In this article, we analyse the inner relation posited by Schelling around 1809-1810 between the existence of evil and the essence of individual human freedom. To achieve this goal, we will address the following points. First (§ 1), we will review the metaphysical background of the con-cept of evil as presented by Schelling around 1809-1810. Second (§ 2), we will examine the tran-sition proposed by Schelling between the possibility and reality of evil as a potentiation of nature to the realm of spirit. Finally, we show (§ 3) in a preliminary way to what extent evil and human freedom are indispensable elements for the process of God’s self-revelation and, therefore, for the development of a so-called ‘synthetic-creative identity’. We make two original contributions to elucidate the problem of evil in Schelling's metaphysics and, as a result, into the religious dimension of modern philosophy. First, we establish that Schelling overcomes the rationalist theodicy that runs from Plato to Hegel. Second, we defend Schelling against the critique accord-ing to which he resorts to a theory that ‘de-potentiates’ evil. In this way, we explore the most recent line of research on evil in Schelling and in the intersection between metaphysics and the-ology.
