98
Schelling's Treatise on the Essence of Human Freedom

failed. For every philosophy fails, that belongs to its concept. Of course, common sense concludes from this that philosophizing is therefore not worthwhile, because only what is palpably profitable has any status for it. Conversely, the philosopher concludes from this that philosophy is an indestructible necessity because he thinks that one day this failure might be overcome and philosophy could be "finished." Philosophy is always completed when its end becomes and remains what its beginning is, the question. For only by truly remaining in questioning does it force what is worthy of question to appear. But by opening up what is most worthy of question, it helps bring about the openness of what overcomes and transcends from the very bottom nothingness and what is naught, helps bring about the openness of Being. Being is what is most worthy because it asserts the highest rank before all beings and in all beings and for all beings. Being is the ether in which man breathes . Without this ether, he would descend to the mere beast and his whole activity to the breeding of beasts.

Because Schelling's treatise on human freedom is at the core a metaphysics of evil; because with it a new, essential impulse enters philosophy's fundamental question of Being; because every development was denied this impulse up to now; and because, however, such a development can only become fruitful in a higher transformation, we shall attempt an interpretation of the treatise on freedom here. That is the truly philosophical reason for this choice.

Schelling shows first of all how the system is split open by the reality of evil . He discusses various possibilities of introducing evil into the system. In the examination of such attempts various versions of the concept of evil are formulated. Thus, in this manner a beginning overall view of the realm of the question is gained at the same time which is to be "evil." The result of this final reflection of the introduction is negative the first time. Previous systems, especially Idealism, are incapable of founding a true system acknowledging the reality of evil. The next time the reflection is affirmative: the determining ground of the system, the essence of Being in general, must be more primordially conceived in order for evil to be comprehensible in its own being and thus introduced into the system, thus making a system of freedom possible.

Since this final reflection no longer presents any particular difficulties if we can presuppose that what was said by way of interpreting the introduction was understood, we can limit ourselves to characterizing the fundamental traits of the final part's train of thought and above all emphasizing what is important for the concept of evil.

I n terms of pantheism, the system can be expressed in its fundamen tal jointure by the sentence: God is everything. We recognized in the "is" thej ointure of the ground of beings as a whole and the totality of beings. The relation between ground and totality can be thought in three main forms, which have also been developed historically. The first and most general is the being contained of things in God ("immanence"). The second is God's accompaniment with all things


Martin Heidegger (GA 42) Schelling's Treatise on the Essence of Human Freedom