Johann Gottfried Herder
German philosopher, theologian, literary critic, and pioneering philosopher of history and language (1744–1803). Three roles in Schelling's 1809 *Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom*: (1) the author of God. Some Conversations (Gott. Einige Gespräche, 1787) — reprinted as Supplementary Text 5 to the Freedom Essay volume, the most extended natural-philosophical articulation of the principle of persistency and the point of indifference between opposed forces (magnetism, electricity, warmth/cold); (2) source of the Urreligion (original religion) doctrine via Ideas for the Philosophy of History of Mankind (1784–91, editors' note 102 to Freedom Essay line 1849); (3) the late entrant to the Pantheismusstreit whose "considerable influence on Schelling has been relatively undervalued" (editors' Introductory Note, raw line ~1881). Herder's contribution to Schelling's metaphysics is natural-philosophical: his treatment of polarity, point-of-indifference, and the one law underlying all polar phenomena supplies the empirical-natural backdrop for what Schelling will articulate as the Ungrund / ground-existence structure.
Key Points
- Born 1744 in Mohrungen (East Prussia), died 1803 in Weimar. Major works: Treatise on the Origin of Language (1772, prize essay for the Berlin Academy); Ideas for the Philosophy of History of Mankind (Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit, 4 vols., 1784–91); God. Some Conversations (Gott. Einige Gespräche, 1787, the Pantheismusstreit contribution); Letters for the Advancement of Humanity (1793–97); Metakritik (1799, against Kant).
- Pioneering philosopher of history: argued that human history is best understood through the principle that each historical period and each people has its own Geist (spirit, characteristic shape); rejects universal-rational history (anticipates and influences Hegel).
- Pioneering philosopher of language: the 1772 Origin of Language essay argues that language emerges from human reflection (Besonnenheit), not from divine creation or animal communication. The essay won the Berlin Academy prize against Süßmilch's divine-origin theory.
- Naturphilosophical doctrines (in God. Some Conversations, 1787): the principle of persistency (every being seeks to remain itself); the principle of opposed forces (every system forms itself through polarity, point-of-indifference); the one law underlying all polar phenomena (magnetism, electricity, warmth/cold). The fluid drop is a sphere because homogenous forces converge on a midpoint; every magnet has two poles and a point of indifference in its axis.
- Urreligion doctrine (in Ideas for the Philosophy of History): all religions, including pagan, trace to a single primary religion; the idea of religion "has always been a primary fact of human life." Editors' note 102 to Freedom Essay (raw line ~1849) flags Schelling's allusion to this doctrine.
- Schelling's debt acknowledged by editors: Herder's "considerable influence on Schelling has been relatively undervalued" (Introductory Note, raw line ~1881). The natural-philosophical apparatus (polarity, Indifferenz-point) that Schelling deploys in the Freedom Essay is Herderian-natural-philosophical via the God. Some Conversations route.
Details
God. Some Conversations (1787) — Supplementary Text 5
Herder's 1787 contribution to the Pantheismusstreit. Structured as dialogues defending a purified Spinozism against Jacobi's charge of fatalism. The dialogues argue: Spinoza's substance is not the dead, mechanical-determinist substance Jacobi attacks; it is force (Kraft) that expresses itself in particular beings, each of which seeks its own persistency.
Key doctrines (raw lines ~1284–1335):
- Principle of persistency (raw line ~1326): "every system seeks persistency in itself and arranges its forces accordingly."
- Principle of opposed forces (raw lines ~1296–1308): "everything that is similar unites and everything that is opposed separates"; every magnet has two poles and "a point of the greatest love and a point of complete indifference exists in its axis."
- One law underlying all polarity (raw line ~1322): "There can only be one main law according to which even the most different forces arrange themselves." Magnetism, electricity, warmth/cold are local instances of this one law.
- Hate and love structurally identical: at the point of indifference of any polar phenomenon, "hate can become love, love can become hate" — the dialectical convertibility of opposites.
The natural-philosophical analogue of Schelling's Indifferenz
Herder's point of indifference between opposed forces is the direct natural-philosophical analogue of Schelling's Indifferenz doctrine in the Ungrund. The structural homology:
| Herder (1787 God) | Schelling (1809 Freedom Essay) |
|---|---|
| Magnet's two poles | Ground and existence |
| Point of indifference in axis | Ungrund / Indifferenz |
| Each pole is what it is only by virtue of opposite | Ground depends on existence for being recognized as ground (and vice versa) |
| One law underlying all polar phenomena | One structure (ground/existence) underlying all manifestation |
| Hate-love convertibility at the point of indifference | Good-evil "same thing seen from different sides" at the level of the bond |
The structural correspondence is explicit enough that the editors flag (Introductory Note, raw line ~1881): "Herder is a thinker whose considerable influence on Schelling has been relatively undervalued." The wiki's existing treatment of ground-existence-distinction should track the Herderian-natural-philosophical genealogy alongside the Böhmean-theosophical one.
The Urreligion doctrine
In Ideas for the Philosophy of History of Mankind (vol. 9 ch. V, "Religion Is the Oldest and Holiest Tradition of the Earth"), Herder argues that all religions — including paganism, Christianity, the Indian religions — must be traced back to a single Urreligion (primary religion). The idea of religion "has always been a primary fact of human life."
Editors' note 102 (raw line ~1849) flags Schelling's allusion to this doctrine in the closing of the Freedom Essay All-Unity of Love: "We have an older revelation than any written one — nature." The closing also says: "Paganism is, taken historically, as original as Christianity" (raw line 673) — a Herderian-pluralist claim.
The doctrine has been read variously: as proto-Romantic (the Urreligion is the deep-shared spirituality beneath confessional differences); as proto-anthropological (religions as expressions of human nature, not as truths-or-errors); as proto-Hegelian (universal Geist expressing itself through historical forms). Schelling's appropriation is partial: he accepts the all-religion-traces-to-one-source claim but reads the source as nature itself rather than as historically-original religion.
Herder's position in the Pantheismusstreit
Herder's 1787 God. Some Conversations is the most extended post-Spinozist defense of an immanentist theology in the 1780s. Jacobi's 1785 Spinoza Letters had forced the dilemma (Spinoza-or-salto-mortale); Herder responds by purifying Spinozism — turning Spinoza's "dead" mechanical substance into living force (Kraft) that expresses itself in finite beings.
Herder's purified Spinozism:
- Substance is not dead extension but living force
- Force expresses itself in individual persistencies
- Polarity and point-of-indifference are the structural shape of all expression
- Urreligion is the primary human apprehension of this living force
Schelling reads this with significant approval. The position is not yet the ground/existence distinction, but it is the natural-philosophical-and-anthropological preparation for it. Schelling's Freedom Essay takes Herder's "living force" as the starting point and adds the structural articulation (ground vs. existence) that Herder's natural-philosophy did not formulate.
Herder's Metakritik against Kant (1799)
Late in his career, Herder published Metakritik der reinen Vernunft (1799), a polemical critique of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason arguing that Kant's transcendental philosophy was an abstraction that lost touch with concrete language and history. The work was poorly received in its day (Kant's followers attacked it heavily; the philosophical mainstream considered Herder out of his depth on transcendental philosophy) but has been re-evaluated in the 20th century (Manfred Frank, Charles Taylor) as anticipating hermeneutic and post-analytic critiques of pure transcendentalism.
The Metakritik is not directly engaged in the Freedom Essay, but it is part of the broader Herder-Kant relationship that frames the Herder-Schelling relationship: Schelling positions himself as having gone beyond both Kantian critique and Herderian anti-Kantianism, by reformulating transcendental philosophy as Naturphilosophie + ideal philosophy.
Connections
- contributes "From God. Some Conversations" (1787) as Supplementary Text 5 to schelling-1809-freedom-essay
- is cited via editors' note 102 (raw line ~1849) for the Urreligion doctrine
- is the natural-philosophical precursor of ungrund — the point of indifference doctrine is Herder's natural-philosophy expression of what Schelling will reformulate metaphysically
- is the natural-philosophical precursor of ground-existence-distinction — Herderian polarity is the empirical-natural backdrop for ground/existence
- is a Pantheismusstreit participant alongside Jacobi, Lessing, Mendelssohn — Herder's purified Spinozism is one of the alternative positions in the controversy
- anticipates and influences Hegel's philosophy of history — universal Geist expressing itself through historical forms
- anticipates later hermeneutic and post-analytic critiques of pure transcendentalism via the Metakritik (1799)
- anticipates Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals via the Ideas for the Philosophy of History claim that morality is historically formed (not abstract-rational)
Open Questions
- The extent of Herder's actual influence on Schelling: editors flag this as "relatively undervalued" but do not provide a sustained treatment. The Herder-Schelling relationship needs more wiki engagement.
- Whether Herder's purified Spinozism is genuinely Spinozist — Herder transforms substance into Kraft (force), which Spinoza explicitly denied (substance is not force in Spinoza). The "purification" may be a re-naming rather than a preservation.
- Whether the Urreligion doctrine is proto-Romantic, proto-anthropological, or proto-Hegelian — interpretive question that pre-dates Schelling.
- Whether the Metakritik (1799) is a genuine philosophical contribution or a polemical mis-reading of Kant — current scholarship is divided.
Sources
- schelling-1809-freedom-essay — primary anchor. Herder's God. Some Conversations excerpt is Supplementary Text 5 (raw lines ~1284–1335). Schelling's allusion to the Urreligion doctrine in the closing (raw line ~673) is glossed by editors' note 102 (raw line ~1849). Editors' Introductory Note (raw line ~1881) flags Herder's undervalued influence.
- Implicit anchors in hegel-1807-phenomenology-spirit (Hegel inherits the historical Geist doctrine), g-w-f-hegel (philosophy of history), and broader Pantheismusstreit literature.