Schelling’s influence on Martin Heidegger is significant, especially in Heidegger’s early thought and in his metaphysical inquiries into Being, freedom, and the role of the unconscious. While Heidegger’s philosophy eventually diverged from Schelling’s, Schelling's work provided key ideas that helped shape Heidegger’s thinking, particularly regarding ontology, the nature of existence, and the tension between freedom and necessity. Heidegger engaged directly with Schelling in his lecture course on **Schelling’s Treatise on Human Freedom** (1936), highlighting some of the central themes that he drew from Schelling’s work.
Here are some of the primary ways in which Schelling influenced Heidegger:
### 1. **Being and Becoming**
Schelling’s philosophy of **Being as dynamic and processual** had a significant impact on Heidegger's understanding of the nature of **Being**. For Schelling, Being is not static but involves becoming, change, and self-unfolding, particularly through the tension between freedom and necessity. Heidegger adopts a similar view in his own work, notably in *Being and Time* (1927), where he focuses on **Dasein** (the human being as the being that questions Being) as a process of becoming.
Schelling’s conception of the **Grund** (ground) as a dark, unconscious force beneath the rational world that gives rise to existence influenced Heidegger’s focus on the **hidden** and **unconcealment** in his own ontology. For Heidegger, Being is always something that is partially hidden and needs to be uncovered through existential inquiry, much like Schelling's view that Being emerges out of a dark ground of potentiality.
### 2. **Freedom and Necessity**
Heidegger was deeply influenced by Schelling’s exploration of the **relationship between freedom and necessity**. In *Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom* (1809), Schelling posits that freedom is intrinsic to the structure of Being itself and is not merely a human attribute. He argues that freedom requires the coexistence of necessity, which gives it form and tension.
Heidegger, in his 1936 lecture series on Schelling, interprets freedom not simply as the capacity for individual choice but as the **essence of human existence**. For Heidegger, as in Schelling, freedom is not just about the will or rational decision-making; it is about the way in which beings come into existence out of the fundamental openness or groundlessness of Being. This understanding of freedom as ontological, tied to the very nature of existence and Being, is central to both Schelling’s and Heidegger’s thinking.
### 3. **The Unconscious and the Ground of Being**
Schelling’s notion of the **unconscious** or **the dark ground** of being, which he articulates in works like *The Ages of the World* (*Die Weltalter*), profoundly influenced Heidegger’s concept of **Being as concealment**. For Schelling, the ground of existence is irrational and unconscious, a dark force that underlies the visible world. This duality between ground and existence is crucial in his metaphysics, where the ground is the source of both freedom and necessity.
Heidegger echoes this duality in his distinction between **Being** (Sein) and **beings** (Seiendes). For Heidegger, Being is not immediately accessible but is veiled and concealed behind everyday beings. His concept of **aletheia** (truth as unconcealment) parallels Schelling’s idea that the ground of Being is something dark and hidden that must be revealed. Both thinkers explore the idea that existence emerges from a kind of metaphysical ground that is not fully rational, visible, or conscious.
### 4. **The Role of Evil and Negativity**
Schelling’s treatment of the **problem of evil** had an important impact on Heidegger’s thinking about **negativity** and **nothingness**. In Schelling’s view, evil is not simply a lack of good, but an active, necessary part of freedom and existence. He argues that without the possibility of evil, freedom would be meaningless because freedom inherently involves the potential for choosing evil. This introduces a metaphysical dimension to the problem of evil, linking it to the ground of existence itself.
Heidegger also grapples with the concept of negativity, especially in his existential analysis of **anxiety** and **nothingness**. In *Being and Time*, Heidegger describes anxiety as a confrontation with the **nothingness** that underlies existence, a feeling that reveals the groundlessness of human life. While Heidegger does not deal with the problem of evil in the same moral terms as Schelling, he is influenced by Schelling’s insight that human existence is always tied to a fundamental negativity or groundlessness, out of which both freedom and dread arise.
### 5. **Existential Freedom and Authenticity**
Schelling’s notion of **freedom as the essence of Being** also influenced Heidegger’s concept of **authenticity**. For Schelling, freedom is not merely a choice between good and evil but is an ontological condition—a force that drives the unfolding of existence. Similarly, Heidegger’s idea of authenticity involves recognizing and embracing the fundamental freedom and responsibility of existence. In *Being and Time*, Heidegger argues that human beings must confront their **thrownness** into the world (a concept that echoes Schelling’s understanding of how beings emerge from a dark, unconscious ground) and make choices that are true to their individual possibilities.
Authenticity for Heidegger is about confronting one’s own Being and the inevitability of death, a confrontation that allows one to live freely and meaningfully. This emphasis on the tension between **finitude** and **freedom** draws from Schelling’s insights into the structure of human freedom, which always operates within the limits of necessity and the dark ground from which existence arises.
### 6. **God, Being, and Transcendence**
Schelling’s metaphysical exploration of **God and Being** in his later works also influenced Heidegger’s understanding of the relationship between **Being and the divine**. Schelling viewed God as both immanent and transcendent, with the divine representing both the source of creation and the ground of existence. Schelling’s God is a dynamic, creative force that unfolds through time and history, much like Being unfolds for Heidegger.
While Heidegger distanced himself from traditional theological views, his concept of Being retains a certain **transcendence** and mystery that echoes Schelling’s view of God. Heidegger’s early theology-influenced works, such as his 1920s lectures on **phenomenology of religion**, also draw upon Schelling’s idea that Being is not fully accessible or understandable and that it requires an **ontological openness** to transcendence, although Heidegger secularizes this notion.
### 7. **Critique of Hegel**
Both Schelling and Heidegger are critical of **Hegel’s absolute idealism** and his concept of **the Absolute** as a totalizing, rational system that subsumes all contradictions. Schelling broke with Hegel, arguing that Hegel’s system lacked space for genuine freedom and that it reduced the dynamic, living nature of Being to a static, logical process. Schelling emphasized the **irrational** and **unconscious** elements of Being that resist rational totalization.
Heidegger, too, critiqued Hegel’s idealism, particularly in his focus on **Being as becoming** and as something that cannot be fully captured by rational categories. Heidegger’s rejection of metaphysical systems that reduce existence to rational determinations aligns with Schelling’s critique of Hegel, particularly in how Heidegger seeks to preserve the **openness** and **mystery** of Being against Hegelian closure.
### Conclusion
Schelling’s influence on Heidegger is profound, particularly in how both thinkers approach the dynamic, processual nature of Being, the interplay between freedom and necessity, and the importance of the unconscious and irrational elements in existence. Schelling’s ideas about the **ground of Being**, **the tension between freedom and necessity**, and the **problem of evil** provided Heidegger with key conceptual tools for his own exploration of **Being, authenticity, and anxiety**.
Heidegger’s engagement with Schelling helped him develop a more nuanced understanding of **freedom as an ontological condition** and shaped his critique of modern philosophy’s tendency to reduce Being to rational structures. Both philosophers ultimately sought to uncover the hidden, mysterious dimensions of existence, and Schelling’s work provided Heidegger with a rich source of inspiration in his own existential and ontological inquiries.
