Book Description
Fichte's System of Ethics, originally published in 1798, is at once the most accessible presentation of its author's comprehensive philosophical project, The Science of Knowledge or Wissenschaftslehre, and the most important work in moral philosophy written between Kant and Hegel. This study integrates the discussion of our moral duties into the systematic framework of a transcendental theory of the human subject. Ranging over numerous important philosophical themes, the volume offers a new translation of the work together with an introduction that sets it in its philosophical and historical contexts. ... Read more

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Fichte wrote these Addresses to arouse the German people in the face of French occupation under Napolean in 1807. They have had great significance in the political and educational evolution of Germany and the rest of Europe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Rich and exciting (even if ultimately unsatisfying) response to (or assessment of) Kantian Transcendental Idealism
Fichte's excellent little treatise is both an outline of the argument for transcendental idealism and a passionate response that finds the Kantian position to be inadequate to speak to our deepest sentiments.It is intended as a popular treatise, but is not lacking in profundity and not an easy read -- it is popular in the way that Descartes' Meditations is popular: there is a line of thinking that is easy enough to trace throughout the book but the details can be quite daunting.

The beginning of the book is in fact clearly set as an intriguing contrast to that of Descartes.Where Descartes says that for as much as he knows he can't be sure of anything, Fichte says that even if we could be sure of everything, that still wouldn't answer the most fundamental question of what to do, of how to find one's true vocation.The treatise is broken down into three books, one on "Doubt," one on "Knowledge," and one on "Faith" (as another reviewer notes, the culmination of his position in faith is intended as a response to the charges of atheism that were levelled against Fichte, but for those who understand his argument and what he proposes inthe book on faith, it should be clear that his avowal of faith is not exactly a commitment to Christian dogma).

The first book sets up what seems to be an ordinary or natural conception of the world.We are free agents faced with a reality outside of us that is governed by causal laws.Seems obvious enough, but Fichte shows that this conception is ultimately contradictory: if the world is governed by laws then so are we, or at least so are our bodies, and our bodies form the only basis for interaction with the world.Without bodies we are not agents, able to make a difference in the reality we face.On the other hand, if we are agents, then we interrupt the causality of the world, and where there are exceptions there can be no law.So, it seems, either we are not free, or the world is not subject to law.

The second book is set up as a dialogue between Fichte and an unknown Spirit (seemingly not malicious, but as a literary trope to be compared with Socrates' daemon and Descartes' evil genius).The Spirit pushes Fichte to realize that whatever law he discovers out there in nature can be nothing other than what he himself posits as the structure to his experience.Causality (as in Kant) is not something that exists out there in the thing itself but is something we bring with us, and only by representing the world as acausally structured totality is experience of the world possible.But that means that the order we discover in the world is not "out there" but of our own making.What we call "the world" or "reality" is nothing more than representation. This seems to solve the contradiction of the first book insofar as the idea that we are determined in our actions does not proceed from an objective knowledge of true causes outside of us. The problem is that it replaces the despair over determinism with a despair over reality: if I can't really know anything out there and independent of me and my experience then I seem to be stuck in a solipsistic cave, and nothing means anything, and the question of vocation seems silly.

The third book on Faith is where he resolves this.His solution is fairly elaborate and he outlines it in several stages, but in a nutshell the solution is to say: as far as I can know this world may as well be a dream and my choices absurd and everything meaningless, but I choose not to rest upon what I can know.Just because I can't know any further than representation doesn't mean I have to treat my world as a mere representation.I can consciously return to the naive attitude which takes an interest in the world, and invests what seem to the idealist as mere images with a significance and meaning.I can't know other people, for example, but can choose to treat what reason tells me are images of people as if they were rational agents like myself, owed a respect and dignity that is deeper than knowledge can account for.I can choose to think myself free, and attempt to fulfill my destiny -- and if it comes to nothing I can believe that my good intentions are nevertheless counted as right in the ultimate scheme of things, which I can't know but posit by faith.

All of the above is not intended to spoil the excitement of this very valuable philosophical treatise.It is a harder read than it seems at the outset, and having some grasp of the trajectory can be useful to the beginning reader.At the same time, it takes a lot of work to get to the point where you can meaningfully assess and respond to the approach Fichte concludes with.I'm troubled a bit by the idea that faith alone gives me access to others -- but I find the book as a whole to be an exemplary and lively attempt to continue the philosophical dialogue where Kant left off.Definitely worth reading for anyone with an interest in the history of philosophy, and essential for those seeking to understand the Kantian heritage.

Fichte's Vocation of Man
This book was written by Fichte to discredit the charges of atheism which were brought against him which forced him to leave the University of Jena. The book is written for non-professional philosophers, he intended it for the greater public; because of this, it is among the easier reads in philosophy.

Fichte challenges reality itself in this book. He leads you down his path of thought from doubt to belief in a supreme moral being. He essentially illustrates the historical stages of metaphysical thought within his lucid self directed dialogue.

I read this book for a philosophy course on German Idealism. It was a pleasant preface to other German idealism philosophers. ... Read more

Book Description
A modern translation of J. G. Fichte's best known philosophical work (including his two explanatory Introductions), which contributed to the development of 19th Century German Idealism from Kant's critical philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An Objective Tour of Consciousness
Comprehensive, deep, perhaps even intellectually orgasimic.The Science of Knowledge contains the most stunning criticisms, elaborations, and evolutions of the Kantian line.Anyone who is disenchanted with modern philsophy and thinks that critical metaphysics is dead should read this book first.Practically every significant problem that is posed in modern philsophy of mind is addressed and solved!Fichte's Transcendental Idealism should become a western Zen Mantra!

Oh yeah, and follow the white rabbit. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An Important Book In German Idealism
An Indispensable Book in understanding German Idealism, particulary Fichte's Idealism. This Book is a must for students of Fichte's thought and readers of his "Science of Knowledge" and "Foundations of Transcendental Philosophy".
Ashraf Mansour, University of Alexandria, Egypt. ... Read more

Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1845 edition by Veit und Comp., Berlin. ... Read more

Book Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1845 edition by Veit und Comp., Berlin. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Review of Metaphysics, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2007. The length of the article is 874 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Fichte, Johann Gottlieb. Werke 1808-1812.(Book review)
Author: Holger Zaborowski
Publication: The Review of Metaphysics (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 61Issue: 1Page: 129(2)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Historical Monographs collection. ... Read more

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"This work is a model of what a philosophical text should be."--Reinhard Lauth

"Breazeale's translation is fluent, precise, and perhaps most important of all, . . . it is readable. . . . This is an excellent translation by the ranking Fichte scholar working in English at present, accompanied by a full, useful scholarly apparatus, likely to be of interest to Fichte scholars and all those concerned with the development of German idealism."--Review of Metaphysics

"The publishing of this volume in English . . . provides us with a wealth of new material, not just about Fichte's development, but about the essentially Cartesian project that first gave rise to phenomenology in our own century."--International Philosophical Quarterly ... Read more