Fichte is a famous German philosopher, today considered a classic. His basic idea was that a person forms himself in the process of activity. The philosopher influenced the work of many other thinkers who developed his ideas.
Biography
Fichte Johann Gottlieb is a philosopher, an outstanding representative of the direction of German classical philosophy, also engaged in social activities. The Thinker was born on 05.19. 1762 in the village of Rammenau in a large family engaged in peasant labor. With the assistance of a wealthy relative, after graduating from the city school, the boy was accepted for training at an elite educational institution intended for noblemen - Pforto. Then Johann Fichte studied at the University of Jena and Leipzig. Since 1788, the philosopher has been working as a home teacher in Zurich. At the same time, the thinker meets his future wife, Johann Run.
Introducing Kant's Ideas
In the summer of 1791, the philosopher attends the lectures of Immanuel Kant, then held in Koenigsberg. Acquaintance with the concepts of the great thinker predetermined the entire further course of the philosophical work of I. G. Fichte. Kant praised his work under the title, “The Experience of Criticizing All Revelation.” This essay, whose authorship was initially mistakenly attributed to Kant, revealed to the scientist the possibility of obtaining a professorship at Jena University. He began working there in 1794.
The biography of Johann Fichte continues with the fact that in 1795 the thinker began to publish his own journal, called the Philosophical Journal of the Society of German Scientists. It was at that time that his main works were written:
"Fundamentals of General Science" (1794);
"The foundations of natural law according to the principles of science" (1796);
"The first introduction to science" (1797);
"The second introduction to science for readers who already have a philosophical system" (1797);
“The system of teaching about morality according to the principles of science” (1798).
These works influenced the contemporary philosophers Fichte - Schelling, Goethe, Schiller, Novalis.
Leaving Jena University in recent years
In 1799, the philosopher was accused of atheism, which served as the publication of one of his articles. In it, Fichte spoke of the fact that God is not a person, but represents a moral world order. The philosopher had to leave the walls of Jena University.
Since 1800, Fichte has been living and working in Berlin. In 1806, after the defeat in the war with Napoleon, the Prussian government was forced to move to Koenigsberg. Fichte followed his compatriots and began teaching at a local university until 1807. After some time, he again moved to Berlin, and in 1810 he became rector of the University of Berlin.
His lectures, which were delivered after the defeat of the Prussian forces under Jena, called on German citizens to resist the French occupiers. These speeches made Fichte one of the main intellectuals of the then resistance to Napoleon's regime.
The last days of the philosopher were held in Berlin. He died on 01. 01. 1814 due to contracting typhoid from his own wife, who was then caring for the wounded in the hospital.
Fichte's attitude to Kant
The scientist believed that Kant in his works shows the truth, without demonstrating its foundations. Therefore, Fichte himself must create a philosophy like geometry, the basis of which will be the consciousness of the "I". He called this system of knowledge "science." The philosopher indicates that this is the ordinary consciousness of man, acting as divorced from the individual himself and elevated to the Absolute. The whole world is a product of the "I". It is effective, active. The development of self-consciousness occurs through the struggle of consciousness and the world.
Fichte believed that Kant did not finish to the end several aspects of his teachings. First, stating that the true meaning of each “thing in itself” is unknowable, Kant could not eliminate the given personality from the outside world and, without any rigorous evidence, insisted that it was real. Fichte believed that the very concept of “things in itself” should be recognized as the result of the mental work of the “I” itself.
Secondly, the scientist considered the structure of a priori forms of consciousness in Kant to be quite complicated. But at the same time, Fichte believed that this part of metaphysics was not sufficiently developed by his colleague, because in his works he did not derive a single principle of cognition, from which various categories and intuitions would follow.
Other famous works by Fichte
Among the famous works of the scientist, the following should be highlighted:
“On the appointment of a scientist” (1794);
“On the appointment of man” (1800);
“Clear as the sun, a message to the general public about the true nature of modern philosophy. An attempt to force readers to understand ”(1801);
"The main features of the modern era" (1806).
The main ideas of Johann Fichte were presented in a series of works, published under the general title "Science". The center of all things, like Descartes, the philosopher recognizes the fact of self-awareness. According to Fichte, already in this sensation are all those categories that Kant deduced in his writings. For example, “I AM” is equivalent to the expression “I AM I”. Another philosophical category follows from this concept - identity.
Idea of freedom
In the philosophical works of Johann Fichte, there are two main periods: the stage of the concept of activity and the stage of the concept of the Absolute. Under the activity of consciousness, the philosopher primarily understood the moral behavior of man. To gain freedom and achieve activity that can overcome any obstacles is the moral duty of every person.
The philosopher comes to the most important conclusion that a person can come to the realization of freedom only in certain historical conditions, at a certain stage of development of society. But at the same time, Johann Fichte believed that freedom itself is inalienable from knowledge. It can be gained only with a high level of development of the spiritual culture of the individual. Thus, culture, combined with morality, makes possible the entire work of the individual.
Practical activity in the works of the thinker
One of the most valuable ideas of Fichte's philosophy is the consideration of activity through the prism of removing intermediate goals using all kinds of means. In the process of human life, practical contradictions are inevitable, and arise almost constantly. That is why the process of activity is an endless overcoming of these conflicts, incompatibilities. The philosopher understands the activity itself as the work of a practical mind, but at the same time, the question of activity makes philosophers think about their nature.
One of the most important achievements of Fichte's philosophy is the development of the dialectical method of thinking. He says that everything is contradictory, but at the same time, the opposites are in their unity. The contradiction, the philosopher believes, is one of the most important sources of development. Fichte considers categories not just as a set of a priori forms of consciousness, but as a system of concepts. These systems absorb the knowledge that appears in a person in the course of his "I".
Freedom issue
Freedom of personality, according to Fichte, is expressed in the work of voluntary attention. A man, writes the philosopher, has absolute freedom to direct his attention to the desired object or to distract him from another object. However, despite the desire to make a person independent of the outside world, Fichte still recognizes that the primary activity of consciousness, through which it is separated from the outside world (“I” and “Not-I” is divided), does not depend on the free will of a single person.
The highest goal of “I” activity, according to Fichte, is to spiritualize the “Not-I” that is opposing him, and to raise him to a higher level of consciousness. Moreover, the realization of freedom becomes possible provided that the “I” will be surrounded not by soulless objects, but by other free beings similar to it. Only they can show an arbitrary, not predictable, reaction to the actions of the "I". Society is a mass of such creatures, constantly interacting with each other and encouraging collectively to overcome such an external influence of "Not-I".
The subjectivity of the philosopher
Briefly, the subjectivity of Johann Fichte can be defined by his famous phrase:
The whole world is I.
Of course, one should not regard literally this expression of the philosopher. For example, the main idea of another philosopher - David Hume - was the idea that the whole surrounding world is a set of sensations experienced by man. This position is not interpreted literally, but is understood in the sense that all surrounding reality is given to people through their sensations, and nobody knows what it really is.
