Fichte : the self and the calling of philosophy, 1762-1799

In this biographical study of the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte from his birth in 1762 to the crisis in his university career in 1799, Professor La Vopa uses Fichte's life and thought to deepen our understanding of German society, culture, and politics in the age of the French Revolution. This is the first biography to explain thoroughly how Fichte's philosophy relates to his life experiences as reconstructed from the abundant material in his published and unpublished writings and papers. The approach is primarily historical, but should be of interest to philosophers. A thematic biography of the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte from birth to his resignation from his university position at Jena in 1799 due to the Atheism Conflict, this work explains how Fichte contributed to modern conceptions of selfhood; how he sought to make the moral agency of the self efficacious in a modern public culture; and the critical role he assigned philosophy in the construal and assertion of selfhood and in the creation of a new public sphere. Using the writings and private papers now available in the Gesamtausgabe, the study historicizes these themes by tracing their development within several contexts, including the German Lutheran tradition, the eighteenth-century culture of sensibility, the late Enlightenment, the Kantian philosophical revolution, the politics of the revolutionary era, and the emergence of modern German universities. It includes a reinterpretation of Fichte's political theory and philosophy of law, his antisemitism, and his controversial views on gender and marriage.--BOOK JACKET. This book, first published in 2001, is a biographical study of the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte from birth to the crisis in his university career in 1799 which explains thoroughly how Fichte's philosophy relates to his life experiences. It includes a reinterpretation of Fichte's political theory, his anti-Semitism, and his controversial views on gender and marriage. On the night of July 24, 1788, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, age twenty-six, had trouble sleeping. Anthony J. La Vopa. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.