Daniel Breazeale

As is indicated by its ungainly title, this is a monograph devoted to the first published version of J. G. Fichte's transcendental philosophy, and specifically to what is certainly his most famous and influential work, the Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre of 1794/5. Though few philosophical classics cry out more loudly for commentary and explication than Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre, Hohler's new book is neither a commentary nor an introduction. Instead, it is a detailed study of several closely related themes in Fichte's early writings. All of these themes revolve around the central problem of "subjectivity." The issues addressed include: What was Fichte's understanding of the goal and method of philosophy? What is the "starting point" of philosophy, and must it begin with an "intellectual intuition"? If so, what is the nature of this "intellectual intuition," and does this imply that everything is ultimately comprised within or deducible from some "absolute I"? What are the transcendental conditions for the possibility of experience, and what is the specific function of the transcendental imagination in the "constitution" thereof? How is the I related to what is not-I, and, more importantly, how is one I related to another?

Fichte’s Ethical Thought follows a format familiar to those who have read Allen Wood’s books on the ethical thought of Immanuel Kant and G. W. F. Hegel: Wood integrates Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s work into topical chapters, each discussing an important component of Fichte’s ethical system. The text he focuses on, of course, is Fichte’s 1798 System of Ethics, but Fichte scholars will likely be pleased to find that Wood discusses a wide range of Fichte’s Jena-era writings. Wood makes use of Addresses to the German Nation, The Closed Commercial State, and earlier works such as Some Lectures Concerning the Scholar’s Vocation, especially in the final two chapters, which cover Fichte’s thought on public life, the...

Peu de philosophes ont autant insisté sur la différence entre la lettre et l’esprit d’une philosophie que Fichte. Breazeale prend Fichte au mot concernant cette distinction et tente de reconstituer ce qu’il appelle l’esprit de la philosophie d’Iéna, soit la première version de la philosophie que Fichte construisit entre 1793 et 1799. L’auteur montre combien Fichte est loin de la caricature de l’idéalisme débridé, interprétation qui prévalut chez les commentateurs classiques comme dans une certaine philosophie analytique. Il montre aussi comment une vulgate plus contemporaine qui tend à surinvestir l’aspect religieux (en valorisant notamment ce qu’on appelle la dernière philosophie) manque le sens et l’esprit de la philosophie d’Iéna et renoue ainsi avec l’interprétation traditionnelle d’un Fichte dogmatique et métaphysicien.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Philosophy 39.2 (2001) 305-306 [Access article in PDF] Fichte, J. G. Foundations of Natural Right according to the Principles of the Wissenschaftslehre. Edited by Frederick Neuhouser. Translated by Michael Baur. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp. xxxv + 338. Cloth, $64.95; Paper, $22.95. Though best known for his immensely influential effort to "systematize" Kant's Critical philosophy and to ground the same upon a transcendental analysis of the structure of self-consciousness, Fichte also made seminal contributions to social and political philosophy. Of these contributions, the most original is surely his effort to demonstrate that mutual recognition of free subjects is a condition for the possibility of individual self-consciousness. This transcendental deduction of the essentially social or intersubjective character of human beings provides the theoretical underpinnings for a pure theory of Naturrecht ("natural law" or "natural right"), in which the principles of political philosophy are established without any reference to the purely practical principles of morality. Unlike moral laws, the principles of right are only hypothetically or conditionally valid, inasmuch as they are dependent upon one's free decision to live in a community of free beings and to limit one's own freedom accordingly.Justice and law are thereby grounded upon a new, distinctly political conception of [End Page 305] human freedom, which is itself grounded in a new account of the intersubjective dimension of self-consciousness. Following his deduction of the pure concept of right, Fichte proceeds to deduce the conditions for applyingthe same, among the most significant of which is embodiment. Here again, Fichte was a pioneer in arguing for the necessary connection between self-consciousness and the human body. The next step is to demonstrate in detail how social relations between embodied free agents must be organized if such agents are to co-exist in a community. This hypothetical application of the pure concept of right establishes both the "right of coercion" and the basic outlines of the "right of the state," and hence the general form of any legitimate state constitution.Though it appears that Fichte is working with the social contract tradition, his deductive strategy requires a fundamental revision of the same and allows him to construct a theory of the just state that is both recognizably "liberal" and extraordinarily open to considerations of economic justice and social welfare. It is for this reason that some European philosophers (notably, Luc Ferry and Alain Renaut) have in recent decades employed Fichte's political thought as a major resource in their effort to defend a rights-based political theory against attacks from both the right and the left.The primary source of Fichte's political philosophy is his 1796/97 Grundlage des Naturrecht, a work that exercised a decisive influence upon Hegel (whose Phenomenology of Spirit is often and incorrectly described as the first effort, within the context of post-Kantian Idealism, to demonstrate that intersubjectivity is a condition for the possibility of self-consciousness). Directly and indirectly (that is, through Hegel) Fichte's social and political philosophy exercised a strong influence upon Marx and other nineteenth- and twentieth-century socialists.For all of the above reasons, the appearance of a new and reliable English translation of Fichte's Grundlage des Naturrechts is a cause for celebration. Let it be said at once that Michael Baur's translation is simply marvelous. It is accurate and readable, as well as faithful to the style of this, one of Fichte's best-written works. Frederick Neuhouser's Introduction to this translation is equally fine. In it, Neuhouser not only outlines Fichte's main arguments and conclusions, but also offers a brief but trenchant critical appraisal of the historical significance of Fichte's achievement and of the potential relevance of his ideas to contemporary debates and discussions. The Introduction also includes a provocative and well-balanced discussion of some of the unresolved problems implicit in Fichte's arguments. Readers will also appreciate the useful "Guide to Further Reading," and index...

Though any talk about a "Reinhold renaissance" would be decidedly premature, it is nevertheless the case that his writings are currently being read and examined to a degree that would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago. The better-known works continue to be reissued in newly edited editions, and plans for the first collected edition of Reinhold's writings continue to proceed, albeit at a glacial pace. Reinhold has also been the subject of numerous recent articles and monographs. This new interest in Reinhold on the part of European scholars has yet to be matched by Anglophone authors. No doubt, this is to some extent a reflection of the simple fact that only one work of his has hitherto been available in English translation, namely, George di Giovanni's abridged version of The Foundation of Philosophical Knowledge, included in Between Kant and Hegel: Texts in the Development of Post-Kantian Idealism, which is now, unfortunately, out of print. A chapter of Frederick Beiser's The Fate of Reason was devoted to Reinhold, and there have also been a few essays on his philosophy published in English by other historians of philosophy.

The first international Fichte conference was held a decade ago in Zwettl, Austria. The second convened this summer, once again in Austria, but this time in the village of Deutschlandsberg, pleasantly situated in the vine covered hill country south of Graz. The setting itself was remarkable, for the conference was held in an isolated twelfth-century castle perched high above the village. For six consecutive days in August some forty scholars from around the world took part in this extraordinary event, delivering formal papers from breakfast until bedtime and filling every unscheduled moment with informal philosophical discussion. Moreover, this was a genuinely international event, with participants from over a dozen countries—including Japan, China, Canada, the United States, Finland, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Austria, the German Democratic Republic, and the Federal Republic of Germany—and there was a great deal of very welcome interaction between scholars from different lands and with quite different intellectual backgrounds.

These original essays, never published before, suggest the breadth and richness of Johann Gottlieb Fichte's philosophy and are signs of the contemporary effort to explore the relationship between his system of thought and current philosophical debates. Some of the issues discussed included the relationship between "theoretical" and "practical" reason; the philosophy of language; antifoundationalism; the juridical status of women; duties toward natural beings; and the political implications of the Wissenschaftslehre. In addition, the volume includes an introduciton that surveys the history of Fichte interpretation in the English-speaking world and assesses the current state of Fichte studies.