The popular works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Bibliographic Information

The popular works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte

[translated from the German by William Smith] ; with a new introduction by Daniel Breazeale

Thoemmes Press, 1999

4th ed., with prefaces from the 1st ed

  • set
  • v. 1
  • v. 2

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Note

Originally published: London : Trübner, 1889

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) was the forerunner of the post-Kantian idealists and remains one of the most important figures in German philosophy. Throughout his career, Fichte published, in addition to his systematic or "scientific" treatises, the best known of which is the "Foundation of the Entire Wissenchaftslehre (1794-5), a series of works directed at the general public. The purpose of these "popular" writings was to indicate, in a non-technical manner, some of the characteristic features of the new transcendental philosophy and to explicate some of its more significant implications. William Smith translated most of these "popular writings" in the 19th century and published them individually and in the various editions of "The Popular Works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte". Each edition included corrections and improvements in the translation. The fourth and final edition is the one reprinted here. The texts tranlated by Smith included such well-known popular works as "The Vocation of Man", which is, arguably, Fichte's most successful effort to present his philosophy as a whole to non-specialists. Also included are early and late versions of his lectures on the nature and vocation of "the scholar", works of great interest not only as indications of Fichte's theory of education, but as summaries of his philosophical standpoint. The two published lecture series of 1806 are of particular interest, since Fichte did not publish any of the more technical versions of his philosophy after arriving in Berlin in 1800. Instead he announcedhis new standpoint in his popular workks, "Characteristics of the Present Age", and "The Way Towards the Blessed Life", the former of which is explicitly concerned with the philosophy of history, and the latter of which is explicitly concerned with the philosophy of religion. "The Way Towards the Blessed Life" is often read as evidence of a more "mystical" turn in Fichte's later thought. In addition to these translated texts, "The Popular Works" also includes a lengthy and valuable intellectual biography of Fichte by Smith.

Table of Contents

  • Volume 1: memoir of Johann Gottlieb Fichte by William Smith
  • the vocation of the scholar
  • on the nature of the scholar and its manifestations
  • the vocation of the man. Volume 2: the characterstics of the present age
  • the way towards the blessed life, or the doctrine of religion
  • outlines of the doctrine of knowledge.

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Details

  • NCID
    BA44880776
  • ISBN
    • 1855067056
  • Country Code
    uk
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Original Language Code
    ger
  • Place of Publication
    Bristol
  • Pages/Volumes
    2 v.
  • Size
    22 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
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