Abstract
Heidegger’s philosophical work is driven by a radical criticism of the idealist view that being is posited by the human subject. However, in developing his conception of the finitude of being, Heidegger finds decisive sources of inspiration in the work of Schelling and Hegel. His account of truth as a concealing disclosure of meaning comes unexpectedly close to Hegel’s concept of negativity; this leads him to gradually radicalize his critique of Hegel’s understanding of the concept and to redefine philosophical thinking. Heidegger finds an ally in Schelling and especially in the distinction between being as “ground of existence” and being “insofar as it exists.” He uses this distinction in his efforts not only to undermine the metaphysical quest for self-foundation but also to articulate his own conception of ethos.
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Notes
- 1.
Cf. GA 14d, p. 94, trans. p. 75.
- 2.
Heidegger probably received from Jaspers the following edition: Schelling, F.W.J. 1918. Schellings Philosophie, Berlin: Deutsche Bibliothek.
- 3.
I allow myself to refer to my book, in which I try to collect most of Heidegger’s Schelling-quotations: Gourdain 2018, pp. 16–18.
- 4.
Günter Figal underlies the similarities in Schelling’s and Heidegger’s “philosophical biographies” (Figal 2010, pp. 51–52). In the lecture of 1936 a real sympathy for Schelling shimmers through, for instance in this sentence: “But the truth is that there was seldom a thinker who fought so passionately ever since his earliest periods for his one and unique standpoint.” (GA 42, p. 10, trans. p. 6)
- 5.
- 6.
Cf. Schwab 2013, pp. 16–17.
- 7.
Cf. GA 65, p. 81, trans. modified, p. 65: “The jointure is something essentially other than a ‘system’ (Die Fuge ist etwas wesentlich anderes als ein ‘System’).”
- 8.
On the resonances between the Schellingian ground and Heidegger’s conception of “ground” and of “grounding” (Gründung) in the Contributions to Philosophy, see Gourdain 2020.
- 9.
On the importance of love in Heidegger’s later thought, see especially Gourdain 2017, pp. 275–345.
- 10.
Cf. Gourdain 2017. In this book, I develop a conception of ethos from Heidegger’s and Schelling’s late philosophies, and in doing so, I highlight a deep convergence between their late thoughts.
- 11.
Cf. Köhler 2010.
- 12.
The word Ek-sistenz, in this spelling, is already used in the course of 1930 “Vom Wesen der Wahrheit” (GA 9b), and it reoccurs in later texts, especially in “Brief über den Humanismus” (GA 9d).
- 13.
Cf. Gourdain 2017.
- 14.
Cf. SW Xa, p. 35. Schelling mentions “the blind being that thinking can’t get behind (dem blinden Seyn, dem kein Denken zuvorkommen kann).” In another passage, Heidegger refers explicitly to Schelling by quoting this expression: “The unprethinkable (which no thinking can get behind (Das Unvordenkliche—dem kein Denken zuvorkommen kann).” GA 86, p. 519.
- 15.
On Heidegger’s fascination for Hegel cf. Grondin 2003.
- 16.
Cf. Ionel 2020.
- 17.
Cf. Henrich 2003.
- 18.
At the beginning of this manuscript, published first in 1993, Heidegger describes Hegel’s philosophy “as the singular and not yet comprehended demand for a confrontation with it…for any thinking that comes after it or for any thinking that simply wants to—and perhaps must—prepare again for philosophy” (GA 68, p. 3, trans. p. 3).
- 19.
Cf. Dahlstrom 2013.
- 20.
Hans-Georg Gadamer (1983) and Werner Marx (1961) have criticized Heidegger’s assumption that Hegel’s philosophical standpoint corresponds to a subjectivism.
- 21.
Cf. De Boer 2000.
- 22.
Gadamer (1976) has criticized Heidegger for a reductive understanding of concepts, owing to Heidegger’s preference for the tradition of German mysticism and romanticism over the Greek tradition of λόγος.
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Gourdain, S., Ionel, L. (2020). Heidegger and German Idealism (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel): Subjectivity and Finitude. In: Stewart, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism and Existentialism. Palgrave Handbooks in German Idealism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44571-3_16
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