacy of Hegel and Humboldt

Federica Pitillo (University of Naples Federico II)
“The Crystal of Life”: On Geology and Mineralogy in Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature


Martedì 24 febbraio, ore 10
Luis Fellipe Garcia (University of Leuwen)
Expanding the Subject and Limiting the Human: Schelling’s Potential Contribution to Environmental Ethics

Giulia Bernard, Luca Illetterati (University of Padua)
Challenging the Anthropocene: Critical Perspectives from Schelling and Hegel

Conclusions Luca Corti (University of Padua)



This seminar aims to explore the connections, tensions, and intersections between German Classical Philosophy and recent debates on environmental ontology and ethics. Starting from the hypothesis of a non-mechanistic and non-instrumental reconsideration of nature, the seminar seeks to investigate the possibility of overcoming anthropocentric individualism in favor of a relational ontology. Alongside the major figures of German Classical Philosophy (Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel), key representatives of the Goethe-Zeit and of organic science will also be examined, in an effort to highlight early and original tendencies toward an alternative ecological thought. The goal of the seminar is to reinterpret the leading figures of German Classical Philosophy in light of today’s ecological and environmental challenges, and to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between the history of philosophy, environmental ethics, and contemporary ecological theory