Johann Gottlieb Fichte

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Johann Gottlieb Fichte Signature Johann Gottlieb Fichte.PNG

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (born May 19, 1762 in Rammenau , Electorate of Saxony , † January 29, 1814 in Berlin , Kingdom of Prussia ) was a German educator and philosopher . Along with Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, he is considered the most important representative of German idealism .

Life

Adolescence

Johann Gottlieb Fichte's house in Rammenau, drawing by Cantor Riedel

Fichte was the first of eight children of the ribbon weaver Christian Fichte (1737-1812) and his wife Maria Dorothea (née Schurich, 1739-1813) in Rammenau in Upper Lusatia . He grew up poor in one of compulsory labor on embossed rural milieu. A relative of the local manor, the landlord Ernst Haubold von Miltitz (1739–1774), noticed his comprehension and good memory during a visit to Rammenau: he had missed the church sermon one Sunday, whereupon ten-year-old Fichte was called they were assured that he would repeat the sermon. He then imitated the pastor so perfectly that the baron in his delight enabled the child to attend the city school in Meißen after a preparatory period in the rectory in Niederau . Afterwards, his sponsor financed him an education at the state school Pforta near Naumburg in 1774 , but died in the same year.

Spruce memorial plaque at the Pforta State School

After leaving school in 1780 Spruce moved to Jena , where he attended the University a theology began -Studies, but moved a year later to study to Leipzig . The von Miltitz family no longer supported him financially, he was forced to finance himself through tutoring and private tutoring, and he never finished his studies.

In this hopeless situation he got a position as a tutor in Zurich in 1788 , which he only held for two years, since he was of the opinion that, before bringing up children, one must first bring up the parents. There he became engaged to Johanna Marie Rahn (1755-1819), daughter of the businessman and weigher Johann Hartmut Rahn and niece of the poet Klopstock .

Then he went back to Leipzig. Fichte's plan to become a prince's teacher failed. Several publishers rejected his second idea, a magazine for female education . Tragedies and short stories did not bring him financial security either.

Transition to philosophy

In Leipzig in 1790 Fichte got to know the philosophy of Immanuel Kant , which made a great impression on him. Kant inspired him to create the basis of the entire science of science based on the concept of the ego . Fichte saw a rigorous and systematic division between “things as they are” and “how things appear” (phenomena) as an invitation to skepticism , which he rejected.

After a short intermezzo with a tutor in Warsaw , Fichte took a one-year job at the beginning of November 1791 as tutor for the son of the couple Louise von Krockow , née. von Göppel, who was personally acquainted with Kant, and Heinrich Joachim Reinhold von Krockow (1736–1796), Königl. Prussian colonel, in the count's castle Krockow near the Pomeranian Baltic coast . In the same year he visited Kant in Koenigsberg , where he got him a publisher for his work Attempt at a Critic of All Revelation (1792), which was published anonymously. The book was initially regarded as a long-awaited work on the philosophy of religion by Kant himself. When Kant clarified the error, Fichte was famous and received a chair in philosophy at the University of Jena, which he took up in 1794. Before that he had married Johanna Rahn in 1793 after long deliberation as to whether a marriage would not “cut off his wings”. Three years later, their son Immanuel Hermann (1796–1879) was born.

Erlangen, Fichte's house in 1805
Spruce monument in the Rammenau Castle Park

During his professorship in Jena (1794–1799) he was a target in the so-called " atheism dispute ". This dispute was triggered by two writings in 1798, only one of which ( On the reason for our belief in a divine world government ) was written by Fichte himself. Both writings had appeared in the Philosophical Journal , of which Fichte was editor together with Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer at the time. Fichte was sued for spreading atheist ideas and godlessness , was reprimanded and then resigned, as he had previously threatened. In 1805 he got the chair for philosophy in Erlangen , in 1807 he was censor of the Hartungschen Zeitung in Königsberg, but was dismissed on the orders of the Prussian general Ernst von Rüchel . A few years later, in 1810, he got the position of dean of the philosophical faculty and for a short time he was rector of the Berlin Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität from 1811 to 1812 .

In 1789, Fichte was accepted into the Freemasonry Association of Modestia cum Libertate in Zurich, the same lodge in which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was on friendly terms. Later, on November 6, 1794, he was accepted as a member of the Freemason Lodge Günther zum Standing Löwen in Rudolstadt and was still connected to the Masonic circles there after moving to Berlin. In 1799 he met Ignaz Aurelius Feßler and, after his acceptance on April 17, 1800, worked with him on the reform of the Grand Lodge Royal York for friendship . On October 14, 1799, he gave a lecture on "the real and right purpose of masonry". On April 13th and 27th, 1800 he gave several lectures, which were later titled Philosophy of Freemasonry. Letters to Constant were renewed and published. A dispute soon broke out and Fichte resigned from Freemasonry on July 7, 1800. He also played an important role in the development of the society of free men . In Berlin he became a member of the German Table Society , from summer 1811 its “spokesman” (chairman).

While Fichte had previously described himself as a supporter of the French Revolution , he now made a name for himself as an opponent of Napoleon, in particular through his fiery patriotic speeches to the German nation (published as a text until 1808) . Fichte thus became the mastermind of the original fraternity .

A utopian model of society - a kind of socialist society based on the nation-state - can be found in the work The Closed Trade State (1800).

death

The graves of Fichte and his wife

Probably at the end of 1813 his wife Johanna fell ill with so-called hospital fever , which she contracted while caring for wounded soldiers. Fichte, too, was said to fall ill with this disease, which was transmitted by the droppings of clothes lice and which became notorious primarily under the name typhus and especially in Central Europe during the war winter of 1813/14 (including Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden and Mainz ) assumed catastrophic proportions. Unlike his wife, he was unable to recover from this fever. He died on January 29, 1814 in Berlin and was buried in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery . The grave of honor in Dept. CH, G2 bears a portrait medallion (copy) by Ludwig Wilhelm Wichmann .

His tombstone bears a verse from the book of Daniel (12.3 LUT ): "The teachers will shine like the shine of heaven, and those who point as many to righteousness as the stars always and forever."

Fichte's basis for the entire science of science

A central core in Fichte's philosophy is the concept of the "absolute I". This absolute self is not to be confused with the individual mind . He later used the term “absolute”, “ being ” or “ God ”. Fichte begins in his basis of the entire science of science with a determination of the ego:

“The I posits itself, and it is by virtue of this mere positing through itself; and conversely: the I is, and it posits its being, by virtue of its mere being. - It is both the agent and the product of the action; that which is active, and that which is produced by the action; Action and deed are one and the same; and therefore this is: I am, an expression of an act. "

Fichte was concerned with the practical implementation of his philosophy, which is why he considered the establishment of a seamless philosophical system to be of secondary importance. The focus for him was the comprehensibility of his teaching. He represented a positive image of man and assumed that in every person - and not just in the scholar - the foundation of real self-knowledge (and thus also knowledge of God) is laid and the philosopher only has to refer to this.

In his popular, e.g. Partly polemical way of representation, Fichte made many friends, but also enemies, among the scholars. He stood in bitter hostility to Friedrich Nicolai . Goethe judged Fichte with skepticism, "that an otherwise excellent person always has to stick something grim in his behavior". Despite later rejection, Fichte exerted great influence on Schelling and Hegel . Also Hölderlin known, owes much to Fichte's lectures from his Jena period. Some of Fichte's ideas tie in with the theses of Johann Gottfried Herder, who is about 20 years his senior .

Fichte's Kant reception

Fichte responded to the question of how theoretical and practical reason are related by answering that the two parts of reason are in a hierarchical relationship to one another. Here, practical reason takes precedence over theoretical reason. The latter therefore requires practical reason; but this is autonomous . For Kant, too, practical reason was a faculty of the will - and thus autonomous. According to Fichte, however, this fact leads to his theory of “self-determination”. By giving itself a law, the will simultaneously produces its essence as the “will of reason”. This will to reason is what we are - namely our I. “The absolute I is in that it sits down and sits down in that it is.” For this reason, practical reason has absolute freedom. Fichte's idealism is therefore a consequence of the primacy of practical reason.

Fichte eludes criticism of the transcendental argument in Kant by declaring practical reason to be the condition for theoretical reason. Here he starts from the “ act ” of judging and, with the help of a transcendental justification, concludes that the self is the condition for this. All judgment is action of the human mind. This is based on the sentence “I am”. That which is “absolutely established and founded on itself” is the reason for action.

In order to avoid the accusation that we may not judge at all, but only believe that we are judging, Fichte introduced the " intellectual view ". It can also be understood practically as "looking at yourself while performing an act". When we judge, we do not observe ourselves but ask action-oriented questions. These questions are based on the assumption that man is a rational being. If that were not the case, he would not be able to judge what is unimaginable. Nonetheless, Fichte took the view that even if a person cannot doubt the conditions of reasonable judgment, it does not follow that he actually fulfills these conditions.

Fichte made the sharpest distinction from Kant with his rejection of the conception of a " thing in itself ". Only in this way can absolute freedom of the ego be preserved in his eyes. For Fichte, the “thing in itself” becomes merely an “impetus”, an irrational fact within the ego that the ego tries to cope with. The consequence is the exclusion from the ego, as it were into the world as “not me”. Is the absolute I therefore a “thing in itself” on the side of the subject? Fichte's answer: Only when it "appears". The absolute I only exists in action. In his philosophical reflection, the absolute I becomes something objective, there is no other entity in the real world.

Jena philosophy

Since Fichte quickly sees the basis of the entire scientific doctrine as inadequate and in need of supplementation, at the height of his Jena period he started a new elaboration of the scientific doctrine (under the name Wissenschaftslehre nova methodo ) and an initial elaboration of the practical philosophy (in the Basis of natural law and moral theory ).

In terms of content, since the basis of the entire science of science, the question arises why the absolute I, which is autonomous, reacts to an “impulse”. Fichte makes it clear that the absolute I is only when it becomes aware of itself. This can only happen when confronted with material to which to react. If there was no contact, the ego would "become completely absorbed in its activity". But in order to be - and thus also to develop self-confidence - it has to open up to the "stumbling block" and ensure that the "stumbling block" remains intact. According to Fichte, the ego can therefore be understood as an infinite striving for autonomy. The “impetus” is, as it were, only a necessary condition of self-confidence, not a sufficient one . The other conditions for self-confidence can be found in the respective sub-disciplines of the science of science, which Fichte differentiates: natural science, legal theory, moral theory and religious theory. Fichte never worked out the former because of the primacy of practical reason he developed.

The science of science nova methodo

After Fichte became known in a very short time through his lectures on the basis of the entire science of science , he soon saw his philosophy confronted with various objections and inquiries from his contemporaries. He became increasingly dissatisfied with his first draft of the science teaching. Instead of revising the text of the basis of the entire doctrine of science, he decides to work out the doctrine of science from scratch. He presented the result under the name Wissenschaftslehre nova methodo in lectures from 1796, which today, however, are only handed down as transcripts. Nevertheless, the science of science nova methodo is increasingly viewed in the more recent Fichteliterature as the best and most understandable version of Fichte's science theory. In terms of content, Fichte endeavors to refute objections formulated by his contemporaries and to present the science of science in a more stringent and comprehensible manner. Various subject areas - such as the treatment of the question of how the unified absolute ego can lead to a plurality of individual consciousness - are new to the first treatment of the science of science.

Fichte's legal theory

In his Fundamentals of Natural Law according to the principles of the science of science of 1796/1797 (§ 8), Fichte determined the function of law in a similar way to Kant : The standing together of the freedom of several is “only possible because every free being makes it law, its freedom by the concept of freedom for all others. ”But for him a reasonable order of freedom also included an appropriate distribution of community-related opportunities and goods.

For Fichte, the relationship between self-confidence and - so to speak - the world is specified. Consciousness can only understand itself as a freely acting being if it can “apply the concept of a freely acting being to itself.” It can only do this if others ask the self-consciousness to do something and at the same time (!) Admit the freedom to this request not comply. Since this process is reciprocal , it follows that the being of self-awareness depends on the recognition of the freedom of others. It becomes clear that Fichte does not understand the moral law as the binding force of law , but the self-interest of the self-confident self. A legal relationship arises from the mere existence of a non-ego.

Like many a philosopher before him, Fichte defines the state as the expression of absolute will, the aim of which is to guarantee the freedom and rights of its citizens . Collective action and individual action are combined with the expression "moral action". According to Fichte, freedom in history is the more or less moral shaping of social relationships between different peoples .

Fichte's philosophy can be described as ethical idealism if one assumes that only the state creates legal relationships between itself and the citizens or among the citizens and thereby imposes restrictions on its citizens in favor of its own material purposes.

Fichte's moral doctrine

In the system of moral doctrine based on the principles of the science of science from 1798, Fichte assumes that the self-consciousness of the absolute ego can only be under the condition of the consciousness of the moral law. Here, the ego of the moral law is never known in the abstract, but "always in the form of concrete tasks and duties of the world". The ego can only ascribe an activity to itself if this is connected with the causal reality of a world independent of it. This in turn is only possible if it is assigned a body. Since this body is part of the world, it is also subject to natural instincts . The moral law examines the conditions for the manifestation of an ego that is embodied and ruled by natural instincts.

Fichte's doctrine of religion

Fichte did not leave behind a systematically elaborated philosophy of religion . In the atheism controversy that Friedrich Karl Forberg had triggered with an article in the Philosophical Journal with an affirmative afterword by Fichte in 1798, Fichte and Forberg postulated that the existence of God is not necessary for the establishment of a moral order of values, but belief in God is connected with it a divine morality, inevitable. While Kant assumed the existence of God and supported his thesis that the existence of God was necessary with regard to the conditions of the possibility of moral action, Fichte saw only the need for a "moral world order". This does not necessarily have to be traced back to a higher authority - i.e. God. The active world order itself ( ordo ordinans ) can be called God. But whoever does this "fails to recognize the direct relationship between the concept of God and moral consciousness" and is, according to Fichte, "the true idolater and atheist ."

Contribution to the French Revolution (1793)

Johann G. Fichte as a volunteer in the fight against Napoleon.
Contemporary caricature

Fichte welcomed the French Revolution more clearly than few thinkers and politicians in Germany at that time. He sees in it not only moral reasons, but also a legitimate progress towards more equality and freedom. His two revolutionary pamphlets from 1793 ( reclaiming freedom of thought from the princes of Europe, who had previously suppressed them, and contributions to the rectification of the public's judgments on the French Revolution ) intervened in public debates. He justifies the legitimacy of the revolution on the basis of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Contrat social with the argument that it is an “inalienable right of man” to “abolish” a state of society that has degenerated into a system of oppression. Because this hinders the spiritual progress of the human race, which has to lead to the true end of man, to his autonomy: “complete independence from everything that is not ourselves, our pure self”. Fichte develops the deeper, philosophical legitimacy of changing the state constitution from the contrast between the real end-purpose of man and the real constitution of contemporary states, which are completely opposed to this end-purpose.

Fichte's anti-Jewish statements

In Fichte's work there are various disrespectful statements about Jews, which are referred to in the specialist literature as "anti-Jewish failures" and "anti-Jewish affect". Micha Brumlik, for example, is of the opinion that Fichte's positions included both Christian-philosophical anti-Judaism and political-secular anti-Semitism, and compared the latter with Adolf Hitler's so-called "anti-Semitism of reason", which required a necessary, complete exclusion of Jews from a propagated better society. In the secondary literature, however, there are also more differentiating assessments, especially when the complete works of Fichte is considered. Fichte expresses himself particularly drastically in contributions to the correction of the judgments of the public about the French Revolution of 1793. In them he attacks both the Jews with harsh words, as well as the military and the nobility . Judaism is a “state within a state” and would separate itself. The Jews, physically limp, had a selfish trading spirit. They would take advantage of the other citizens, were only concerned about themselves and their clan. Fichte largely adopted the prejudices prevailing at the time, but above all repeatedly denounced the alleged separatist attitude of this religion. The following footnote is often quoted:

“A powerful, hostile state is spreading through almost every country in Europe, which is at constant war with all the others, and which in some places terribly heavy pressure on the citizens; it is Judaism. I do not believe, and I hope to show it subsequently, that it becomes so terrible because it forms a separate and so tightly linked state, but because this state is built on the hatred of the whole human race.
The Jew who penetrates through the solid, one might say insurmountable entrenchments that lie in front of him, to the general love of justice, people and truth, is a hero and a saint. I don't know if there were or are any. I want to believe it as soon as I see her. Just don't sell me a beautiful bill for reality! - The Jews would always not want to believe in Jesus Christ, they would not even want to believe in any God, if only they did not believe in two different moral laws and in a misanthropic God.
They must have human rights, even though they do not grant us them; for they are human, and their injustice does not entitle us to be like them. […] - But to give them civil rights, at least I see no way to do this but to cut off all of their heads in one night and to put others on, in which there is not a Jewish idea either. In order to protect us from them, I see no other means than to conquer their promised land for them and send them all there. [...] "

In his pamphlet Eisenmenger the Second , published in 1794, Saul Ascher polemicized against Fichte's anti-Jewish statements, to which he attached the name of Johann Andreas Eisenmenger , the author of the pamphlet Discovered Judaism , known at the time . With Fichte, a new dimension of secular hatred of Jews can be recorded.

With David Veit , Fichte got to know and appreciate a representative of the Jewish Enlightenment Haskala . As rector of the Berlin University, he uncompromisingly and against general opposition stood up for a Jewish student who was wrongly punished by the university's senate and threatened with relegation. While a “liberal-progressive” reception of Fichte prevailed in many cases - also among Jewish intellectuals - later, especially in the aftermath of the First World War , a “völkisch-nationalistic” reception developed. Both the basic features and the speeches of Fichte gained in importance again, as they were placed in the service of nationalist pathos and the baiting of Jews. The National Socialists used Fichte to justify their ideology.

The Basics of the Present Age (1806)

Spruce in later years (sketch)

In the main features of the present age , Fichte developed views on a philosophy of history . The main idea behind this philosophy of history is the development of humanity from bondage to freedom. Parallel to that inner development of the individual goes the outer development of their position and destiny in the state. From the role of the subject to the free citizen. The focus is on a development model that divides history into five epochs , with Fichte understanding his own epoch as the “age of perfect sinfulness”, while the main features should introduce the future epochs. This epoch development takes place in the following stages: 1. Instinctive reason: state of innocence of the human race; 2. Outwardly forced but not convincing authority : state of upward sin; 3. Emancipation from all external authority, domination of the naked concept of experience: state of perfect sinfulness; 4. Return of free, inner reason, where truth is recognized and loved as the highest: state of uplifting justification; 5. Realization of free, inner reason in all outer areas of life, where humanity builds itself up as an imprint of reason: state of perfect justification and sanctification.

Speeches to the German Nation (1808)

The speeches to the German nation see themselves as a continuation of the main features of the present age . Three years after these lectures, Fichte declares the end of the third epoch described there, which he describes in the speeches ... as the epoch of selfishness. Through the occupation of Germany by the Napoleonic troops, it lost its selfishness along with independence. A new self has to be sought which goes beyond the nation. This is reason.

In the speeches , Fichte calls for a national education based on the model of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi in the field of education , which should anchor the human relationship to freedom in the education of reason and values. Here, too, it is a question of moral education for freedom, independence, and refinement. In this elevation to reason, to the true self, which can be found in the general reason that transcends every nation, for Fichte there is also no possible enmity towards other free individuals and nations, because the so educated person strives to respect his fellow men , and love their freedom and greatness, while their bondage pains him: "But it is absolutely impossible that such a mind does not honor beyond itself in peoples and individuals what constitutes its own greatness inside: independence, stability, the peculiarity of existence. "

In the speeches , with a clearly contoured differentiation of humanity into non-equal linguistic and cultural communities as well as the fundamental striving for their purity, approaches to a racist theory formation can be found.

Appreciation

German special stamp 2012

Bear the name Fichtes

Johann Gottlieb Fichte Foundation

In 1996 the Johann Gottlieb Fichte Foundation , which is closely related to the right-wing conservative party Die Republikaner , was founded, which claims to be dedicated to conveying traditional values ​​in the spirit of the philosopher.

Works (selection)

Science teaching

The science theory , Fichte's main work, was revised several times by him. u. a .:

Other works

literature

expenditure

  • Basis of the entire science teaching: as handwriting for his listeners , Leipzig: Gabler, 1794 ( digitized )
  • Basis of natural law according to the principles of academic teaching. (1796). Reprint on the basis of the 2nd by Fritz Medicus ed. Edition of 1922; 3. Reprint with revised sources and register of persons, Hamburg 1979 (= Philosophical Pocket Books. Volume 256).
  • Complete edition of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, 42 volumes , ed. by Reinhard Lauth , Erich Fuchs and Hans Gliwitzky. Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1962–2011, ISBN 3-7728-0138-2
  • Fichte's works. 11 volumes. Edited by Immanuel Hermann Fichte , reprint of the editions Berlin 1845/46 and Bonn 1834/35, Berlin 1971. ISBN 3-11-006486-3
  • Spruce in context. Works on CD-ROM. Berlin 3 2002, ISBN 3-932094-25-5 .
  • Works in 2 volumes. Edited by Wilhelm G. Jacobs , Peter L. Oesterreich , Frankfurt a. M. 1997. ISBN 978-3-618-63073-9
  • The basics of the present age , Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1978, Philosophical Library Volume 247. ISBN 3-7873-0448-7
  • Jacobi an Fichte , text 1799/1816 in comparison, Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici, Naples 2011 (German text, introduction by Marco Ivaldo, notes, commentary, appendix with texts by Jacobi and Fichte , Italian translation by Ariberto Acerbi, with index and Bibliography), ISBN 978-88-905957-5-2 .

Secondary literature

  • Immanuel Hermann Fichte : Johann Gottlieb Fichte's life and literary correspondence . 2 volumes. Seidel, Sulzbach 1830-1831
  • Adolf Trendelenburg : In memory of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Lecture given in the Königl. Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin on May 19, 1862. Berlin 1862 digitized
  • Christian Hermann Weisse : Speech in memory of Johann Gottlieb Fichte given in the academic auditorium in Leipzig on May 19, 1862 . LG Teubner, Leipzig 1862 digitized
  • Ludwig Noack : Johann Gottlieb Fichte after his life, teaching and work. In memory of his centenary birthday . Otto Wigand, Leipzig 1862 digitized
  • Franz Hoffmann : Academic speech to celebrate the centenary of Johann Gottlieb Fichte's birthday. Held on May 19, 1862 in the auditorium of the University of Würzburg . Stahel, Würzburg 1862 digitized
  • Moritz Weinhold (Ed.): Forty-eight letters from Johann Gottlieb Fichte and his relatives . Ms. Wilh. Grunow, Leipzig 1862 digitized
  • Adolf Lasson : Johann Gottlieb Fichte in relation to church and state . Wilhelm Hertz , Berlin 1863 digitized
  • Otto Pfleiderer : Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Life picture of a German thinker and patriot for the German people. Portrayed by . Levy & Müller, Stuttgart 1877
  • Kuno Fischer :  Fichte, Johann Gottlieb . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 761-771.
  • Friedrich Zimmer: Johann Gottlieb Fichte's philosophy of religion according to the main features of its development . Halle 1877 (Halle-Wittenberg, Univ., Diss. 1877) digitized
  • Spruce, 1) Johann Gottlieb . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 6, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 234.
  • Fritz Medicus : Fichte's life . 2nd edition Felix Meiner, Leipzig 1922
  • Fuchs, Erich: JG Fichte in conversation. Reports from contemporaries. Volumes 1-7 . frommann-holzboog, Stuttgart 1978–2012.
  • Hermann Zeltner :  Fichte, Johann Gottlieb. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , pp. 122-125 ( digitized version ).
  • Manfred Buhr (ed.): Knowledge and conscience. Contributions to the 200th birthday of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. 1762-1814 . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1962
  • Wilhelm Gustav Jacobs : Johann Gottlieb Fichte with self-testimonies and photo documents . Rowohlt, Reinbek b. Hamburg 1984 (Rowohlt's Monographs 336)
  • Christoph Asmuth: Understanding the incomprehensible. Philosophy and religion at JG Fichte . Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart 1999. ISBN 3-7728-1900-1
  • Peter Baumanns: JG Fichte. Critical overall presentation of his philosophy ; (Alber series: Philosophy). Freiburg 1990 ISBN 3-495-47699-7
  • Hans-Joachim Becker: Fichte's idea of ​​the nation and Judaism . Rodopi, Amsterdam 2000. ISBN 90-420-1502-0
  • Jürgen Manthey : Königsberg is not my place (Johann Gottlieb Fichte) , in that: Königsberg. History of a world citizenship republic . Munich 2005, ISBN 978-3-423-34318-3 , pp. 331–336.
  • Christoph Binkelmann: Theory of practical freedom. Spruce - Hegel . De Gruyter, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-11-020098-0
  • Hans Duesberg: Person and Community. Philosophical-systematic investigations of the meaningful context of personal independence and interpersonal relationship on texts by JG Fichte and Martin Buber . Bouvier, Bonn 1970 (series: Munich philosophical research, 1) ISBN 3-416-00633-X
  • Hans Michael Baumgartner & Wilhelm G. Jacobs: J.-G.-Fichte-Bibliography ; Frommann, Stuttgart 1968
  • Erich Fuchs (Ed.): JG Fichte in conversation. Reports of Contemporaries , 6 volumes; Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart 1978–1991 ISBN 3-7728-0707-0
  • Georg Geismann : Fichte's “Abolition” of the rule of law ; in: Fichte-Studien, 3 (1991) 86-117
  • Lore Hühn: Fichte and Schelling or: Beyond the limits of human knowledge . Metzler, Stuttgart 1994. ISBN 3-476-01249-2
  • Wilhelm G. Jacobs: Johann Gottlieb Fichte: a biography ; Berlin: Insel, 2012; ISBN 978-3-458-17541-4
  • Wolfgang Janke: Article Fichte, Johann Gottlieb ; in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie 11 (1983), pp. 157-171
  • Anthony J. LaVopa, Fichte: The Self and the Calling of Philosophy, 1762-1799 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2001. ISBN 0-521-79145-6
  • Christian Klotz: Self-confidence and practical identity. An investigation into Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre nova methodo ; Frankfurt 2002 ISBN 978-3-465-03142-0
  • Manfred Kühn: Johann Gottlieb Fichte. A German philosopher . Beck, Munich 2012. ISBN 978-3-406-63084-2
  • Jörg-Peter Mittmann : The principle of self-certainty - Fichte and the development of the post-Kantian basic philosophy (PDF; 1.1 MB) ; Athenaeum Hain Hanstein, Bodenheim 1993. ISBN 3-8257-9251-X
  • Harald Münster: Fichte meets Darwin, Luhmann and Derrida. “The determination of the human being” in differential theory reconstruction and in the context of the “scientific theory nova methodo” ; Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi 2011 (Spruce Study Supplementa, Volume 28). ISBN 978-90-420-3434-1
  • Peter L. Austria & Hartmut Traub: The whole spruce. The popular, scientific and metaphilosophical opening up of the world . Metzler, Stuttgart 2006. ISBN 3-17-018749-X
  • Peter Rohs: Johann Gottlieb Fichte . Beck, Munich 1991. ISBN 3-406-34633-2
  • Rainer Schäfer: Johann Gottlieb Fichte's> Basis of the Entire Science of Science <from 1794 . WBG , Darmstadt 2006. ISBN 3-534-16666-3
  • Ernst Schenkel: Individuality and Community. The democratic idea at JG Fichte . Rascher & Cie, Zurich 1933.
  • Karsten Schröder-Amtrup: JG Fichte. Life and teaching. A contribution to the actualization of his thinking and belief (Philosophical Writings Volume 77) . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2012. ISBN 978-3-428-13804-3
  • Ulrich Schwabe: Individual and Trans-Individual I. The self-individualization of pure subjectivity and Fichte's theory of science. With a continuous commentary on the science of science nova methodo . Schöningh, Paderborn 2007. ISBN 3-506-76325-3
  • Helmut Seidel: Johann Gottlieb Fichte as an introduction . Junius, Hamburg 1997. ISBN 3-88506-957-1
  • Jürgen Stolzenberg: Fichte's concept of intellectual intuition. The development in science from 1793/94 to 1801/02 . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1986. (Series: German Idealism. Philosophy and History of Effects in Sources and Studies. Vol. 10). ISBN 3-608-91232-0
  • Armin G. Wildfeuer: Practical Reason and System. Developmental studies on the original Kant reception by Johann Gottlieb Fichte . Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart 1999. ISBN 3-7728-1865-X
  • David W. Wood: “Mathesis of the Mind”: A Study of Fichte's Science and Geometry ; Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, 2012 (Spruce Study Supplementa, Volume 29).
  • Wolfgang Class, Alois K. Soller: Commentary on Fichte's 'Basis of the Entire Science of Science' Rodopi, Amsterdam New York 2004.
  • Patrick Tschirner: Totality and Dialectic. Johann Gottlieb Fichte's late theory of science or the living existence of the absolute as a self-forming image , Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 2017. ISBN 978-3-428-14987-2

Web links

Commons : Johann Gottlieb Fichte  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Johann Gottlieb Fichte  - Quotes
Wikisource: Johann Gottlieb Fichte  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karlheinz Klimt : A new class - memories and evaluations of someone who was there in the school gate. Projekt-Verlag Cornelius, Halle / Saale 2009, ISBN 978-3-86634-819-6 .
  2. ↑ Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Manfred Kühn's large-scale biography. In: Information Philosophie, 4/2013, p. 47.
  3. ↑ Manfred Kühn: Johann Gottlieb Fichte: A German philosopher . Beck, Munich 2012, p. 150 ff. (Restricted preview).
  4. ↑ In the 2nd edition 1793 "Critique"
  5. ^ JG Fichte: Fichte to Voigt of March 22, 1799 . In: Hans Schulz (ed.): JG Fichte, correspondence . tape 2 . Leipzig 1930.
  6. ↑ Gottlieb Imhof: Small work theory of freemasonry . 5th edition. I. The apprentice's book. Alpina, Lausanne 1959, p. 42 .
  7. ↑ Hans-Helmut Lawatsch: Fichte and the hermetic democracy of the Freemasons . In: Klaus Hammacher, Richard Schottky, Wolfgang H. Schrader, Daniel Breazeale (eds.): Social philosophy. Spruce Studies . tape 3 . Editions Rodopi, Amsterdam / Atlanta 1991, ISBN 90-5183-236-2 , pp. 204 .
  8. ↑ a b General Manual of Freemasonry. Third edition of Lenning's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry , Association of German Freemasons, Leipzig , completely revised and brought in line with the new scientific research . Max Hesse's publishing house, 1900. Lemma Fichte, Johann Gottlieb
  9. ^ Lennhoff, Posner; Pp. 475-475
  10. ^ Fraternities: Zu Jena auf der Tanne , Peter-Philipp Schmitt, FAZ , June 13, 2015.
  11. ^ Fraternities: Rebellion in Black-Red-Gold , Jörg Schweigard, Die Zeit , July 23, 2015.
  12. ↑ GA I, 2, 259.
  13. ↑ Otfried Höffe: Classics of Philosophy . Munich 2008, p. 32 .
  14. ^ GA I, 2,258
  15. ^ GA I, 4,216
  16. ↑ cf. GA III, 2.298
  17. ↑ Otfried Höffe: Classics of Philosophy . Munich 2008, p. 36 .
  18. ^ Rohs: Johann Gottlieb Fichte . Beck, Munich 1991, p. 60 .
  19. ↑ see e.g. B. Rohs: Johann Gottlieb Fichte . Beck, Munich 1991, p. 60 .
  20. ↑ Reinhold Zippelius : Philosophy of law . 6th edition. § 26 I, II 2, 3 .
  21. ↑ Otfried Höffe: Classics of Philosophy . Munich 2008, p. 37 .
  22. ↑ a b Otfried Höffe: Classics of Philosophy . Munich 2008, p. 38 .
  23. ↑ Bernhard Willms: Introduction . In: Bernhard Willms (ed.): JG Fichte: Writings on the revolution . Ullstein, Frankfurt / Main 1973, p. 33 .
  24. ^ So Gerald Hubmann: Morality and Law. The Jewish emancipation question with Jakob Friedrich Fries and other state thinkers of German idealism . In: Horst Gronke, Thomas Meyer, Barbara Neisser (ed.): Anti-Semitism in Kant and other enlightenment thinkers . Königshausen and Neumann, Würzburg 2001, p. 125–152 , here p. 131f . Occasionally there is also talk of "anti-Semitism", for example at Bernward Loheide: Fichte and Novalis. Transcendental philosophical thinking in romanticizing discourse . Rodopi, Amsterdam 2000, p. 22 . Hans-Joachim Becker: Fichte and Judaism - Judaism and Fichte . In: Helmut Girndt (Hrsg.): Fichte in past and present. Contributions to the fourth congress of the International Johann Gottlieb Fichte Society in Berlin from 03. – 08. October 2000 (=  Fichte-Studien . Volume 22 ). Rodopi, Amsterdam 2003, p. 19-36 , here p 19 (when looking towards the posts correcting ): "It is one of the earliest documents for a transition from the religious anti-Judaism to political anti-Semitism avant la lettre." Even such. B. Gudrun Hentges: The dark side of the Enlightenment. The representation of Jews and "savages" in philosophical writings of the 18th and 19th centuries . Wochenschau, Schwalbach / Taunus 1999, ISBN 3-87920-485-3 , p. 110 u. ö . , speaks of elements of both “traditional” and “enlightened” anti-Judaism ”as well as“ modern anti-Semitism ”. Also Micha Brumlik : Secret of law and human rights. Fichte's anti-Semitism of reason . In: Micha Brumlik (Ed.): Deutscher Geist und Judenhaß. The relationship of philosophical idealism to Judaism . Luchterhand, Munich 2000, p. 75-131 , speaks p. 122 and ö. . from a development from anti-Judaism to anti-Semitism in this book.
  25. ↑ For example Erich Fuchs: Fichte's position on Judaism ; in: Klaus Hammacher, Richard Schottky, Wolfgang H. Schrader (eds.): Cosmopolitanism and National Idea ; Fichte-Studien 2, Rodopi, Amsterdam 1990, pp. 160-177. Hartmut Traub: JG Fichte, the king of the Jews of speculative reason. Reflections on speculative anti-Judaism ; in: ders. (Ed.): Fichte und seine Zeit ; Rodopi, Amsterdam 2003, pp. 131-151. Partly also J. Katz: From prejudice to destruction. Anti-Semitism 1700–1933 ; Munich 1989; P. 61 ff.
  26. ↑ All works , Vol. 6, pp. 37–288.
  27. ↑ Contributions to the Correction of Public Judgments on the French Revolution, lc, pp. 191–193
  28. ↑ Saul Ascher: Eisenmenger the Second . Berlin 1794 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  29. ↑ See Erich Fuchs, Reinhard Lauth, Walter Schieche (eds.): Fichte in conversation. Reports of contemporaries ; 6 in 7 volumes, frommann-holzboog, Stuttgart 1978ff., Vol. 4 (1987), p. 404ff. For this z. B. Klaus Hammacher: Fichte in Berlin , in ders. (Ed.): Fichte and the literature ; Spruce studies 19; Rodopi, Amsterdam 2002; Pp. 37–54, here pp. 52–54. Micha Brumlik: German spirit and hatred of Jews ; Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Munich 2000, p. 125
  30. ↑ Erik Lindner: German Jews and the bourgeois-national festival culture: The Schiller and Fichte celebrations of 1859 and 1862 , in: Andreas Gotzmann, Rainer Liedtke, Till van Rahden (ed.): Juden, Bürger, Deutsche, Tübingen 2001, p. 171-192, ISBN 3-16-147498-8
  31. ↑ Cf. for example the study by Hans-Joachim Becker: Fichte's Idea of ​​the Nation and Judaism . Fichte Studies, Supplementa 14, Rodopi, Amsterdam 2000.
  32. ↑ Cf. on this: A. Diemer: Introduction , in: JG Fichte: The basic features of the current age , Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 1978, p. XV.
  33. ↑ Hirschberger, J., History of Philosophy, Volume II, Modern Times and Present , Freiburg im Breisgau, undated, p. 374.
  34. ↑ see: W. Jacobs: Johann Gottlieb Fichte , with self-testimonies and picture documents; Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1984, pp. 117-118
  35. ^ JG Fichte: Speeches to the German Nation ; German Library in Berlin, 1912; P. 219.
  36. ↑ Niels Hegewisch, Purity in Diversity. Elements of racist theory formation in the journalism of early German nationalism , in: Birgit Aschmann , Thomas Stamm-Kuhlmann (eds.), 1813 in a European context , Stuttgart 2015, pp. 85–89.
  37. ↑ https://stadtlexikon.karlsruhe.de/index.php/De:Lexikon:top-0758
  38. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
  39. ↑ http://www.fichte-stiftung.de/
  40. ↑ Online , facsimile ; 2nd edition 1793: attempt to criticize all revelation, at Project Gutenberg , zeno.org ; Facsimiles at gallica , at google books , at archive.org.
personal data
SURNAME Fichte, Johann Gottlieb
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1762
PLACE OF BIRTH Rammenau near Bischofswerda
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1814
Place of death Berlin