Abstract
Fichte is the prime philosopher of freedom. On the basis of Kant’s Copernican revolution in theoretical philosophy and Kant’s Rousseauian turn in practical philosophy, Fichte seeks a unified account of self and world that has freedom be the condition and purpose of nature and culture alike. In particular, Fichte argues for the eminently practical character of the human mind and the status of the natural and cultural world as the arena for the exercise of human freedom. Following Kant and Rousseau (by way of Kant), Fichte conceives of freedom as self-legislation or autonomy, thereby joining self-determination and self-limitation in the free enactment of the rule of reason. This chapter outlines Fichte’s achievement by pursuing the foundational and final status of freedom in his philosophy.
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Notes
See Frederick Neuhouser, Fichte’s Theory of Subjectivity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990)
Wayne M. Martin, Idealism and Objectivity: Understanding Fichte’s Jena Project (Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 1997)
Günter Zöller, Fichte’s Transcendental Philosophy: The Original Duplicity of Intelligence and Will (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)
Gunnar Beck, Fichte and Kant on Freedom, Rights, and Law (Lanham, Md.: Lexington, 2008)
David James, Fichte’s Social and Political Philosophy: Property and Virtue (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
Daniel Breazeale, Thinking Through the Wissenschaftslehre: Themes from Fichte’s Early Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).
See Günter Zöller, Fichte lesen (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 2013), esp. 112–16.
See Katja V. Taver, Johann Gottlieb Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre von 1810. Versuch einer Exegese (Amsterdam: Rodolpi, 1999)
Matteo Vincenzo d’Alfonso, Vom Wissen zur Weisheit. Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre 1811 (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005)
Helmut Girndt and Jacinto Rivera de Rosales, eds., Die Wissenschaftslehre von 1807 “Die Königsberger” von Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Eine kooperative Interpretation (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006).
See Wolfgang Janke, Die dreifache Vollendung des Deutschen Idealismus. Schelling, Hegel und Fichtes ungeschriebene Lehre (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009).
On the republican background of classical German political philosophy, see Günter Zöller, Res publica: Plato’s “Politeia” in Classical German Philosophy (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2014).
For an account of Fichte’s ingenious joining of life and philosophy, see Günter Zöller, “Life into Which an Eye Has Been Inserted: Fichte on the Fusion of Vitality and Vision,” Rivista di Storia della Filosofia (forthcoming in 2014).
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© 2014 Günter Zöller
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Zöller, G. (2014). A Philosophy of Freedom: Fichte’s Philosophical Achievement. In: Altman, M.C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism. The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-33475-6_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-33475-6_15
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