Distinguish between good and evil. The opposition between Schelling and Hegel as the axis of the modern ethical field

The article focuses on the problem of distinguishing between good and evil, which has become more acute since the twentieth century. The study of the theoretical evolution of this problem discovers the approach found by G. W. F. Hegel, which was not used in modern attempts to develop it. After exposing the current state of the problem, the author shows the impossibility of finding a way out of it, remaining within the Kantian formulation of it, which continues to dominate today. This motivates the appeal to approaches that critically overcome Kantianism, primarily the approaches of Schelling and Hegel.

F. W. J. Schelling connects the reality of evil with the freedom of human, which potentially coincides with the divine. This gives rise to conflict, since only God can occupy the central place of actual universality, while the creature must renounce itself, being integrated as a part into the deity. In this confrontation, Schelling sees only two possibilities: to subdue or to submit. Therefore, the conquering strategy of the uncreated self turns out to be good, while the evil is the same strategy of the created self, not backed by power and therefore doomed to lose. Then evil becomes indistinguishable from good.

To this strategy which in Hegel becomes the evil, Hegel opposes a new opportunity: to leave the central place empty, which means renunciation of domination, but not of self, as for God, who through this becomes the spirit (of the community), so for every individual, who becomes free, not subjugating, but recognizing the freedom and self of the other. In conclusion, the Hegelian find is tested for relevance to the current situation.