Science of Knowledge: With the First and Second Introductions

by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Peter Heath (Editor), John Lachs (Editor)

Considered by some to be his most important text, this series of lectures given by Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) at his home in Berlin in 1804 is widely regarded as the most perspicuous presentation of his fundamental philosophy. Now available in English, this translation provides in striking and original language Fichte's exploration of the transcendental foundations of experience and knowing in ways that go beyond Kant and Reinhold and charts a promising, novel pathway for German Idealism. Through a close examination of this work one can see that Fichte's thought is much more than a way station between Kant and Hegel, thus making the case for Fichte's independent philosophical importance.

The text is divided into two parts: a doctrine of truth or reason, and a doctrine of appearance. A central feature of the text is its performative dimension. Philosophy, for Fichte, is something we enact rather than any discursively expressible object of awareness; a philosophical truth is not expressible as a set of propositions but is a spontaneous inwardly occurring realization. Therefore, he always regards the expression of philosophy in words as strategic, aiming to ignite philosophy's essentially inward process and to arouse the event of philosophical insight.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, German Literature, Germany, History, Theory, Education

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1794

About the author

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. Fichte is often perceived as a figure whose philosophy forms a bridge between the ideas of Kant and the German Idealist Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Recently, philosophers and scholars have begun to appreciate Fichte as an important philosopher in his own right due to his original insights into the nature of self-consciousness or self-awareness. Like Descartes and Kant before him, the problem of subjectivity and consciousness motivated much of his philosophical rumination. Fichte also wrote political philosophy, and is thought of by some as the father of German nationalism.
His son, Immanuel Hermann Fichte, was also a renowned philosopher.

Reviews

[Igor Capelari]

Eu queria dar uma nota maior para esse livro, mas é impossível. É realmente um livro incompreensível, beirando o nonsense. As primeiras cinquenta páginas são incríveis, mas depois da dedução das categorias de relação o livro se perde completamente. Espero ter uma experiência melhor com o Nova Methodo. Tantos temas aqui nesse livro nunca mais retornam, o que tira o valor de compreendê-lo.