Historical Figures Codexery

Johann Gottlieb Fichte

German philosopher and founding figure of German idealism

Johann Gottlieb Fichte was born on May 19, 1762 in Rammenau, Saxony.[1] Fichte died of typhus in 1814 at age 51.[2] The concept of thesis–antithesis–synthesis, frequently misattributed to Hegel, was actually first introduced by Fichte.[3]

Quick Facts

Region
Western philosophy
Era
18th-century philosophy
Born
19 May 1762
Birthplace
Rammenau, Saxony
Died
29 January 1814
Place of death
Berlin, Prussia
Education
Schulpforta; University of Jena (1780; no degree), Leipzig University (1781–1784; no degree)
Institutions
  • University of Jena
  • University of Erlangen
  • University of Berlin

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Fichte was baptized a Lutheran, the son of a ribbon weaver from a pious family.[4] A local baron, Freiherr von Miltitz, paid for Fichte's education after hearing he could repeat a sermon verbatim.[5] He transferred to Leipzig University a year later but had to end his studies without a degree due to lack of funds.[6] He began studying Kant's works in summer 1790 after a student asked about them.[7][8]

Fichte's essay Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation was initially mistaken for a new work by Kant.[5][9] Fichte was dismissed from Jena in 1799 for atheism after publishing an essay on divine governance.[10] He delivered the Addresses to the German Nation from 1807 to 1808, attempting to define the German nation.[11] Fichte's enrollment in the Lutheran theology program at the University of Jena commenced in 1780.[12]

During his stay in Zürich from 1788 to 1790, Fichte became acquainted with Johanna Rahn, who later became his wife, as well as with Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.[13]

What the cited sources add

The Stanford Encyclopedia states Fichte was born May 19, 1762 in Rammenau.[1] It notes that Fichte composed a manuscript concluding that the only revelation consistent with Critical philosophy is the moral law.[1] The same source reports that Fichte's first full-scale public announcement of his new philosophy was the 1794 manifesto Concerning the Concept of the Wissenschaftslehre.[1] According to the Stanford Encyclopedia, Fichte planned to extend his system into philosophy of religion but was prevented by the Atheism Controversy.[1]

It states that Fichte's The Vocation of Man (1800) was an indirect response to Jacobi's repudiation of the Wissenschaftslehre.[1] It describes Fichte's philosophy as the first "system of human freedom" and a radically revised version of Critical philosophy.[1]

References

  1. Breazeale, Dan, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed) .. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
  2. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dieter Henrich, "Fichte's Original Insight", Contemporary German Philosophy 1 (1982 [1966]), ed. by Darrel E. Christensen et al., pp. 15–52 (translation of Henr; Breazeale, "Fichte: Early Philosophical Writings", Cornell University Press, 1993, p. 63; Robert C. Solomon, In the Spirit of Hegel, Oxford University Press, p. 23. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Verkamp, "Encyclopedia of Philosophers on Religion", McFarland & Company, Incorporated, Publishers, 2008; (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Breazeale, "Fichte: Early Philosophical Writings", Cornell University Press, 1993, p. 2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Imhof, Gottlieb (1959). Kleine Werklehre der Freimaurerei. I. Das Buch des Lehrlings. 5th ed. Lausanne: Alpina, p. 42.; Lawatsch, Hans-Helmut (1991). "Fichte und die hermetische Demokratie der Freimaurer." In: Hammacher, Klaus, Schottky, Richard, Schrader, Wolfgang H. and Daniel ; Anthony J. La Vopa, Fichte: The Self and the Calling of Philosophy, 1762-1799, Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 151. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Breazeale, "Fichte: Early Philosophical Writings", Cornell University Press, 1993, p. 4 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: It is unknown if the omission was an accident or a deliberate attempt by the publisher to sell copies. In either case, Fichte had not planned it and only heard (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Breazeale, Dan, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed) . (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kurt F. Reinhardt, Germany: 2000 Years (1950; rpt. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1961), I, pp. 322–326. Louis Snyder, Basic History of Modern Germany (Princeton, N; Michael D. McGuire (1976). Rhetoric, philosophy and the volk: Johann Gottlieb Fichte's addresses to the German nation. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 62:2, 135-14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wood, "Fichte's Ethical Thought", Oxford University Press, 21 April 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Anthony J. La Vopa, Fichte: The Self and the Calling of Philosophy, 1762-1799, Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 26.; ; She was the niece of the famous poet F. G. Klopstock. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Johann Gottlieb Fichte (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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