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Fichte meaning

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Johann Gottlieb Fichte (May 19, 1762 - January 27, 1814) was a German philosopher who gained his position in the history of Western philosophy by opening the way to German Idealism, based on the work of Immanuel Kant. The systems of Schelling and Hegel would further develop his key insight that Kant’s notion of an unknowable thing in itself should be discarded and that the pure Ego, perceived through intellectual intuition, should be the starting point of philosophy. Fichte thus served as the direct link between the critical philosophy of Kant and the speculative world of German idealism.

Fichte must be credited with reintroducing the idea of a direct contact of the self with ultimate reality, thus bypassing the agnostic conclusions of Kant without reverting to the traditional dogmatism of metaphysical systems. However, in spite of his repeated efforts to clarify his point of view, Fichte was unable to overcome the ambiguities surrounding his notion of the Ego, or I and his system is not free of the somewhat inflated claims typical of German Idealism.

Biography

Fichte w

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Johann Gottlieb Fichte


Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762 - 1814) was a German philosopher, and one of the founding figures of the German Idealism and Kantianism movements in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.

At one time perceived merely as a bridge between the ideas of Kant and Hegel, he has since begun to be appreciated as an important philosopher in his own right, with original insights into the nature of self-awareness. He also wrote Political Philosophy, and is thought of by some as the father of German Nationalism.

Fichte (pronounced FIC-ta) was born on 19 May 1762 in Rammenau in the Saxony region of eastern Germany. His family were ribbon makers and too poor to pay for his schooling, although early in life he impressed everyone with his great intelligence. Through the patronage of a local nobleman, Baron Miltitz, he was able to attend the well-known Pforta boarding school, which prepared students for a university education, and in 1780, he began study at the University of Jena in central Germany, and then at the Univers

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200 years ago, on 27th January 1814, Johann Gottlieb Fichte died of typhus in Berlin.  He was 51 years old.

Fichte was a major philosopher of the German idealism movement; his work followed on from Kant and preceded Hegel.  He was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Jena in 1794, but dismissed from that post in 1799 after being accused of atheism.  In 1809 he was offered the Chair of Philosophy at the new University of Berlin, a position which he held until his death and which then remained vacant until Hegel was appointed to it in 1818.

Fichte is also regarded as an important figure for German nationalism.  His Reden an die deutsche Nation in 1808 were speeches made in a Berlin occupied by the French under Napoleon.

The anniversary of his death gives us occasion to highlight some of our holdings of his works, in particular the recently completed critical edition of his works, the Gesamtausgabe der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (184.b.96.213-253).  This monumental 42 volume set is the result of 50 years’ work, started

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