Year: 1868

UHs


Seldom has specimen been brought from
Tho olitteripg mine of metaphysics" with fainter
rrorso Of pure intellectual gold than the subtle alb
stroctions presented in this extraordinary volume
Of all the thinkers of his dEy, who devoted thcf
lives to wrestling with the Elusive problems OF PM
-losophy, Fchto was perhsps the most courageous
and sangpine; his abstruse specuations bear inc
marks " earnest conviction; in his mind they "'io
thoroughly implicated with the most vital qucstions
of life and society; but they have pioduceu onS
Ineapcr ami scanty fruits; aud the progress " :,
age in positive science has removed the'h iion ~
sphere of practicsi interests. Even on thcir ha''o
soil they have been set aside by the prouuc'ons VI
later schools. fhcy were greatly modlhed curing
,be p,e f their author; and now possess Oilly


,r;ous interest as illustrations of intellectual MS
torv and the sign of important stage III the ue-
Veopment of thought


The subject of the present volume hueeu nes "V
tbe foundation Of philosophical inquiry. To deter
miuo the grounds of human knowledge has been the
great problem with profound thinkers IN every age
from Aristotle 10 Kant, from Plato and his successors
10 Lebnitz and Locke The solution of Fichte is set
forth in this volume How fur it is adapted to pro-
mote the interests of knowledge, Our readers may
iudge from brief analysis Of its method and re-
sults.


The starting-point of German philosophy is the re-
Iation of thought to its objects 1t the doctrine
of Kant that the Ego human selfhood, considered
in theoretical point of view is subject 70 the eAter-
nal world IL receives impressions from that world
but can attain no real knowledge OF its character The
nature of things in themselves IS beyond the reach Ol
the human faculties Fichte took his departure from
this principle, but gave it an application at variance
with the intention Of his master, lie maintaihcd
that truth had no objective being, but that every
thine which existsis comprehended in the Ego. The
I'D, l,i.l Ear,fQ QHp
explain is reduced by Tchte to an act of the mind.
What we regard as limitation of the Ego by exteT-
nal objects is rather the intrinsic limitation Of our
own selfhOOd.


The reasoning of Fichte is essentially this. Every
experience implies our own selfhOod and an external
thing-the intelligence, and its object. Now II we
eliminate from this compound the element OF sell
hood an external object remains and the impress
sions on the mind are the products of this object.
Bnt on the other hand, if we abstract the object
there remains the essential selfhood. These twopro-
eesses are ireconcilabe with each other; no third
course is possible; aud hence we must choose
between the two. According to Fchte we must start
from the selfhood or from absolute intelligence the
laws OF which are founded on the sefhOOd and are
not the products of experience The sefhood is thus
erected into a fundamental principle from which
everything else is derived But this selfhOod IT Is to
be understood is not any private individual selihood
but the universal reason which IS independent o the
Individual.


The supreme principle which lies back of every act
of personal consciousness, and which alone makes
consciousness possible, is the principle of identity
The certainty of this principle is assumed without
proof and ON it are founded all subsequent airma-
4ions that possess absolute validity The principle is
expressed in the formula is equal to A. but this
does not involve the existence of A. 1t only declares
that if is then il is equal to A. Hence the content
of this principle is not absolute, but conditional II
now we put the Ego isefhOOdl in place OF A, we
have the formula, Ego equals Ego" principle which
is unconditional in its content as well as IN ITS fon
and connection We can, therefore, say that Ego IS,
instead of saving that Ego equals Ego inasmuch as
the Ego is presupposed before anything else can be
derived from it. This is the basis of all activity in
the human mind and the origin of every intellectual
category.


second fundamental principle in the theory of
Fchte is that of negatiOn, represented by the Tor
mula What is not A is not equal to "a principle
which is also conditional in its content, and
only unconditional in its form. The non-A cannot
be supposed without the A; all that we know
about it is that it is the opposite Of A; hence the
knowledge Of A is presupposed in the knowledge OF
nOn-A But A depends OF the Ego nothing Is alb
soIutely supposed but the Ego hence there can be
an absolute opposition only 10 the Ego; that which
is opposed TO the Ego is the non-Ego,a second fact
IN the experience OF consciousness


Connected with the principles of identity and
negation is third principle the function Of which is
tO solve the contradiction presented by the former
On the one side the Ego is suppressed by the nom
Ego we cannot suppose the Ego so far forth as We
suppose the Ego; but the other side, the non
Ego is only an assumption of the consciousness and
hence cannot suppress the Ego; the apparent sup
preston not being founded in reality. contradic
tion like this which seems TO undermine the fOunda
tion OF our knowledge and destroy the identity Of
consciousness, must be removed. We must discover
the methods Of reconcing the oppOsitions, the Ego
and the nOn-EgO. They must both retain their place
in the consciousness. limiting, but not destroying
each other. The unknown quantity, which solves
the contradiction stands for the limits, and thus
have the cstegOry of determination, OF limitation.
But the idea OF limitation involves that of quantity.
When We say that nytlling is limited, affirm that
ats reality is partially but not wholly suppressed,
through negation. Hence dyisibty as well as
reality and nepatiOn is contained IN the conception
of limit. The Ego and the non-Ego thus both
presented as dieisible. The three principles of
reality megation and divisibility, exhaust the do
main OF the absolute and unconditional, and are
sumlnedupi in the formula, "A divisible non-Ego in
opposition to the dirisible Ego is contained in the
Egov This according 30 Fichte, is the extreme
bound Of the philosophy OF eognition and every
scientific theory of knowledge must rest on these
rategories-
The outline which We have given shows the singu
larly abstract character sOf Fchtes philosophical
method 10 most readers accustomed to the lucidity
of the Scottish and English metaphysical writer's.
and The rounded precision and smOothneSs of the
French the rugged analyses of fichte viii appear
dry and unattractiye as he formulas Of algebra the
processes of which he delights in applying TO the