The Philosophy Book

176

See also: René Descartes 116–23 ■ Benedictus Spinoza 126–29 ■

Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■ Isaiah Berlin 280–81

J

ohann Gottlieb Fichte was

an 18th-century German

philosopher and student of

Immanuel Kant. He examined how

it is possible for us to exist as

ethical beings with free will, while

living in a world that appears to be

causally determined; that is to say,

in a world where every event follows

on necessarily from previous events

and conditions, according to

unvarying laws of nature.

The idea that there is a world

like this “out there”, beyond our

selves and independent of us, is

known as dogmatism. This is an

idea that gained ground in the

Enlightenment period, but Fichte

thinks that it leaves no room for

moral values or choice. How can

people be considered to have free

will, he asks, if everything is

determined by something else

that exists outside of ourselves?

Fichte argues instead for a

version of idealism similar to Kant’s,

in which our own minds create all

that we think of as reality. In this

idealist world, the self is an active

entity or essence that exists

outside of causal influences, and

is able to think and choose freely,

independently, and spontaneously.

Fichte understands idealism and

dogmatism to be entirely different

starting points. They can never be

“mixed” into one philosophical

system, he says; there is no way of

proving philosophically which is

correct, and neither can be used to

refute the other. For this reason one

can only “choose” which philosophy

one believes in, not for objective,

rational reasons, but depending

upon “what sort of person one is.” ■

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Epistemology

APPROACH

Idealism

BEFORE

1641 René Descartes discovers

that it is impossible to doubt

that “I exist.” The self is

therefore the one and only

thing of which we can be sure.

18th century Immanuel

Kant develops a philosophy of

idealism and the transcendental

ego, the “I” that synthesizes

information. This forms the

basis of Fichte’s idealism and

notion of the self.

AFTER

20th century Fichte’s

nationalist ideas become

associated with Martin

Heidegger and the Nazi

regime in Germany.

1950 S Isaiah Berlin holds

Fichte’s idea of true freedom

of the self as responsible for

modern authoritarianism.

WHAT SORT OF PHILOSOPHY

ONE CHOOSES DEPENDS

ON WHAT SORT OF

PERSON ONE IS

JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE (1762–1814)

Think the I,

and observe what is

involved in doing this.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte