Immanuel Hermann Fichte

Fichte was born in Jena. He early devoted himself to philosophical studies, being attracted by the later views of his father, which he considered essentially theistic. He graduated from the University of Berlin in 1818. Soon after, he became a lecturer in philosophy there. He also attended the lectures of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, but felt averse to what he deemed to be his pantheistic tendencies. As a result of semi-official suggestions, based on official disapproval of his supposedly liberal views, he decided, in 1822, to leave Berlin and accepted a professorship at the gymnasium in Saarbrücken. In 1826, he went in the same capacity to Düsseldorf. In 1836, he became an extraordinary professor of philosophy at the University of Bonn, and in 1840 full professor. Here, he quickly became a successful and much-admired lecturer. Dissatisfied with the reactionary tendencies of the Prussian Ministry of Education, he accepted a call to the chair of philosophy at the University of Tübingen in 1842 where he continued to give lectures on all philosophic subjects until his retirement in 1875, when he moved to Stuttgart. He died in Stuttgart on 8 August 1879.

In 1837, Fichte founded the Zeitschrift für Philosophie und speculative Theologie and edited it from then on. In 1847, the name was changed to Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik. Publication was suspended 1848–1852, after which Hermann Ulrici and Johann Ulrich Wirth joined him as editors. This journal served as an organ of Fichte's views, especially on the subject of the philosophy of religion, where he was in alliance with C. H. Weisse (with whom he regularly corresponded after 1829);Anatol Schneider, Personalität und Wirklichkeit: nachidealistische Schellingrezeption bei Immanuel Hermann Fichte und Christian Hermann Weisse, Königshausen & Neumann, 2001, pp. 73–4. but, whereas Weisse thought that the Hegelian structure was sound in the main, and its imperfections might be mended, Fichte held it to be defective, and spoke of it as a masterpiece of erroneous consistency or consistent error. Fichte's general views on philosophy seem to have changed considerably as he gained in years, and his influence has been impaired by certain inconsistencies and an appearance of eclecticism, which is strengthened by his predominantly historical treatment of systems, his desire to include divergent systems within his own, and his conciliatory tone.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The great aim of his speculations was to find a philosophic basis for the personality of God, and for his theory on this subject, he proposed the term "concrete theism."[http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/f/fichteih.htm Immanuel Hermann Fichte] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051109215503/http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/f/fichteih.htm |date=2005-11-09 }} entry at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. His philosophy attempts to reconcile monism (Hegel) and individualism (Herbart) by means of monadism (Leibniz). He attacks Hegelianism for its pantheism, lowering of human personality, and imperfect recognition of the demands of the moral consciousness. God, he says, is to be regarded not as an absolute but as an Infinite Person, whose desire it is that he should realize himself in finite persons. These persons are objects of God's love, and he arranges the world for their good. The direct connecting link between God and man is the genius, a higher spiritual individuality existing fan by the side of his lower, earthly individuality. Fichte advocates an ethical theism, and his arguments might be turned to account by the apologist of Christianity. In the conception of finite personality, he recurs to something like the monadism of Leibniz. His insistence on moral experience connected with his insistence on personality.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

One of the tests with which Fichte discriminates the value of previous systems is the adequacy with which they interpret moral experience. The same reason that made him depreciate Hegel made him praise Krause (panentheism) and Schleiermacher, and speak respectfully of English philosophy. It is characteristic of Fichte's most excessive receptiveness that in his latest published work, Der neuere Spiritualismus (1878), he supports his position by arguments of a somewhat occult or theosophical cast, not unlike that adopted by F. W. H. Myers.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The regeneration of Christianity, according to Fichte, would consist in its becoming the vital and organizing power in the state, instead of being occupied solely, as heretofore, with the salvation of individuals.

• De philosophiae novae Platonicae origine (1818).
• Sätze zur Vorschule der Theologie (1826). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Mm0_AAAAIAAJ University of California].
• Beiträge zur Charakteristik der neueren Philosophie (1829). [https://books.google.com/books?id=WdkNAAAAYAAJ Harvard]. 2nd edition, 1841. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95390n/f3.table Gallica]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=6WMNAAAAYAAJ NYPL].
• Johann Gottlieb Fichtes Leben und literarischer Briefwechsel (1830–31). 2 volumes.
• Volume 1, 1830. 2nd edition, 1862. [https://books.google.com/books?id=kTwBAAAAQAAJ Oxford]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=TjczrZBZXOAC Stanford]; [http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/no_cache/dms/load/img/?IDDOC=289714 University of Göttingen].
• Volume 2, 1831. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1HcNAAAAYAAJ NYPL]. 2nd edition, 1862. [https://books.google.com/books?id=kjwBAAAAQAAJ Oxford]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=q59-ttuvcBYC Stanford].
• Über Gegensatz, Wendepunkt und Ziel heutiger Philosophie (1832). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZxZIAAAAMAAJ University of Michigan].
• Grundzüge zum Systeme der Philosophie (1833–1846). 3 volumes.
• Volume 1, 1833. Das Erkennen als Selbsterkennen. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95392b Gallica].
• Volume 2, 1836. Die Ontologie. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95393p Gallica]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZxZIAAAAMAAJ University of Michigan].
• Volume 3, 1846. Die speculative Theologie oder allgemeine Religionslehre. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k953941 Gallica].
• Die Idee der Persönlichkeit und die individuelle Fortdauer (1834). 2nd edition, 1855.
• De principiorum contradictionis (1840). [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95395c/f4.chemindefer Gallica].
• System der Ethik (1850–53). 2 volumes.
• Volume 1, 1850. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95396q Gallica]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=-1oAAAAAMAAJ NYPL]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=2c_teLrL1ToC Stanford]; [http://sdr.lib.umich.edu/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015026495286 University of Michigan].
• Volume 2, part 1, 1851. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95399r Gallica]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=oF4AAAAAMAAJ NYPL]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=OMIIAAAAQAAJ Oxford (1&2)]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=2Mi3RqrU1xsC University of Michigan (1&2)].
• Volume 2, part 2, 1853. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k954004 Gallica]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=FVwAAAAAMAAJ NYPL].
• Anthropologie, Die Lehre von der menschlichen Seele (1856). [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95389f Gallica]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_kFAAAAIAAJ Lane]; [http://sdr.lib.umich.edu/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015026495328 University of Michigan]. 2nd edition, 1860. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AjECAAAAQAAJ Oxford]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=k0IJAAAAQAAJ Oxford (Taylor)]. 3rd edition, 1876.
• Über den Unterschied zwischen ethischem und naturalistischem Theismus (1857).
• Zur Seelenfrage, Eine philosophische Confession (1859). [https://books.google.com/books?id=4FI_AAAAIAAJ University of California].
• {{in lang|en}} Contributions to Mental Philosophy (1860). [https://books.google.com/books?id=hC8RAAAAYAAJ Harvard].
• Psychologie. Die Lehre vom bewussten Geiste des Menschen (1864–73). 2 volumes. [https://books.google.com/books?id=pEQJAAAAQAAJ Oxford]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=jrxUpd3oSbwC University of Michigan].
• Volume 1, 1864.
• Volume 2, 1873. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XC8RAAAAYAAJ Harvard].
• Die Seelenfortdauer und die Weltstellung des Menschen (1867).
• Vermischte Schriften zur Philosophie, Theologie und Ethik (1869). 2 volumes. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dywCAAAAQAAJ Oxford].
• Volume 1. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95401g Gallica].
• Volume 2. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95402t Gallica].
• Die theistische Weltansicht und ihre Berechtigung (1873). [https://books.google.com/books?id=TDsCAAAAQAAJ Oxford]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=eWPIOGkeS8oC University of Michigan].
• Fragen und Bedenken über die nächste Fortbildung deutscher Speculation (1876). [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k77815b Gallica]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=ASYCAAAAQAAJ Oxford]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ozah3fz7AZsC University of Michigan].
• Der neuere Spiritualismus, sein Wert und seine Täuschungen (1878). [https://books.google.com/books?id=BiYCAAAAQAAJ Oxford].

He also edited the complete works and literary correspondence of his father. Some of his works were translated by J. D. Morell under the title of Contributions to Mental Philosophy (1860).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

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• {{EB1911|wstitle=Fichte, Immanuel Hermann von|volume=10|page=313}} This work in turn cites:
• R. Eucken, Zur Erinnerung I. H. F., in Zeitschrift für die Philosophie, cx. (1897)
• C. C. Scherer, Die Gotteslehre von I. H. F. (1902)
• {{Cite ADB|48|539|552|Fichte, Immanuel Hermann (von)|Karl Hartmann|ADB:Fichte, Immanuel Hermann von}}
• {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Fichte, Immanuel Hermann von|year=1920}} This work cites the same sources as the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica's and in addition:
• Erdmann, J. E., History of Philosophy (3 vols., London 1890)
• {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Fichte, Immanuel Hermann|year=1905}}

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Category:1796 births

Category:1879 deaths

Category:Writers from Jena

Category:People from Saxe-Weimar

Category:19th-century German philosophers

Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni

Category:Academic staff of the University of Bonn

Category:Academic staff of the University of Tübingen