Thinking Through the Wissenschaftslehre: Themes from Fichte's Early PhilosophyDaniel Breazeale presents a critical study of the early philosophy of J.G. Fichte, and the version of the Wissenschaftslehre or 'doctrine of science' that Fichte developed in Jena between 1794 and 1799. The book is intended to assist serious readers in their efforts to understand Fichte's philosophy within the context of its own era and to orient them in the ongoing scholarly debates concerning the character and significance of the Wissenschaftslehre. Breazeale focuses on explaining what Fichte was (and was not) trying to accomplish and precisely how he proposed to accomplish this, as well as upon the difficulties implicit in his project and his often novel strategies for overcoming them. To this end, the volume addresses a variety of specific themes, issues, and problems that will be familiar to any student of Fichte's early writings and which continue to be fiercely debated by his interpreters. These include: the relationship of the finite human self to the purely self-positing I, transcendental philosophy as a 'pragmatic history of the mind', Fichte's 'synthetic' method of philosophizing, the standpoint of life vs. the standpoint of speculation, the extra-philosophical presuppositions and implications of the Wissenschaftslehre, the different senses of 'intellectual intuition' in Fichte's early writings, the controversial doctrine of the 'check' (Anstoß) upon the free actions of the I, the various theoretical and practical tasks of philosophy, the refutation of dogmatism and the 'choice' of a philosophical standpoint, the relationship of transcendental idealism to skepticism, the interests of reason, and the problematic 'primacy of the practical' in Fichte's thought. |
Contents
Wishful Thinking and the Postulates of Practical Reason | 1 |
The Aenesidemus Review and the Transformation of German Idealism | 23 |
Real Synthetic Thinking and the Principle of Determinability | 42 |
A Pragmatic History of the Human Mind | 70 |
The Spirit of the Early Wissenschaftslehre | 96 |
The Divided Self and the Tasks of Philosophy | 124 |
Anstoß Abstract Realism and the Finitude of the I | 156 |
Intellectual Intuition | 197 |
Skepticism and Wissenschaftslehre | 230 |
Other editions - View all
Thinking Through the Wissenschaftslehre: Themes from Fichte's Early Philosophy Daniel Breazeale No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
absolute abstraction according to Fichte activity actually Aenesidemus Anstoß aware circularity claim cognition concept concerning condition consciousness Critical philosophy deduction demonstrate derived described determinacy distinction dogmatism dogmatist drive embodied agent empirical Entire Wissenschaftslehre Ethics existential explain feeling Fichte’s finite Foundations freedom goal ground hence human mind I-hood ical idealist immediate intellectual intuition interest of reason Jena Wissenschaftslehre Kant Kant’s Kantian knowledge latter lectures Maimon means moral law nature necessary Not-I object one’s oneself ordinary standpoint original limitations philoso philosophical skepticism posit possess possibility postulates practical reason pragmatic history precisely present presupposes primacy Principle of Determinability priori produced question rational real thinking reality recognize reflection Reinhold relationship representations self-consciousness self-determination self-positing sense sensible simply skepticism specific speculative starting-point striving synthetic systematic task of philosophy Tathandlung term theoretical reason things transcendental idealism transcendental idealist transcendental philosophy truth understanding unity Wissenschaftslehre nova methodo