10. Tenth Lecture: Creation of the “Ego” and Shared Biological Wisdom

In this final lecture, we shall concentrate on the formation of the “ego” as a part of Schelling’s approach to the unconscious and analyze the similarities between this and the formation of the ego in Lacan’s mirror stage. These considerable similarities also help to explain Žižek’s fascination with Schelling. Additionally, one can draw parallels between Schelling’s conceptualization of collective knowledge — “the general consciousness of mankind” ("der allgemein Bewuβtseyn der Menschheit") — and Jung’s idea of the collective unconscious. Adding a modern twist, we shall also explore how contemporary thinkers like Richard Dawkins have developed similar concepts, such as memes. Finally, I defend Schelling and argue that he maintained a remarkable degree of consistency in his philosophy. As a signature move, I will also subtly bring God into the discussion, using Schelling’s statements that relate being to love.


The third important concept related to Schelling's refined description of the unconscious is its relation to the formation of the "ego."

In the Freudian sense, one could see the "Personality" as the "ego," influenced by the dark potency ("id" as the source of drives) and the light potency (as the "superego"). However, we must remind ourselves that, in Schelling's approach, consciousness first appeared after the integration of those potencies. Therefore, this comparison is limited (in addition to other differences in underlying assumptions and emphases).

Nonetheless, we can observe a certain similarity among Schelling, Freud, and Lacan regarding the infant stage before personality formation (before the "ego" is born). At that stage, the infant is largely dominated by drives ("id" in the Freudian sense), serves as a prime example of total selfishness (acting based solely on needs), and must encounter a contradiction at some point, enabling it to position itself against the rest of the world.



Schelling, Lacan and Žižek

Schelling states: "If there were no No, then the Yes would be without power. There is no ego without the non-ego; to this extent, the non-ego is before the ego."

One could even argue that Lacan's "mirror stage," when the "ego" is first formed as the child recognizes its mirror image as "the other, who is also myself," relates to the birth of "Personality" as per Schelling's formula.

Schelling writes: "An inner, reflexive representation is generated in God through which /…/ God sees himself in an exact image of himself. This representation is the first in which God, considered absolute, is realized, although only in himself; this representation is with God in the beginning and is the God who was begotten in God himself."

Similarly, Lacan states: "The ego, as a totality, is something that is not given in the subject from the start," and "We have to understand the mirror stage as an identification /…/ the transformation that takes place in the subject when he assumes an image."

Boehme, who inspired Schelling, also viewed Sophia as the feminine wisdom reflecting God's image to God as the fourth potency. Lacan, known to exchange ideas with Alexander Koyré, who was well-versed in Boehme's material, might have been (indirectly) influenced by these concepts. Thus, the connection may not be as far-fetched as it initially seems.

Another aspect of Schelling's refined description of the unconscious relates to inherent biological wisdom and inherited shared knowledge.

For example, Schelling states: "The soul ["Seele"] does not know, but it is knowledge /.../ in the soul, there are notions [or] representations ["Vorstellungen"], free of all matter and therefore containing mere form notions and representations of individual sensible things, but without these notions being objective to the soul itself. /.../ Only the spirit raises them to reality; but therefore, in the spirit, there are no longer mere notions of individual, sensibly perceived things, but notions of these notions, i.e., the most universal notions by which the spirit comes to master and know things. /.../ Second, it is to be noticed that the spirit exercises these operations above all not by a special act but by its presence, its merely being there ["Dasein"]."

Schelling, Jung, and Dawkins

Schelling also mentions “the general consciousness of mankind” ("der allgemein Bewuβtseyn der Menschheit"). Here, one may be tempted to link this directly to Jung's concept of the collective unconscious, developed extensively in his corpus. However, Schelling primarily used these terms to refer to a shared understanding or common knowledge among members of a specific society or culture. He believed that the "allgemein Bewuβtseyn" emerged from the intellectual and cultural history of a people residing within individual consciousness. Thus, one may find even more similarities between Schelling’s general consciousness and Richard Dawkins' concept of memes, as both suggest the transmission of ideas, values, and cultural patterns across individuals and generations, shaping the collective understanding of a society.

Nevertheless, Schelling did influence Jung and mentioned archetypes in his work. For example: "There lies a recollection of all things, their original relationships, their becoming, their significance. But this archetype of things slumbers in the soul like an obscured and forgotten, even if not completely obliterated image," continuing to describe how this knowledge (or rather the archetypal framework) can be accessed through religion and higher values.

In conclusion, we must acknowledge Schelling's insight into the unconscious and other aspects of being. Through opposition, the limitations of human reason, and contingency, he understood the human condition not only ontologically, philosophically, and theologically but also psychologically and existentially.

In the simplest terms, Schelling's concept of the birth of "Personality," which recognized being and self-consciousness as distinct, was conceptually similar to the formation of the "ego," predating the advent of psychoanalysis. Additionally, his work on the unconscious includes descriptions of shared consciousness frameworks that inspired Jung and others.

Schelling was not merely a stepping stone for others or a "philosophical chameleon." He was, and increasingly is, an influential figure in German idealism, no lesser than Hegel or Fichte.

Practically in his late teens, Schelling stated: "The main function of all philosophy is the solution of the problem of the being ["Dasein"] of the world" (Philosophische Briefe über Dogmatismus und Kriticismus, 1795). To a large extent, he spent his entire life driven by this irrational task. We should not underestimate his contribution in demonstrating that the underlying cause of being could only lie within something equally absurd from a universal perspective — love. His thought: "The greatest glory of development is expected /.../ from what is enclosed and decides for development only with opposition. But many do not want to acknowledge that primordial holy power of being and would like to banish it at the outset before, conquered in itself, it yields to love," may also reveal something about himself.