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.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
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.
Bibliography
Agamben, Giorgio. 2006. Language and Death: The Place of Negativity. Trans. Michael Hardt. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Buchheim, Thomas. 1999. Metaphysische Notwendigkeit des Bösen: Über eine Zweideutigkeit in Heideggers Auslegung der Freiheitsschrift. In Zeit und Freiheit. Schelling—Schopenhauer—Kierkegaard—Heidegger. Akten der Fachtagung der Internationalen Schelling-Gesellschaft, Budapest, 24. bis 27. April 1997, ed. István M. Fehér and Wilhelm G. Jacobs, 183–191. Budapest: Éthos Könyvek.
Courtine, Jean-François. 1980. Anthropologie et anthropomorphisme. Heidegger lecteur de Schelling. In Nachdenken über Heidegger. Eine Bestandaufnahme, ed. Ute Guzzoni, 9–35. Hildesheim: Gerstenberg.
Dahlstrom, Daniel. 2013. Thinking of Nothing: Heidegger’s Criticism of Hegel’s Conception of Negativity. In A Companion to Hegel, ed. Stephen Houlgate, 519–536. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
David, Pascal. 2003. Heideggers Deutung von Schellings Freiheitsschrift als Gipfel der Metaphysik des deutschen Idealismus. In Heideggers Zwiegespräch mit dem deutschen Idealismus, ed. Harald Seubert, 125–140. Cologne: Böhlau.
De Boer, Karin. 2000. Thinking in the Light of Time: Heidegger’s Encounter with Hegel. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Figal, Günter. 2010. Schelling zwischen Hölderlin und Nietzsche—Heidegger liest Schellings Freiheitsschrift. In Heideggers Schelling-Seminar (1927/28), Die Protokolle von Martin Heideggers Seminar zu Schellings “Freiheitsschrift” (1927/28) und die Akten des Internationalen Schelling-Tags 2006, Lektüren F.W.J. Schellings I, ed. Lore Hühn and Jörg Jantzen, 45–58. Stuttgart/Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog.
Froman, Wayne J. 1990. Schelling’s Treatise on the Essence of Human Freedom and Heidegger’s Thought. International Philosophical Quarterly 30: 465–480.
GA 1: Heidegger, Martin. 1978. Die Kategorien- und Bedeutungslehre des Duns Scotus. In Frühe Schriften. Gesamtausgabe (abbreviated as GA, Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann). Ed. Friedrich Wilhelm von Herrmann, 189–411. (In English: Conclusion: The Problem of Categories. In Supplements. Ed. John van Buren, Trans. Roderick M. Stewart and John van Buren. New York: New York State University Press, 2002, 62–68.)
GA 11a: Heidegger, Martin. 2006. Der Satz der Identität. In Identität und Differenz. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 31–50. (In English: The Principle of Identity. In Identity and Difference. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. New York: Harper & Row, 1969, 23–41.)
GA 11b: Heidegger, Martin. 2006. Was ist das—die Philosophie? In Identität und Differenz. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 3–26. (In English: What is That–Philosophy? Trans. Eva T. H. Brann. Annapolis, Maryland: St. John’s College Press, 1991.)
GA 14a: Heidegger, Martin. 2007. Zeit und Sein. In Zur Sache des Denkens. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 3–30. (In English: Time and Being. In On Time and Being. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. New York: Harper & Row, 1996, 1–24.)
GA 14b: Heidegger, Martin. 2007. Das Ende der Philosophie und die Aufgabe des Denkens. In Zur Sache des Denkens. Ed. by Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 67–90. (In English: The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking. In On Time and Being. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. New York: Harper & Row, 1996, 55–73.)
GA 14c: Heidegger, Martin. 2007. Protokoll zu einem Seminar über den Vortrag ‘Zeit und Sein’. In Zur Sache des Denkens. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 31–66. (In English: Summary of a Seminar on the Lecture ‘Time and Being’. In On Time and Being. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. New York: Harper & Row, 1996, 25–54.)
GA 14d: Heidegger, Martin. 2007. Mein Weg in die Phänomenologie. In Zur Sache des Denkens. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 91–102. (In English: My Way to Phenomenology. In On Time and Being. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. New York: Harper & Row, 1996, 74–82.)
GA 15: Heidegger, Martin. 2005. Seminare. Ed. Curd Ochwadt. (In English: Four Seminars. Trans. Andrew Mitchell and François Raffoul. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003.)
GA 26: Heidegger, Martin. 1978. Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Logik im Ausgang von Leibniz. Ed. Klaus Held. (In English: The Metaphysical Foundations of Logic. Trans. Michael Heim. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984.)
GA 28: Heidegger, Martin. 1997. Der Deutsche Idealismus (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel) und die philosophische Problemlage der Gegenwart. Ed. Claudius Strube.
GA 32: Heidegger, Martin. 1980. Hegels Phänomenologie des Geistes. Ed. Ingtraud Görland. (In English: Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. Parvis Emad and Kenneth Maly. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.)
GA 33: Heidegger, Martin. 1981. Aristoteles, Metaphysik Θ 1-3: Von Wesen und Wirklichkeit der Kraft. Ed. Hans Hüni. (In English: Aristotle’s Metaphysics Θ 1-3: On the Essence and Actuality of Force. Trans. Walter Brogan and Peter Warnek. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995.)
GA 42: Heidegger, Martin. 1977. Schelling: Vom Wesen der menschlichen Freiheit (1809). Ed. Ingrid Schüßler. (In English: Schelling’s Treatise on the Essence of Human Freedom. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. Athens: Ohio University Press 1984.)
GA 49: Heidegger, Martin. 1991. Die Metaphysik des deutschen Idealismus. Zur erneuten Auslegung von Schelling: Philosophische Untersuchungen über das Wesen der menschlichen Freiheit und die damit zusammenhängenden Gegenstände (1809). Ed. Günter Seubold.
GA 56/57: Heidegger, Martin. 1987. Zur Bestimmung der Philosophie. Ed. Bernd Heimbüchel. (In English: Towards the Definition of Philosophy. Trans. Ted Sadler. London: The Athlone Press, 2000.)
GA 5a: Heidegger, Martin. 1977. Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes (1935/36). In Holzwege. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 1–74. (In English: Origin of the Work of Art. In Off the Beaten Track. Trans. Julian Young and Kenneth Haynes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, 1–56.)
GA 5b: Heidegger, Martin. 1977. Hegels Begriff der Erfahrung. In Holzwege. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 115–208. (In English: Hegel’s Concept of Experience. In Off the Beaten Track. Trans. Julian Young and Kenneth Haynes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, 86–156.)
GA 65: Heidegger, Martin. 1989. Beiträge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis). Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. (In English: Contributions to Philosophy (of the Event). Trans. Richard Rojcewicz and Daniela Vallega-Neu. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012.)
GA 66: Heidegger, Martin. 1997. Besinnung. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann.
GA 68: Heidegger, Martin. 1993. Hegel. Ed. Ingrid Schüssler. (In English: Hegel. Trans. Joseph Areal and Niels Feuerhahn. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015.)
GA 7: Heidegger, Martin. 2000. Logos. In Vorträge und Aufsätze. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 211–234. (In English: Logos. In Early Greek Thinking. Trans. David Farrell Krell and Frank A. Capuzzi. New York: Harper & Row, 1984, 59–78.)
GA 73.2: Heidegger, Martin. 2013. Zum Ereignis-Denken. Ed. Peter Trawny.
GA 81: Heidegger, Martin. 2007. Gedachtes. Ed. Paola-Ludovica Coriando.
GA 86: Heidegger, Martin. 2011. Seminare: Hegel—Schelling. Ed. Peter Trawny.
GA 88: Heidegger, Martin. 2008. Seminare (Übungen) 1937/38 und 1941/42. Ed. by Alfred Denker.
GA 9a: Heidegger, Martin. 1976. Vom Wesen des Grundes. In Wegmarken. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 123–176. (In English: On the Essence of Ground. In Pathmarks. Trans. William McNeill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 97–135.)
GA 9b: Heidegger, Martin. 1976. Vom Wesen der Wahrheit. In Wegmarken. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 177–202. (In English: On the Essence of Truth. In Pathmarks. Trans. William McNeill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 136–154.)
GA 9c: Heidegger, Martin. 1976. Hegel und die Griechen. In Wegmarken. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 427–444. (In English: Hegel and the Greeks. In Pathmarks. Trans. William McNeill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 323–336.)
GA 9d: Heidegger, Martin. 1976. Brief über den Humanismus. In Wegmarken. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, 313–364. (In English: Letter on Humanism. In Pathmarks. Trans. William McNeill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 239–277.)
Gadamer, Hans-Georg. 1968. Die Sprache der Metaphysik. In Gesammelte Werke, vol. 3, 229–237. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
———. 1971. Hegel und Heidegger. In Gesammelte Werke, vol. 3, 87–104. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
———. 1976. Sein Geist Gott. In Heideggers Wege. Studien zum Spätwerk, 152–163. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Gourdain, Sylvaine. 2017. L’ethos de l’im-possible. Dans le sillage de Heidegger et Schelling. Paris: Hermann.
———. 2018. Sortir du transcendantal. Heidegger et sa lecture de Schelling. Ousia: Bruxelles.
———. 2020. Ground, Abyss, and Primordial Ground. Heidegger in the Wake of Schelling. In Paths in Heidegger’s Later Thought, ed. Diego D’Angelo, Günter Figal, Tobias Keiling, and Guang Yang. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Grondin, Jean. 2003. Heideggers Verschärfung der Metaphysik. In Heideggers Zwiegespräch mit dem deutschen Idealismus, ed. Harald Seubert. Cologne: Böhlau.
Großmann, Andreas. 1996. Spur zum Heiligen. Kunst und Geschichte im Widerstreit zwischen Hegel und Heidegger. Bonn: Bouvier.
Haar, Michel. 1980. Structures hégeliennes dans la pensée heidéggerienne de l’histoire. Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 85: 48–59.
GW 20: Hegel, G.W.F. 1992. Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse (1830). Gesammelte Werke (abbreviated as GW), vol. 20. Ed. Wolfgang Bonsiepen and Hans-Christian Lucas. Hamburg: Meiner.
SZ: Heidegger, Martin. 1953. Sein und Zeit. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. (In English: Being and Time. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.)
Heidegger, Martin, and Arendt, Hannah. 1998. Briefe 1925 bis 1975 und andere Zeugnisse, ed. Ursula Ludz. Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann. (In English: Letters 1925–1975. Trans. Ursula Ludz and Andrew Shields. Orlando: Harcourt, 2004.)
Heidegger, Martin and Jaspers, Karl. 1990. Briefwechsel 1920–1963, ed. Walter Biemel and Hans Saner. Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann. (In English: The Heidegger-Jaspers Correspondence, 1920–1963. Trans. Gary E. Aylesworth. Amherst: Humanity Books 2003.)
Henrich, Dieter. 2003. Between Kant and Hegel. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hühn, Lore, and Jantzen, Jörg, eds. 2010. Heideggers Schelling-Seminar (1927/28), Die Protokolle von Martin Heideggers Seminar zu Schellings “Freiheitsschrift” (1927/28) und die Akten des Internationalen Schelling-Tags 2006, Lektüren F.W.J. Schellings. Stuttgart/Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog.
Ionel, Lucian. 2020. Sinn und Begriff: Negativität bei Hegel und Heidegger. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Janicaud, Dominique. 1988. Heidegger—Hegel: un ‘dialogue’ impossible? In Heidegger et l’idée de la phénoménologie, ed. Franco Volpi, 145–164. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Koch, Anton Friedrich. 2014. Hegel und Heidegger. In Die Evolution des logischen Raumes, 287–302. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Köhler, Dietmar. 1999. Von Schelling zu Hitler? Anmerkungen zu Heideggers Schelling-Interpretationen von 1936 und 1941. In Zeit und Freiheit. Schelling—Schopenhauer—Kierkegaard—Heidegger. Akten der Fachtagung der Internationalen Schelling-Gesellschaft, Budapest, 24. bis 27. April 1997, ed. István M. Fehér and Wilhelm G. Jacobs, 201–213. Budapest: Éthos Könyvek.
———. 2010. Kontinuität und Wandel—Heideggers Schelling-Interpretationen von 1936 und 1941. In Heideggers Schelling-Seminar (1927/28), Die Protokolle von Martin Heideggers Seminar zu Schellings “Freiheitsschrift” (1927/28) und die Akten des Internationalen Schelling-Tags 2006, Lektüren F.W.J. Schellings, ed. Lore Hühn and Jörg Jantzen, 163–191. Stuttgart/Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog.
Marx, Werner. 1980. Heidegger und die Tradition: eine problemgeschichtliche Einführung in die Grundbestimmungen des Seins. Hamburg: Meiner.
Pippin, Robert. 1997. Heideggerian Historicity and Metaphysical Politics. In Idealism as Modernism, 395–414. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pöggeler, Otto. 1995. Hegel und Heidegger über Negativität. Hegel-Studien 30: 145–166.
Scheier, Claus-Artur. 1996. Die Zeit der Seynsfuge. Zu Heideggers Interesse an Schellings Freiheitschrift. In Schellings Weg zur Freiheitsschrift. Akten der Fachtagung der Internationalen Schelling-Gesellschaft vom 14.-17. Oktober 1992, ed. Hans Michael Baumgartner and Wilhelm G. Jacobs, 28–39. Stuttgart/Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog.
Schwab, Philipp. 2013. Nonground and the Metaphysics of Evil. From Heidegger’s First Schelling Seminar to Derrida’s Last Reading of Schelling (1927–2002). Analecta Hermeneutica 5: 1–30.
Sheehan, Thomas. 2015. Making Sense of Heidegger. London and New York: Rowman & Littlefield International.
SW VII: Schelling, F.W.J. Philosophische Untersuchungen über das Wesen der menschlichen Freiheit und die damit zusammenhängenden Gegenstände. Sämmtliche Werke (abbreviated as SW), ed. Karl Friedrich August Schelling. Stuttgart and Augsburg: Cotta. (In English: Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom. Trans. Jeff Love and Johannes Schmidt. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006.)
SW Xa: Schelling, F.W.J. Zur Geschichte der neueren Philosophie. Münchner Vorlesungen.
SW Xb: Schelling, F.W.J. Darstellung des philosophischen Empirismus. Aus der Einleitung in die Philosophie.
Warnek, Peter. 2005. Reading Schelling after Heidegger: The Freedom of Cryptic Dialogue. In Schelling Now. Contemporary Readings, ed. Jason M. Wirth, 163–183. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
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
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44571-3_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-44570-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-44571-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)