Kant‹s critique of reason is seen as the original reference point of Schelling‹s early philosophy. It is shown that Schelling endeavored to develop a theory of reason which has knowledge of the world and which should explain the relationship between thought and reality without the postulates of the Dinge an sich (things-in-themselves). In the first part, the basic positions of Kant‹s theoretical philosophy are established from the central standpoint of securing objectivity. In the second part, the early writings are reconstructed as a systematic and largely consistent development of Schelling‹s thinking from a distinct perspective which supersedes Kant.