Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Johann Gottlieb Fichte.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (May 19, 1762 - January 27, 1814) was a German philosopher, who has significance in the history of Western philosophy as one of the leading progenitors of German idealism, forming a bridge between Immanuel Kant and the leading figure of German Idealism, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

Life and work

Fichte was born in Rammenau, Saxony. In 1780, he attended the University of Jena as a student of theology. Fichte was originally a follower of Baruch Spinoza but later followed Kant's philosophy. His Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation was published anonymously in 1792 and scholars mistakenly thought the attempt was written by Kant himself. Kant cleared the confusion and openly praised the work, which greatly improved Fichte's reputation in the philosophical community.

Fichte did not endorse Kant's argument for the existence of noumena, of "things in themselves", the super-sensible reality beyond the categories of human reason. Fichte saw the rigorous and systematic separation of "things in themselves" (noumena) and things "as they appear to us" (phenomena) as an invitation to skepticism.

Rather than invite such skepticism, Fichte made the radical suggestion that we should throw out the notion of a noumenal world and instead accept the fact that consciousness does not have a grounding in a so-called "real world". In fact, Fichte achieved fame for originating the argument that consciousness is not grounded in anything outside of itself. This notion eventually became the defining characteristic of German Idealism and thus an essential underpinning to understanding the philosophies of Hegel, and of Arthur Schopenhauer, though they both reject Fichte's notion that human consciousness is itself sufficient ground for experience, and therefore postulate another "absolute" consciousness.

In his famous work Foundations of Natural Right, Fichte stated that self-consciousness was a social phenomonon. Namely, he writes that self-consciousness depends upon resistance from objects in the external world. However, the mere perception of these external objects depends on self-consciousness. The solution to this paradox, Fichte thinks, is that a being gains consciousness when 'summoned' to be conscious by another rational being outside of oneself.

Fichte also used self-sufficiency idea for the state, make the goal of a “closed commercial state.” In his mind, State should control international relations, value of money and remain an autarky.

Because of this necessity to have relations with other rational beings in order to achieve consciousness, Fichte writes that there must be a 'relation of right,' in which there is a mutual recognition of rationality by both parties.

In 1806, in a Berlin occupied by Napoléon, Fichte gave a series of Addresses to the German Nation which became an incentive for German nationalism. Here, Fichte indirectly continues his anti-Semitic argumentation from his early works on religion and the French Revolution.

His son Immanuel Hermann Fichte also made contributions to philosophy.

Fichte died of typhus at the age of fifty-two.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Early Philosophical Writings
• (1793) Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation (Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenbarung)
• (1796) Foundations of Transcendental Philosophy (Wissenschaftslehre nova methodo)
• (1798) The System of Ethics in accordance with the Principles of the Wissenschaftslehre (Das System der Sittenlehre nach den Principien der Wissenschaftslehre)
• (1800) Introduction to the Wissenschaftslehre and Other Writings
• (1800) The Vocation of Man (Die Bestimmung des Menschen)
• (1807-8) Addresses to the German Nation

Secondary Sources (English)

• Arash Abizadeh. "Was Fichte an Ethnic Nationalist?" History of Political Thought 26.2 (2005): 334-359.
• Daniel Breazeale. "Fichte's 'Aenesidemus' Review and the Transformation of German Idealism" The Review of Metaphysics 34 (1980/1) 545-68.
• Daniel Breazeale and Thomas Rockmore (eds) Fichte: Historical Contexts/Contemporary Controversies. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press, 1997.
• Franks, Paul, All of Nothing: Systematicity, Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism in German Idealism, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005
• Dieter Henrich. "Fichte's Original Insight" Contemporary German Philosophy 1 (1982) 15-52.
• T. P. Hohler. Imagination and Reflection: Intersubjectivity. Fichte's 'Grundlage' of 1794. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1982.
• Wayne Martin. Idealism and Objectivity: Understanding Fichte's Jena Project. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.
• Frederick Neuhouser. Fichte's Theory of Subjectivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
• Peter Suber. "A Case Study in Ad Hominem Arguments: Fichte's Science of Knowledge," Philosophy and Rhetoric, 23, 1 (1990) 12-42.
• Robert R Williams. Recognition: Fichte and Hegel on the Other. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.
• Gunther Zoller. Fichte's Transcendental Philosophy: The Original Duplicity of Intelligence and Will. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

External links

• Outlines of the Doctrine of Knowledge
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Entry