Fichte’s Transcendental Philosophy

This is the first book in English on the major works of the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814). It examines the transcendental theory of self and world from the writings of Fichte’s most influential period (1794–1800), and considers in detail recently discovered lectures on the Foundations of Transcendental Philosophy. At the center of that body of work stands Fichte’s attempt to integrate the theories of volition and cognition into a unified but complex ‘system of freedom’. The focus of this book is the intricate interplay between thinking and willing in the birth of experience out of the spirit of freedom. Combining incomparable erudition, sensitive readings of some of the most difficult of philosophical texts, clarity in exposition and an acute awareness of historical context this book takes its place as the ideal introduction to Fichte’s thought.

• Most comprehensive account of Fichte available • After Kant and Hegel, Fichte is the most important philosopher in Germany at the end of the eighteenth century • Written with acute awareness of historical context

Acknowledgments; Method of citation for Fichte’s and Kant’s works; Key to Fichte’s works cited; Introduction; Part I. Thinking about Thinking: 1. Completing Kant’s transcendental idealism; 2. An eye for an I; Part II. Knowing and Doing: 3. Positing and determining; 4. Changing the appearance; Part III. Thinking and Willing: 5. Willing as thinking; 6. Ideal thinking and real thinking; Part IV. Pure Willing: 7. Determination to self-determination; 8. The unity of intelligence and will; Notes; Bibliography.