Human Freedom as an Act and a Choice of Good and Evil

Senka Suman
This paper is based on Schellings book Philosophical Inquiries into the
Essence of Human Freedom and discusses about the metaphysics of freedom
and metaphysics of the Evil. In particularly Schelling researches in his book the
topics:
1. Where is the origin of the Evil,
2. how is the Evil manifested in human being,
3. how is Evil that what make human freedom possible.
Schelling claims that the real and vital conception of freedom is that it is
a possibility of good and evil. He doesnt observe here evil as a separate unit, as
some universal evil, but he sees it as the possibility of choice evil of some single
specific man. Thus defining freedom as the capability of good and evil, he points
out that to human being belongs the possibility for evil, because he dont question
the reality of evil but the possibility of evil and hereby he traces that god and evil
are manners of human free being. If the man is only capable to choose good he
would be doing without choice and without possibility to be wrong. Just
possibility that man choose and evil gives positive affirmation to human freedom.
Only human being is being of that choice, its not that other creatures dont have
the possibility of evil but they dont have the possibility of choice and their nature
is by that limited. So only man is capable of evil. Than, Schelling establish that
the essential ground of evil coming from the principle of God, than God acts from
the necessity of His nature, which is the unity of this two principles (principle of
good& evil), man has it in himself separate and they enable that he free exist as
the being of choice and decision. That contrast is needful in order to get mobility
of being. So Schelling claims that decision for evil doesnt have some initiative
outside man which moves it, but as the man is being of possibility so he is also
being of decision. So each particular act comes from the freedom of spirit, from
the inner needfulness of freedom itself. Possibility of good and evil gives the man
choice to create himself in his own movement through the act and choice and
disposing with his self decisions and judgment self-reveal the freedom. This
paper talks about why God permits the evil; why the human being has the choice
of evil and possibility to fail; where is the origin of evil and what is the freedom
and how is its root included in man.

Human Freedom as an Act and a Choice of Good and Evil

Key words: Schelling, freedom, ground, existence, self-will, good and evil.
Der Anfang und das Ende aller Philosophie ist Freiheit1
My paper is based on Schellings book: Philosophical Inquiries into the
Essence of Human Freedom, which is a kind of metaphysics of evil.
The concept of evil which Schelling discusses is characteristic of German
idealism which was started and accentuated by Kant. He was the first to question
freedom as an idea of reason. Kant proved that such an idea has a questionable
objective reality and that the real conception of freedom is when an idea of
freedom comes out of its possibility, i.e. itself into its own existence, that is,
when it comes from the theoretical reason into the practical.
Therefore, we imagine the freedom as a factual possibility, as a potential
independent of man, which receives also a factual reality through its activity. This
process begins with freedom as an idea of reason and ends in freedoms reality
through activity, freedom seen through practical reason. So, man as a theoretical
reason is, first, open field of possibilities, and it has to get out of it by making
final decisions. In his open field of possibilities, man chooses one decision in
order to realize it. This way of freedom will result in good or evil action if the
consequences are compatible with the human given set of rules. Each man has his
either-or, which is first of all a choice to choose good or evil or to reject good
or evil. It is about the very need and the desire to choose, because to live without
making decisions and choices means to live without freedom, as a renegade in
ones own life, as a humiliation of slavery, as lack of the own self. So everything
done by humans is human behavior, human nature and it is directly the
declaration of human freedom. With such concept of freedom and its relationship
with the possibility of evil, life of man has much more dynamic creativity than
traditional concepts of freedom grasped it.
This kind of freedom is only akin to man, since God has a different kind
of freedom, conditionally speaking, He chooses only good with his power of love
and unity, and only man has the freedom to experience. This leads to the
conclusion that only what exists through experience is free and alive, alive as a
dynamic pulsating being, being who establishes its own personal nature through
obstacles, being that is not conditioned by one-dimensional Gods neatness but it
has also the right to create its own chaos. Man is not a tamed creature; he has also
freedom and power to be a beast if he decides to do so, and if he drifts too far
from his own center of being. He is a being who can be independent but also
alone, he can pulse love with the Absolute spirit, or be destructive evil. God is
what it is in itself, but man as a finite being is completely independent (separate

Senka Suman

from God) with his individual wills, thoughts, strivings, actions and hence he is a
mystery, he never knows what he will become.

1. Everything is game, to what Gods word a life gives, to

itself it conceives an existence2
Man, as a being of decision, potentia activa, is the creator of his own
world and therefore Schelling says that the real and vital conception of freedom
is that is a possibility of good and evil.3
Schelling denies existence of evil independent of nature or as some general evil,
but he connects it to man and determines it as potential evil and potential good in
an individual man. Evil is immanent in the very definition of human freedom, but
not as reality of the evil, but as human possibility of evil, as the way man exists
through freedom. So the most extreme discord in beings is existent in the freedom
of man. Schelling starts from the point that if God created man to His own image
then man should be only capable of good, but Schelling argues that God is much
more creative than some actus purissimus, and allowing the man freedom of
choice, He made him a creative being, a being who creates through his own
choices, being that is not introverted but capable of play, dance, humor,
melancholy, craziness, lie and truth, life and death, good and evil.
In order to better understand the definition of freedom, the key question
for Schelling is, where does the evil of the world come from and how is the Evil
present in the man? Schelling made a distinction between being as basis of
existence and being as existence. They have to differ because each being that
exists has to have its basis separated from its existence, and only then it is
complete. But only God, as a specific being has the basis of His own creation
immanent in Him, as the basis that creates His own self eternally. Therefore, God
is sameness and unity of its own Ground and Existence. Schelling starts from
since there is nothing before or outside God, he has to have the basis of his
existence in himself. 4 But, although the root of existence is immanent in him, it
is a separate being and visible only as eternal procreation, in comparison with the
lotus flower that has its root under the water, invisible to the eye in the darkness,
its flower (existence) is the visible part above the surface. That means that the
root of the lotus flower is not separable from its own nature, which is in its
wholeness flower and root, and God also has his own basis as a part of his nature,
ground that comes out from the nature of God and does not have a starting point,
but it has happened on its own and is always moving. It would be impossible to
imagine a basis outside God and God existing without the basis. The basis of God

Human Freedom as an Act and a Choice of Good and Evil

is moved by longing for existence and was woken up by light of existence. God is
the only being originated from itself with the help of longing longing, which
eternal One feels, to give birth to itself.5 This longing for existence also puts God
in a position to consider this moving in so far as it is in Himself, as a Gods selfobservation, self -thought and self-creation.
This leads to a better explanation of mans existence. Schelling believes
that all beings in nature have 2 principles:
1) the one where beings are separated from the basis
2) the one where beings are created in the understanding although they are
unity at the end, the process of change from one to another is important.
Therefore, man is a single being in whom the dark basis changes to light, single
will merges with general, the only being in whom this subtle game of two wills is
possible, will of light and will of darkness. This is a game of establishing
domination of one of these two wills. This game, game of light and darkness, is
possible in man because of his neutral spirit, sprit that is free and that openly
takes these two wills into itself and allows this free game to fulfill its desires.
There is a fight within the spirit, between the selfish will of an individual
(darkness) and general will of the absolute (light). Contrary to the soul, which is
the unity of these two principles, the spirit is free and open for the development
of this game, but also for unity. These extremes are so strong only in man, thus
man is both his own angel and wolf.
Man derives from Gods foundation but this foundation is a separate
being, therefore he has this principle of origin independent of God, but since man
is capable of consolidating his spirit in these two principles, it makes him the
only being in whom God can proclaim and present Unity, His own essence.
Contrary to God who has these two principles as unity inseparable within Him,
man has a possibility of separation and possibility to bring them back to the
center where they are connected. Re-connection is Gods self revelation that is
possible with mans own engulfing of both principles in the unity. So, in the area
of these contradictions and in the freedom of human spirit that enables these
contradictions to exist within him, it is possible that evil is born in man because
of the self-will of darkness, and by the self accomplished light, good is born.
This is freedom of man, which strives to embrace it in its wholeness
throughout mans life (aspiration for totality) and seductively gets through all
expressions of mans vitality as a unique expression of the human being.
Therefore, a mans life is an open horizon, and a drive, a need, a simple and
complex expression of human creativity and only through freedom of his own

Senka Suman

being man finds his own essence. The necessary condition of manhood is found
in freedom, and as such, man is the ground for self proclamation of freedom as
well, through himself, but also for existence through his own freedom. That
means that had beings been given as such, they would have been without
freedom, they would have been a dead result, a simple moment of being without
creativity, they would also not need understanding or thinking. However, by
freedoms act through God and through man, a freedom - God and freedom
man are present, that means that their interference is also possible.

2. All Heaven is within thee, Man, and all of Hell within

thy heart: What thou dost choose and will to have, That
hast thou wheresoeer thou art.6
It is freedom of human being that allows the possibility of evil and
choice of evil, which God did not let into man so it could grow within him, but he
let it live in his own freedom. He now lives as a being separated from God, he
possesses his aloneness (Die Selbstheit) in which he can withdraw to, and this
aloneness is the spirits own will (Der Eigenwille).
In case that spirits own will does not match the spirit of the eternal love
and it does not identify with the universal will, then it is a renegade on its own
path led by the power of the particular will. Mans self-will imposes as the
leading will and disturbs interrelation of Gods principles (which are balanced
from the ground) imposes as a spirit of disarrangement and threatens with
collapse of Gods order and destruction of its own spirit that is its center.
Firstly, we could ask ourselves what is wrong if man puts himself in the first
place and decides and does as he likes, to his own benefit. However, by putting
his particular will in the place of the universal will, there is a change where
harmony with the ground will is lost, which means that domination of ego is
established, and it is focused against the Being, against the unity in God, against
nature and other creatures.
A mans will is a group of living forces and leads a separate life. Only
then when it is in unity with the general will it corresponds with Gods
equilibrium, otherwise when it twists the principles as a particular will full of
distraction and with distance from Gods order, then is the possibility of evil in us
greater.
Therefore, Evil is only a reversed principle in us in order we could
question our own powers and power of spirit. It is also a counterbalance so we
could easier recognize the real truth, validity of the principle of light and

Human Freedom as an Act and a Choice of Good and Evil

universal good. If evil disappeared in man, mans freedom would not be able to
manifest itself and, thus God would not have a medium to present Himself.
Therefore, the possibility of evil is a necessity for man and God, and although it
is present in God only as a potential, in man it turns from the possibility to the
act, the act that expresses our free choice and therefore is called the real
determination through real act and choice. Man is a being who has to choose by
necessity of nature, and by freedom of spirit he is a being of self-will who would,
with freedom of choice, either fall into the deep or exalt to the skies.
Man as a being of possibilities lives in doubt and uncertainty which
principle should he choose, but the act of choice makes him a being of decision
and sets its being into motion. A tree will always be a tree regardless of planting
and soil conditions, but a man is in uncertainty and with one easy mistake brings
himself to the edge of being of something he is not. As Angelus Silesius said
The rose blooms, because She blooms, She does not search, does not know
anything about Herself and does not ask and does not argue. 7
Freedom enables man to take that step to good and harmony with his
center, but also to evil, destruction on the inside. It is so mystical, this human
being, that it could halve itself, it can choose to be either Satan or the image of
the holy God. Again, a mystical being that could create himself again, that he is
again in unity with Gods principles; a being that could shift from individuality
to the universal spirit. It is really mystical when with the choice of evil, he falls
into the kingdom of darkness, kingdom without control where the awareness and
light are lost, and as a blind person, cuts off any ties to the spiritual center.
Then he is incapable to gain control of his dark nature and thence he is judged to
live lost in his aloofness. In the middle of destruction, he destroys himself,
becomes unconscious, without love, without light, without spirit, without reason,
he is more and more distant from God and from himself, with the false idea of
going toward himself. Newly made world is conquered with freedom, its own
fight and conflict of these two principles, it is opened for chaos as well as for the
heavenly garden, left for all influences and turns, it boils in itself and seeks
power.
This is best seen in history, according to both Schelling and Hegel,
history is possible only by man and it is a self birth of spirit developing in him.
Only the spirit disjoins these principles of light and darkness, good and evil, so
history happens only through spirit and separation of principles in spirit.
Schelling claims that before human history, which is self-happening of spirit,
there was a pre-historic age, an age of the rule of nature and the differences
between good and evil were not visible yet, and the basis was without influence

Senka Suman

of other spirits. Whereas, at the time of human history the first transition period
starts, which is the period of sensuality, a period when man believes in magic and
with the help of sensuality and certain beliefs connects to the nature and lives his
life according to them. At that time, man was in close touch with nature, the spirit
was still not awaken through freedom with the fight of these two principles and
therefore, the soul was clean and carried messages from the depth of nature. Most
probably, we could best see the pictures of these times with Mayas and Incas who
had visions and had chosen people to convey messages. Evil that existed at that
time was mostly done out of ignorance, out of fear and for survival, i.e. offering
sacrifice to the Gods, for a bountiful harvest, more rain or better luck for the
whole tribe. But with the proclamation of the spirit through freedom of choice, a
duality of principles also awakes and thus begins the fight of Gods forces against
demons, a fight between good and evil that continues until today. Looking at
todays man and the one from 3000 years ago, we would not say that evil in him
has evolved, but that his own evolution made man more capable of greater evil.
With the mans development and progress, evil has also become more destructive
and ruthless. Evil becomes mass production, will of power and power of intellect.
Looking at the cave art or images carved in stones, man is shown with the spear
or arrow, he kills out of fear and inability, survival and hunger, but looking at
todays images, he destroys the whole city with one atomic bomb, he kills for
religious beliefs, hunger for power, egos insatiable appetite, for testing new
technologies, for not understanding different cultures and customs; looking at
todays images, evil has human abilities, it is modernized and technological.
An animal kills in the same way, then and now, its evil has only one
face, and this is survival, if it is evil at all, but human evil is not concerned with
the survival of the species any more, but of the survival of one: the one with more
power, with domination of power of darkness and principles of evil. This
narcissistic withdrawal into himself, praising the principle of darkness and
particular will as the only correct one, makes the man homeless in his own world
since his home is in the universal spirit, in unity of good and evil. To be here and
now means to be at the open front of our intensive, immediate living, which
means to be without protection of some higher order, it means responsibility to
decide and to do good or evil. It is possible to say for the clerical order that they
are protected from the dangers of freedom since their law is a strict order. But
still, individuals there, who are not good followers, are leaping into danger
outside of the written rule. Human activity through freedom is a factor which
changes and shapes the world, a world which God did not want to limit in

Human Freedom as an Act and a Choice of Good and Evil

advance, but gave freedom to man as a tool of shaping the world. Will man light
Neros torches, will he live Indian ascetic way of life or find his divine Self, this
part lies hidden in each individual as a basic expression of freedom. This doesnt
mean that by choosing good, the return to God is guaranteed, but by removing the
mythology of the heavenly garden, choice of good spirit remembers (Platos
anamnesis) the purest love, with the power of spirit it raises above the evil, he
conquers and brings his own being to light, his spirit longs to proclaim itself as a
light, since it wants to return to the kingdom of Unique. It is possible to say that
human being has to make mistakes, as if there is something Lucifer-alike in all of
us, as if we are capable only of evil and destruction, and for the common good we
can hardly find a way. On the contrary, this way is found in the stronger spirit and
in the power of understanding and in what makes human a human: in thinking
that is freedom in action. Ernst Bloch, in his work on ontology of not-yet-Being,
spoke about everything that Being is, but yet has to become real; this is Being in
its creation. So, it is possible to say man is a Being which is on its way to itself,
and yet, he should be self-created through freedom, thinking, decisions and
creativity.
As we can see, evil is necessary for mans development, it is under his
control, therefore an individual who has chosen single evil has the sole
responsibility for his choice. It is not only about the moral sense of good and evil,
or some good or bad chain of decisions, nor about the evil or bad will, but about
one real way of existence that enables good to come to existence through man, in
the form which that man has potential for it, and evil to accomplish itself from its
own potentially-destructive form into one real act. The whole human history, for
Schelling, is a proof of the realization of power of good and evil through man and
within man. It is a history that realizes itself through man, it is a battlefield where
forces measure good and evil and this makes the man the greatest warrior in his
absolute, independent from God.
This is exactly the field where man needs to develop his characteristics and has to
show life courage.

3.
Become essential, Man. When the world fails at last,
Accident falls away, but Essence, that stands fast.8
Freedom of spirit is self-creating freedom, pure practical act led by the
idea of freedom, it is self-announced within man. Freedom of spirit is creative
and starts this creativity and depending on how much the spirit is open for its
expression it is so much more creative and divine. Finally, freedom of spirit looks

Senka Suman

up to the more divine freedom of the absolute, to the idea of freedom, to the
Being of freedom itself. Principle of evil in man is a principle of selfishness that
controls all decisions and acts where ego tries to make freedom an enemy, i.e. to
put itself in freedoms place. When that happens, man gets into a state of
aloneness as the only principle; he is covered with darkness and has no balance.
Regardless how cruel he might find it, man is the only one to blame for being lost
on the path and introducing the dictatorship of evil, and therefore it is he who
caused destruction to himself and his environment with his spiritual immaturity.
By imposing his particular will, he becomes a tyrant of a Lucifer kind, inclined to
discord, injustice, sin and death. It is all freedom, both polarities, enabling
independent life, freedom in itself is neither one nor another, and it only enables
the potential of good and evil. And if there is a change of principles in man, if
man looses light that shines over these two principles and in this darkness makes
his ego stronger, which is not led by eternal love, but is subject to his own
existence in order to have power over things, then the man is directed to false
Being.
At the end, we are left with a single battle, to either follow the way of
Gods love or follow the path of particular selfishness. Augustine would say:
DILIGE, ET QUOD VIS FAC9

Notes:
1.

The beginning and the end of all philosophy is- freedom

F.W.J., Schelling,Vom Ich als Princip der Philosophie oder ber das Unbedingte
im menschlichen Wissen, in Ausgew.Schriften, F.a.M. 1985, Band 1, p. 67.
2.
Angelus Silesius, from The Cherubinic Wanderer in Bla Hamvas,
Anthologia humana, Sipar, Zagreb 2005, p. 158.
3.
.F.W.J., Schelling, Philosophische Untersuchung ber das Wesen der
menschlichen Freiheit und die damit zusammenhngenden Gegenstnde.,
Suhrkamp,1975, p. 48.
4.
Schelling,F.W.J., O bitstvu ljudske slobode, Cekade,Zagreb 1985, p. 30.
5.
Ibid, p. 31.
6.
Silesius,Angelus, from The Cherubinic Wanderer, Inwardness V,
http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/sil/scw/scw05.htm
7.
Silesius,Angelus, from The Cerubinic Wanderer in Bla Hamvas, Antologia
Humana, Sipar, Zagreb, p.157.

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Human Freedom as an Act and a Choice of Good and Evil

8.

Angelus Silesius, The Cherubinic Wanderer, Accident and Essence IX,

http://www.sacredtexts.com/chr/sil/scw/scw09.htm
9.
Saint Augustine Love and do what you want! in Epist.Joann.Tractatus, VII,8

Bibliography:
Bloch, Ernst, Das Prinzip Hoffnung. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1979.
Hamvas Bla, Anthologia Humana. Sipar, Zagreb, 2005.
Heidegger, Martin, Schellings treatise on the essence of human freedom. Ohio
University Press, Translated by Joan Stambaugh, Athens, 1985.
Kant, I., Kritika cistog uma. Beogradsko izdavacko-graficki zavod, Beograd,
1976.
Kant, I., Kritika praktickog uma. Naprijed, Zagreb, 1974.
Schelling, F.W.J., Philosophische Untersuchungen ber das Wesen der
menschilchen Freiheit und die damit zusammenhngenden Gegenstnde.
Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main,1975.
Schelling, F.W.J., O bitstvu slobode. Cekade, Zagreb, 1985.
Silesius, Angelus, From sacred-texts, copyright 2007, viewed on 14 January
2008, http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/sil/index.htm

Senka Suman (1976) is PhD student at the University of Zagreb, Department

Philosophy, Croatia.