How The Freedom Of The Finite Is Possible

Schelling’s Philosophy and Religion focuses on the exercise of human freedom on the basis of the identity philosophy.The finite becomes the antithesis of the infinite through negation and deviation,so that the freedom of the finite actually introduces an element of irrationality into the normative order,which constitutes an important element in Schelling’s late philosophy.The freedom that Schelling discusses is inherited from Kant’s notion of a traszendental freedom and emphasizes the(positive)freedom of defining oneself,but their different views on the source of the freedom of the finite reflect different metaphysical foundations.Schelling’s desire to account for what makes the freedom of the finite possible from an Absolute comes from an adaptation of Spinoza’s monistic philosophical system,where the finite has a definite ground for its own existence,but demands its freedom to act outside the exercise of the Absolute’s power of determination.Unlike Kant’s philosophy of freedom from ideas alone,Schelling begins by stating that the Absolute is the unity of the idea and the real,and that there is no longer an unknowable essence outside the Absolute,which avoids the dualistic structure that requires the incorporation of the sensible world into the world of understanding.Schelling’s a traszendental freedom based on the Absolute is not problematic in positive philosophy because the freedom of the Absolute is satisfied by spontaneity and selfdetermination,but the problem of the human freedom and the reality of evil forces Schelling to consider how an existent with negative differences is generated within the Absolute.The freedom of the finite is the negation of normativity,an act and process he calls "AbfalI".The freedom of the finite arises from being in a primordial relationship with the Absolute,and from the desire for selfishness and autonomy from the Absolute.The freedom of the finite is close in connotation to what Kant calls practical freedom,but Schelling offers a different metaphysical account.For Kant,the freedom of choice is introduced by the requirement that immoral acts be morally responsible for them,and practical freedom is in fact not concerned with metaphysical arguments,but is simply a determination of the will.But the freedom of the finite comes from the freedom of the Absolute to self-determine,and the freedom of the finite is likewise to define itself,either by considering the self as another Absolute above all existents,or by returning to the Unity through the knowledge of its own nature,the latter option being the true bliss and happiness,Schelling pointing out that insistence on selfhood is a doom trapped in necessity.