In his Ages of the World Schelling writes: the past is known (gewusst), the present is recognized (erkannt), the future is foreseen (geahndet). Further, he claims that the known is narrated (erzählt), that the recognized is exposed or presented (dargestellt), and that the forseen is foretold. This fragment stems from the “middle Schelling”, between the enthusiast of the French Revolution and Enlightenment and the conservative thinker. The ideas presented in the Ages of the World should be thus read as disenchanted politics seeking for refuge in theology. But can we rephrase his words to restitute the evaporating smell of revolution?
The past is inherited. It is a virtual patrimony received by our predecessor coming from all corners and times. It can only be accessed by history, by stories, narrations, and testimonies. It includes the history of the oppressed together will all the resources we have to do justice to them and to future generations. It is never exhausted by the present.
The present is the world we can call to interrogate, to appear before a judge. The present is systematically exposed to be examined, especially through its tensions, contradictions and failed expectations. The future can only be strived for. It is our horizon of justice, which can only be accessed in the form of utopia. Utopia is also the space for imagination and ideal variation of the possible. History, criticism and utopia from the indissoluble triad of human collective existence.