Fichte
Fichte

Summary/Abstract: For Fichte, philosophy must be scientific and its organisation must resemble science too: it must be the Theory of Science (Wissenschaftslehre). Hence, first and foremost, it should be a system, and as a scientific system it should develop from one or a few doctrines (from presumed axioms that cannot be proven). The first, starting theorem of the Theory of Science sounds like this: “The I begins by an absolute positing of its own existence.” The I for Fichte, just as for Kant, is in a dual relationship with reality: not only in a theoretical (cognitive) but also in a practical (active) relationship. In its activity, through perception, representation and understanding (Verstand) it reaches reason (Vernunft), that is, real self-consciousness which captures the self according to its true essence. Its true essence is freedom, and the moral instinct requires the realisation of freedom. History, in Fichte’s conception, is the progress of human communities, of humanity towards freedom; however, this process has a tortuous and contradictory nature, it appears as a process that goes through pitfalls and even alienation from its original goal.

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