Immanuel Hermann Fichte
Encyclopedia
Immanuel Hermann von Fichte (18 July 1796 – 8 August 1879) was a German
philosopher
and son of Johann Gottlieb Fichte
. In his philosophy, he was a theist and strongly opposed to the Hegelian School.
. He early devoted himself to philosophical studies, being attracted by the later views of his father, which he considered essentially theistic. He graduated from the University of Berlin
in 1818. Soon after, he became a lecturer in philosophy there. He also attended the lectures of Hegel
, but felt averse to what he deemed to be his pantheistic tendencies. As a result of semi-official suggestions, based on official disapproval of his supposedly liberal views, he decided, in 1822, to leave Berlin, and accepted a professorship at the gymnasium
in Saarbrücken
. In 1826 he went in the same capacity to Düsseldorf
. In 1836 he became a extraordinary professor of philosophy at Bonn
, and in 1840 full professor. Here he quickly became a successful and much admired lecturer. Dissatisfied with the reactionary tendencies of the Prussia
n Ministry of Education, he accepted a call to the chair of philosophy at the University of Tübingen in 1842 where he continued to give lectures on all philosophic subjects until his retirement in 1875 when he moved to Stuttgart. He died at Stuttgart
on the 8th of August 1879.
In 1837, Fichte founded the Zeitschrift für Philosophie und speculative Theologie and edited from then on. In 1847, the name was changed to Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik. Publication was suspended 1848-1852, after which Hermann Ulrici
and Johann Ulrich Wirth joined him as editors. This journal served as an organ of Fichte's views, especially on the subject of the philosophy of religion
, where he was in alliance with C.H. Weisse
; but, whereas Weisse thought that the Hegelian
structure was sound in the main, and its imperfections might be mended, Fichte held it to be defective, and spoke of it as a masterpiece of erroneous consistency or consistent error. Fichte's general views on philosophy seem to have changed considerably as he gained in years, and his influence has been impaired by certain inconsistencies and an appearance of eclecticism, which is strengthened by his predominantly historical treatment of systems, his desire to include divergent systems within his own, and his conciliatory tone.
(Hegel) and individualism
(Herbart
) by means of monadism
(Leibniz
). He attacks Hegelianism for its pantheism
, lowering of human personality, and imperfect recognition of demands of the moral consciousness. God
, he says, is to be regarded not as an absolute
but as an Infinite Person, whose desire it is that he should realize himself in finite persons. These persons are objects of God's love, and he arranges the world for their good. The direct connecting link between God man is the genius, a higher spiritual individuality existing fan by the side of his lower, earthly individuality. Fichte advocates an ethical theism
, and his arguments might be turned to account by the apologist of Christianity. In conception of finite personality he recurs to something like monadism of Leibniz. His insistence on moral experience connected with his insistence on personality.
One of the tests which Fichte discriminates the value of previous systems is adequateness with which they interpret moral experience. The same reason that made him depreciate Hegel made him praise Krause
(panentheism
) and Schleiermacher
, and speak respectfully of English philosophy. It is characteristic of Fichte's most excessive receptiveness that in his latest published work, Der neuere Spiritualismus (1878), he supports his position by arguments of a somewhat occult or theosophical
cast, not unlike that adopted by F.W.H. Myers
.
The regeneration of Christianity, according to Fichte, would consist in its becoming the vital and organizing power in the state, instead of being occupied solely, as heretofore, with the salvation of individuals.
He also edited the complete works and literary correspondence of his father. Some of his works were translated by J.D. Morell
under the title of Contributions to Mental Philosophy (1860).
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
philosopher
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and son of Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a German philosopher. He was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant...
. In his philosophy, he was a theist and strongly opposed to the Hegelian School.
Life
Fichte was born in JenaJena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
. He early devoted himself to philosophical studies, being attracted by the later views of his father, which he considered essentially theistic. He graduated from the University of Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
in 1818. Soon after, he became a lecturer in philosophy there. He also attended the lectures of Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...
, but felt averse to what he deemed to be his pantheistic tendencies. As a result of semi-official suggestions, based on official disapproval of his supposedly liberal views, he decided, in 1822, to leave Berlin, and accepted a professorship at the gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
. In 1826 he went in the same capacity to Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
. In 1836 he became a extraordinary professor of philosophy at Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
, and in 1840 full professor. Here he quickly became a successful and much admired lecturer. Dissatisfied with the reactionary tendencies of the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n Ministry of Education, he accepted a call to the chair of philosophy at the University of Tübingen in 1842 where he continued to give lectures on all philosophic subjects until his retirement in 1875 when he moved to Stuttgart. He died at Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
on the 8th of August 1879.
In 1837, Fichte founded the Zeitschrift für Philosophie und speculative Theologie and edited from then on. In 1847, the name was changed to Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik. Publication was suspended 1848-1852, after which Hermann Ulrici
Hermann Ulrici
Hermann Ulrici was a German philosopher. He was co-editor of the philosophical journal Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik. He also wrote under the pseudonym of Ulrich Reimann....
and Johann Ulrich Wirth joined him as editors. This journal served as an organ of Fichte's views, especially on the subject of the philosophy of religion
Philosophy of religion
Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion, including the nature and existence of God, the examination of religious experience, analysis of religious language and texts, and the relationship of religion and science...
, where he was in alliance with C.H. Weisse
Christian Hermann Weisse
Christian Hermann Weisse , was a German Protestant religious philosopher.- Philosophy :He was born at Leipzig, and studied at the university there, at first adhering to the Hegelian school of philosophy. In the course of time, his ideas changed, and became close to those of Schelling in his later...
; but, whereas Weisse thought that the Hegelian
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...
structure was sound in the main, and its imperfections might be mended, Fichte held it to be defective, and spoke of it as a masterpiece of erroneous consistency or consistent error. Fichte's general views on philosophy seem to have changed considerably as he gained in years, and his influence has been impaired by certain inconsistencies and an appearance of eclecticism, which is strengthened by his predominantly historical treatment of systems, his desire to include divergent systems within his own, and his conciliatory tone.
Thought
The great aim of his speculations was to find a philosophic basis for the personality of God, and for his theory on this subject he proposed the term “concrete theism.” His philosophy attempts to reconcile monismMonism
Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry. Accordingly, some philosophers may hold that the universe is one rather than dualistic or pluralistic...
(Hegel) and individualism
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
(Herbart
Johann Friedrich Herbart
Johann Friedrich Herbart was a German philosopher, psychologist, and founder of pedagogy as an academic discipline....
) by means of monadism
Monadology
The Monadology is one of Gottfried Leibniz’s best known works representing his later philosophy. It is a short text which sketches in some 90 paragraphs a metaphysics of simple substances, or monads.- Text :...
(Leibniz
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician. He wrote in different languages, primarily in Latin , French and German ....
). He attacks Hegelianism for its pantheism
Pantheism
Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...
, lowering of human personality, and imperfect recognition of demands of the moral consciousness. God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, he says, is to be regarded not as an absolute
Absolute (philosophy)
The Absolute is the concept of an unconditional reality which transcends limited, conditional, everyday existence. It is sometimes used as an alternate term for "God" or "the Divine", especially, but by no means exclusively, by those who feel that the term "God" lends itself too easily to...
but as an Infinite Person, whose desire it is that he should realize himself in finite persons. These persons are objects of God's love, and he arranges the world for their good. The direct connecting link between God man is the genius, a higher spiritual individuality existing fan by the side of his lower, earthly individuality. Fichte advocates an ethical theism
Theism
Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's relationship to the universe....
, and his arguments might be turned to account by the apologist of Christianity. In conception of finite personality he recurs to something like monadism of Leibniz. His insistence on moral experience connected with his insistence on personality.
One of the tests which Fichte discriminates the value of previous systems is adequateness with which they interpret moral experience. The same reason that made him depreciate Hegel made him praise Krause
Karl Christian Friedrich Krause
Karl Christian Friedrich Krause was a German philosopher, born at Eisenberg, Thuringia.-Education and Life:...
(panentheism
Panentheism
Panentheism is a belief system which posits that God exists, interpenetrates every part of nature and timelessly extends beyond it...
) and Schleiermacher
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher was a German theologian and philosopher known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional Protestant orthodoxy. He also became influential in the evolution of Higher Criticism, and his work forms part of the foundation of...
, and speak respectfully of English philosophy. It is characteristic of Fichte's most excessive receptiveness that in his latest published work, Der neuere Spiritualismus (1878), he supports his position by arguments of a somewhat occult or theosophical
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
cast, not unlike that adopted by F.W.H. Myers
Frederic William Henry Myers
Frederic William Henry Myers was a classical scholar, poet, philosopher, and past president of the Society for Psychical Research.-Early life:...
.
The regeneration of Christianity, according to Fichte, would consist in its becoming the vital and organizing power in the state, instead of being occupied solely, as heretofore, with the salvation of individuals.
Works
- De philosophiae novae Platonicae origine (1818).
- Sätze zur Vorschule der Theologie (1826). University of California.
- Beiträge zur Charakteristik der neueren Philosophie (1829). Harvard. 2nd edition, 1841. Gallica; NYPL.
- Johann Gottlieb Fichtes Leben und literarischer Briefwechsel (1830–31). 2 volumes.
- Über Gegensatz, Wendepunkt und Ziel heutiger Philosophie (1832). University of Michigan.
- Grundzüge zum Systeme der Philosophie (1833–1846). 3 volumes.
- Volume 1, 1833. Das Erkennen als Selbsterkennen. Gallica.
- Volume 2, 1836. Die Ontologie. Gallica; University of Michigan.
- Volume 3, 1846. Die speculative Theologie oder allgemeine Religionslehre. Gallica.
- Die Idee der Persönlichkeit und die individuelle Fortdauer (1834). 2nd edition, 1855.
- De principiorum contradictionis (1840). Gallica.
- System der Ethik (1850–53). 2 volumes.
- Volume 1, 1850. Gallica; NYPL; Stanford; University of Michigan.
- Volume 2, part 1, 1851. Gallica; NYPL; Oxford (1&2); University of Michigan (1&2).
- Volume 2, part 2, 1853. Gallica; NYPL.
- Anthropologie, Die Lehre von der menschlichen Seele (1856). Gallica; Lane; University of Michigan. 2nd edition, 1860. Oxford; Oxford (Taylor). 3rd edition, 1876.
- Über den Unterschied zwischen ethischem und naturalistischem Theismus (1857).
- Zur Seelenfrage, Eine philosophische Confession (1859). University of California.
- Contributions to Mental Philosophy (1860). Harvard.
- Psychologie. Die Lehre vom bewussten Geiste des Menschen (1864–73). 2 volumes. Oxford; University of Michigan.
- Volume 1, 1864.
- Volume 2, 1873. Harvard.
- Die Seelenfortdauer und die Weltstellung des Menschen (1867).
- Vermischte Schriften zur Philosophie, Theologie und Ethik (1869). 2 volumes. Oxford.
- Die theistische Weltansicht und ihre Berechtigung (1873). Oxford; University of Michigan.
- Fragen und Bedenken über die nächste Fortbildung deutscher Speculation (1876). Gallica; Oxford; University of Michigan.
- Der neuere Spiritualismus, sein Wert und seine Täuschungen (1878). Oxford.
He also edited the complete works and literary correspondence of his father. Some of his works were translated by J.D. Morell
John Daniel Morell
John Daniel Morell , British educationalist, was born at Little Baddow, Essex, where his father was minister of the Congregational church ....
under the title of Contributions to Mental Philosophy (1860).
External links
- Immanuel Hermann Fichte entry at the Internet Encyclopedia of PhilosophyInternet Encyclopedia of PhilosophyThe Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a free online encyclopedia on philosophical topics and philosophers founded by James Fieser in 1995. The current general editors are James Fieser and Bradley Dowden...
.