"
In Fichte's literary correspondence while at Zurich we
find the first intimations of his departure from the system
of Kant, and his plan of a complete and comprehensive
philosophy.
In Fichte's literary correspondence while at Zurich we
find the first intimations of his departure from the system
of Kant, and his plan of a complete and comprehensive
philosophy.
Fichte - Nature of the Scholar
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? MORAL RELATIONS OF THE FINITE EGO.
G3
'[am'--a certainty infinitely superior to all objective cer-
tainty, which can only become possible mediately, through
the existence of the intelligent Ego. ^Enesidemus indeed
demands an objective proof for the existence of God and the
Immortality of the soul. What can he mean by this? Or
does objective certainty appear to him superior to subjec-
tive certainty 1 The axiom--'I am myself--possesses only
subjective certainty; and so far as we can conceive of the
self-consciousness of God, even God is subjective so far as
regards himself. And then, as to an objective existence of
Immortality! (these are ^Enesidemus' own words),--should
any being whatever, contemplating its existence in time, de-
clare at any moment of that existence--'Now, I am eternal! '
--then, on that very account, it could not be eternal. "
We have seen that the attitude of the finite Ego towards
the Non-Ego is practical; towards the Infinite Ego, specu-
lathe. In the first relation we find ourselves surrounded
by existences, over one part of which we exercise causality,
and with the other (in whom we suppose an independent
causality) we are in a state of reciprocal influence. In these
relations the active and moral powers of man find their
sphere. The moral law imparts to its objects--to all
things whose existence is implied in its fulfilment--the
same certainty which belongs to itself. The outward world
assumes a new reality, for we have imperative duties to
perform which demand its existence. Life ceases to be an
empty show without truth or significance;--it is our field of
duty, the theatre on which our moral destiny is to be
wrought out. The voice of conscience, of highest reason,
bids us know, love, and honour beings like ourselves;--and
those beings crowd around us. The ends of their and our
existence demand the powers and appliances of physical life
for their attainment;--that life, and the means of sustaining
and using it, stand before us. The world is nothing more than the sphere and object of human activity; it exists be-
cause the purposes of our moral life require its existence. Of the law of duty we are immediately certain;--the world
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? 64
MKMOIR OF FICHTK.
becomes a reality to us by means of that previous certainty.
Our life begins with an action, not a thought; we do not
act because we know, but we know because we are called
upon to act.
But not only does the law of human activity require our
faith in its immediate objects and implements; it also
points to a purpose, an aim, in our actions, lying beyond
themselves, to which they stand related as means to an end.
Not that the moral law is dependent on the perception of
this end--the moral law is absolute and imperative in it-
self ;--but we necessarily connect with our actions some
future result as a consequence to which they inevitably
tend, as the final accomplishment of the purpose which gave
them birth. The moral sense cannot find such a fulfilment
in the present life;--the forces of nature, the desires and
passions of men, constantly oppose its dictates. It revolts
against the permanence of things as they now are, and un-
ceasingly strives to make them better. Nor can the indi-
vidual look for such an accomplishment of the moral law of
his nature in the progressive improvement of his species.
Were the highest grade of earthly perfection conceived and
attained in the physical and moral world--(as it is conceivable
and attainable)--Reason would still propose a higher grade
beyond it. And even this measure of perfection could not
be appropriated by humanity as its own,--as the result of its
own exertions,--but must be considered as the creation of an
unknown power, by whose unseen agency the basest passions
of men, and even their vices and crimes, have been made
the instruments of this consummation; while too often
their good resolutions appear altogether lost to the world,
or even to retard the purposes which they were apparently
designed to promote. The chain of material causes and
effects is not affected by the motives and feelings which
prompt an action, but solely by the action itself; and the
purposes of mere physical existence would be as well, or
even better promoted by an unerring mechanism as by the
agency of free beings. Nevertheless, if moral obedience be
a reasonable service, it must have its result; if the Reason
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? MORAL RELATIONS OF THE FINITE EGO.
05
which commands it be not an utterly vain delusion, its law must be fulfilled. That law is the first principle of our nature, and it gives us the assurance, our faith in which no difficulty can shake, that no moral act can be fruitless, no work of Reason utterly lost. A chain of causes and effects,
in which Freedom is superfluous and without aim, cannot
thus be the limit of our existence: the law of our being can-
not be fulfilled in the world of sense;--there must then be
a super-sensual world in which it may be accomplished. In
this purely spiritual world, will alone is the first link of a chain of consequences which pervades the whole invisible realm of being; as action, in the sensual world, is the first
link of a material chain which runs through the whole
system of nature. Will is the active living principle of the
super-sensual world; it may break forth in a material act,
which belongs to the sensual world, and do there that which
pertains to a material act to do;--but, independently of all
physical manifestation, it flows forth in endless spiritual
activity. Here human Freedom is untrammeled by earthly
obstructions, and the moral law of our being may find that
accomplishment which it sought in vain in the world of
sense
.
But although we are immediately conscious that our Will,
our moral activity, must lead to consequences beyond itself,
we yet cannot know what those consequences may be, nor
how they are possible. In respect of the nature of these results, the present life is, in relation to the future, a life in faith. In the future life we shall possess these results, for
we shall then make them the groundwork of new activity,
and thus the future life will be, in relation to the present, a life in sight. But the spiritual world is even now with us, for we are already in possession of the principle from which
it springs. Our Will, our free activity, is the only attribute
which is solely and exclusively our own; and by it we are
already citizens of the eternal world; the kingdom of
heaven is here, or nowhere--it cannot become more imme-
diately present at any point of finite existence. This life is
the beginning of our being; the outward world is freely
K
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? 06
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
given to us as a firm ground on which we may commence
our course; the future life is its continuation, for which we
must ourselves create a starting-period in the present; and
should the aim of this second life prove as unattainable to
finite power as the end of the first is to us now, then the
fresh strength, the firmer purpose, the clearer sight which
shall be its immediate growth, will open to us another and
a higher sphere of activity. But the world of duty is an
infinite world;--every finite exertion has but a definite
aim;--and beyond the highest point toward which our la-
bouring being strives, a higher still appears; and to such
progression we can conceive no end. By free determination
--in the effort after moral perfection,--we have laid hold on
Eternal Life.
In the physical world we see certain phenomena following
each other with undeviating regularity. We cannot see
that what we name cause has in itself any power over that
which we call effect, that there is any relation between them
except that of invariable sequence. But we suppose a law
under which both subsist, which regulates the mode of their
existence, and by the efficiency of which the order of their
succession is determined. So likewise, in the spiritual
world, we entertain the firmest conviction that our moral
Will is connected with certain consequences, though we
cannot understand how mere Will can of itself produce such
consequences. We here again conceive of a law under which
our Will, and the Will of all finite beings, exists, in virtue
of which it is followed by certain results, and out of which
all our relations with other beings arise. So far as our Will
is simply an internal act, complete in itself, it lies wholly
within our own power;--so far as it is a fact in the super-
sensual world--the first of a train of spiritual consequences,
it is not dependent on ourselves, but on the law which
governs the super-sensual world. But the super-sensual
world is a world of Freedom, of living activity; its principle
cannot therefore be a mechanical force, but must itself
possess this Freedom--this living activity. It can be no-
thing else than self-determining Reason. But self-deter-
mining Reason is Will. The law of the super-sensual world
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? FAITH IN THE ABSOLUTE.
67
must thus be a Will;--a will operating without material
implement or manifestation, which is in itself both act and
product, which is eternal and unchangeable,--so that on it
finite beings may securely rely, as the physical man does on
the laws of his world, that through it, all their moral acts of
Will, and these only, shall lead to certain and unfailing
results. In this Living Will, as the principle of the spiritual
world, has our moral Will its first consequence; and through
Him its energy is propagated throughout the series of finite
beings who are the products of the Infinite Will. He is the
spiritual bond which unites all free beings together:--not
immediately can they know or influence each other, for they
are separated from each other by an impassable barrier;-- their mutual knowledge comes through Him alone, to whom
all are equally related. Our faith in duty, and in the ob-
jects of duty, is only faith in Him, in His wisdom, in His
truth He is thus the creator and sustainer of all things;
for in Him alone all the thronging forms which people our
dream of life "live and move and have their being. " All
partake His essence:--material nature disappears, but its
images are invested with a new reality. All our life is His
life; and we are eternal, for He is eternal. Birth and the
grave are no more; but, in their stead, undying energy and
immortal youth. Of Him--the Infinite One,--of the mode
of His being, we know nothing, nor need we to know; we
cannot pierce the inaccessible light in which He dwells, but
through the shadows which veil His presence from us, an
endless stream of life, power, and action flows around and
about us, bearing us and all finite things onward to new life,
love, and beauty.
"The Oxe remains, the many change and pass;
Heaven's light for ever shines, Earth's shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments. "
All Death in nature is Birth,--the assumption of a new garment, to replace the old vesture which humanity has laid
aside in its progress to higher being. And serene above all
change, the unattainable object of all finite effort--fountain
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? MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
of our life--home of our spirits--Thou art--the One Being,
--the I AM,--for whom Reason has no idea, and Language
no name.
"Sublime and living Will, named by no name, compassed
by no thought, I may well raise my soul to Thee, for Thou
and I are not divided. Thy voice sounds within me, mine
resounds in Thee; and all my thoughts, if they are but good
and true, live in Thee also. In Thee, the Incomprehensible,
I myself, and the world in which I live, become clearly com-
prehensible to me, all the secrets of my existence are laid
open, and perfect harmony arises in my soul.
"Thou art best known to the childlike, devoted, simple
mind. To it Thou art the searcher of hearts, who seest its
inmost depths; the ever-present true witness of its thoughts,
who knowest its truth, who knowest it though all the world
know it not. Thou art the Father who ever desirest its
good, who rulest all things for the best. To Thy will it un-
hesitatingly resigns itself: 'Do with me,' it says,'what thou
wilt; I know that it is good, for it is Thou who dost it. '
The inquisitive understanding, which has heard of Thee,
but seen Thee not, would teach us Thy nature; and, as Thy
image, shows us a monstrous and incongruous shape, which
the sagacious laugh at, and the wise and good abhor.
"I hide my face before Thee, and lay my hand upon my
mouth. How Thou art, and seemest to Thine own being, I
can never know, any more than I can assume Thy nature,
11 After thousands upon thousands of spirit-lives, I shall com-
IIprehend Thee as little as I do now in this earthly house.
That which I conceive, becomes finite through my very
conception of it; and this can never, even by endless exalta-
litjon, rise into the Infinite. Thou differest from men, not in
degree but in nature. In every stage of their advancement
they think of Thee as a greater man, and still a greater:
but never as God--the Infinite,--whom no measure can
mete. I have only this discursive, progressive thought, and
I can conceive of no other:--how can I venture to ascribe it
to Thee ? ''in the idea of person there are imperfections,
limitations:--how I can clothe Thee with it without these y
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? ABSOLUTE RELIGION.
69
"I will not attempt that which the imperfection of my
finite nature forbids, and which would be useless to me :--
how Thou art, I may not know. But Thy relations to me--
the mortal--and to all mortals, lie open before my eyes,--
were I but what I ought to be,--and surround me more
clearly than the consciousness of my own existence. Thou
workest in me the knowledge of my duty, of my vocation in
the world of reasonable beings :--how, I know not, nor need
I to know. Thou knowest what I think and what I will:--
how Thou canst know, through what act Thou bringest about
that consciousness, I cannot understand,--nay, I know that
the idea of an act, of a particular act of consciousness, be-
longs to me alone, and not to Thee,--the Infinite One.
Thou wiliest that my free obedience shall bring with it
eternal consequences:--the act of Thy will I cannot com-
prehend,--I know only that it is not like mine. Thou doest, and Thy will itself is the deed: but the way of Thy working is not as my ways,--I cannot trace it. Thou livest
and art, for Thou knowest and wiliest and workest, omni-
present to finite Reason; but Thou art not as / now and
always must conceive of being. "*
Such is a very broken and imperfect outline of the most
complete system of Transcendental Idealism ever offered to
the world. To those few among British students, who, amid
the prevailing degradation of sentiment and frivolity of
thought, have pondered the deep mysteries of being until
the common logic, which pretends to grasp its secret, seems
a vain and presumptuous trifling with questions which lie
far beyond its reach, and who find in the theological solu-
tion but a dry and worthless husk which conceals the kernel
of truth it was only meant to preserve,--to such it may be
no unacceptable service to have pointed the way to a modern
Academe, where the moral dignity of the Athenian sage is
united with the poetic sublimity and intellectual keenness
of his two most distinguished pupils. If by such humble
* " Bestimmung des Meim-hen,' Hock III.
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? 70
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
guidance any should be induced to turn aside towards that
retreat, let them not be deterred if at first the path should
seem to lack something of the smoothness of the well-
trodden highway on which they have hitherto travelled ;--
let them proceed courageously;--it will lead them into calm
sunshine, and beside clear and refreshing streams;--nor
shall they return thence without nobler thoughts and higher
aspirations.
Fichte lived in close retirement in Zurich. The manners
of the inhabitants did not please him, and he seldom came
out into society. His wife, his father-in-law, Lavater, and a
few others, composed his circle. Rahn enjoyed in no ordi-
nary degree the society of his distinguished son-in-law; and
it is pleasing to know that the celebrated and venerable
preacher preserved, even in advanced age, a keen relish for
new truth, a perfect openness of mind not frequently met
with in his profession. At his request Fichte prepared a
short course of lectures, by which his friends might be intro-
duced to an acquaintance with the Critical Philosophy, the
fame of which had now reached Switzerland. At the con-
clusion of the lectures Lavater addressed a letter of thanks
to his young instructor, full of the strongest expressions of
gratitude and esteem, in which he styles himself his " pupil,
friend, and fellow-man. " Up to the period of his death, this
excellent man retained the warmest feelings of friendship
towards the philosopher;--and the following lines, written
some years after Fichte's departure from Zurich; whatever
may be their value in other respects, serve at least to show
the respect, almost approaching to reverence, with which
Fichte was regarded by one who was himself no ordinary
man :--
"Brntyctle nut metnim Cooe. an Jtjerrn Pro tenor jTirfite. 1800.
'Unerretdjbarer iPaiftr, ? >tin Dafepn berorift mir tat Baffin,
(C)inrf etttgen (C)rifle*, bem &obe (C)eifler tnflra&tm!
. Somitefl it S5u jrorifetn: icb, (IctUe Didb ftIbfl oor t>ia) fetbfl mir;
Bt'&tt Vit in Etr felbfl ben (C)trabl be<< eroigen Stifle*. "
Although Fichte had as yet published nothing to which
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? LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE :--REINHOLD. 71
his name was attached, he had nevertheless acquired an ex-
tensive philosophical reputation. In several powerful and
searching criticisms which appeared in the "Allgemeine
Literatur Zeitung," the hand of the author of the " Critique
of Revelation" was discovered. He was now generally
looked upon as the man who was destined to complete the
philosophy of Kant, and was thus led into literary corre-
spondence with some of the most distinguished men of the
day. At the head of these must be placed Reinhold, the professor of philosophy at Jena, who had hitherto stood fore-
most among the disciples of Kant. The relation between
these two celebrated men was a most remarkable one.
Although their characters were very different, although they
never saw each other, they lived on terms of the most in-
timate and trustful confidence, such as is commonly attained
by long-tried friendship alone. In their extensive corre-
spondence, Fichte's powerful and commanding intellect
evidently possesses great ascendency over the more diffident
and pliable nature of Reinhold; but his influence never in-
terferes with the mental freedom of his friend. On the
other hand, Reinhold's open enthusiastic character, and his
pure love of truth, engaged the warm affection and sympathy
of his more daring correspondent;--while the frequent mis-
understandings which lend an almost dramatic interest to
their letters, afford room for the exhibition of manly and
generous kindness in both. In 1797 Reinhold abandoned
his own system and accepted the " Wissenschaftslehre," an-
nouncing the change to Fichte in the following terms :--
"I have at length come to understand your "Wissen-
schaftslehre," or, what is the same thing to me--philosophy
without nickname. It now stands before me as a perfect
whole, founded on itself--the pure conception of self-conscious
Reason,--the mirror of our better selves. Individual parts
are still obscure to me, but they cannot now deprive me of
my comprehension of the whole; and their number is dimin-
ishing every day. Beside it lie the ruins of the edifice which
cost me so much time and labour, in which I thought to
dwell so securely and commodiously, to entertain so many
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? >-
72
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
guests,--in which I laughed, not without self-gratulation, over
so many Kantists who mistook the scaffolding for the house
itself. This catastrophe would have caused me much pain
for a time, if it had happened by the hand of scepti-
cism. "
"Adieu! I salute you with the deepest gratitude. Is
personal intercourse absolutely necessary to the growth of
friendship? I doubt it. For indeed it is not mere gratitude,
not mere reverence,--it is heartfelt love that I feel for you,
since I now, through your philosophy, understand yourself.
"
In Fichte's literary correspondence while at Zurich we
find the first intimations of his departure from the system
of Kant, and his plan of a complete and comprehensive
philosophy. He could not rest satisfied with results alone,
unless he could perceive the grounds on which they rested.
His reason imperatively demanded absolute unity of con-
ception, without separation, without division,--above all
without opposition. Writing to Niethammer in October
1793 he says--"My conviction is that Kant has only indi-
cated the truth, but neither unfolded nor proved it. This
singular man either has a power of divining truth, without
being himself conscious of the grounds on which it rests;
or he has not esteemed his age worthy of the communication
of those grounds; or he has shrunk from attracting that
superhuman reverence during his life, which sooner or later
must be his in some degree. " And as the great idea of his
own system dawned upon his mind, he says to Stephani,--
"I have discovered a new principle, from which all philosophy
can easily be deduced In a couple of years
we shall have a philosophy with all the clearness of geo-
metrical demonstration. "--To the development of this
scheme he devoted all the energies of his powerful intellect
during the leisure of his retirement, He refused an invita-
tion to become tutor to the Prince of Mecklenberg-Strelitz:
--" I desire," he says, " nothing but leisure to execute my
plan,--then fortune may do with me what it wilL"
But his studies were soon broken in upon by a call of
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? INVITATION TO JENA.
73
another and more important nature. This was his appoint-
ment as Professor Supernumerarius of Philosophy at the
University of Jena, in room of Reinhold who removed to
Kiel. The distinguished honour of this invitation, unasked
and unexpected, and the extensive field of usefulness which
it opened up to him, determined Fichte at once to accept it.
Unable, however, to satisfy himself that his views were as
yet so fully matured and settled as to justify him in entering
at once upon the important duties of a teacher, invested as
these were to his mind with a peculiar sacredness and so-
lemnity, he endeavoured to obtain a postponement of his
inauguration which had been fixed for Easter 1794, in order
that, by the more complete elaboration of the principle which
he had discovered, he might be able to elevate his philosophy
at once to the rank of positive science. For this purpose he
requested a year's delay. But as it was considered that the
interests of the University might suffer by the chair remain-
ing so long vacant, his request was refused,--with permission,
however, to devote the greater part of his time, during the
first year, to study. He therefore sent an unconditional ac-
ceptance, and plunged at once into the most arduous pre-
paration for his new duties.
Weimar and its neighbouring University was at this time
the focus of German literature and learning. The Grand
Duke Charles Augustus had gathered around him the most
distinguished men of his age, and Wieland, Herder, Goethe,
Schiller and Humboldt shed a more than Medicean lustre
upon the little Saxon Court. Probably at no other period
was so much high genius, engaged in every department of
mental exertion, gathered together in one spot. The Uni-
versity, too, was the most numerously frequented of any in
Germany, not by the youth of Saxony alone, but by students
from almost every part of Europe: Switzerland, Denmark,
Poland, Hungary, the Free Cities, and even France, sent
their sons to Jena for education. The brilliant intellect-
ual circle at Weimar presented to the cultivated mind at-
tractions which could be found nowhere else; whilst at Jena
L
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? 74
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
the academic teacher found a most extensive and honourable
field for the exercise of his powers. It was to this busy
scene of mental activity that Fichte was called from his Swiss
retreat,--to the society of the greatest living men,--to the
instruction of this thronging crowd from all surrounding
nations. Previous to his own appearance, he published as
a programme of his lectures, the " Begriff der Wissenschafts-
lehre, oder der Sogenannten Philosophie. " The high re-
putation he had already acquired, and the bold originality
of his system, drew universal attention. Expectation was
strained to the utmost; so that those who had marked the
rapid growth of his fame had great apparent reason to fear
that it might prove short-lived. But notwithstanding the
shortness of the time allowed him for preparation, he en-
tered upon his course with a clear perception of the task
that lay before him, and confident reliance on his own
power to fulfil the important duties to which he was called.
He arrived at Jena on the 18th of May 1794, and was
received with great kindness by his colleagues at the Uni-
versity. On the 23d he delivered his first lecture. The
largest hall in Jena, although crowded to the roof, proved
insufficient to contain the audience. His singular and
commanding address, his fervid, fiery eloquence, the rich
profusion of his thoughts, following each other in the most
convincing sequence and modelled with the sharpest pre-
cision, astonished and delighted his hearers . His triumph
was complete;--he left the Hall the most popular Professor
of the greatest University in Germany. The following acute
and graphic remarks on this subject, from Forberg's "Frag-
menten aus meinen Papieren," afford us some glimpse of
the opinions entertained of him by his contemporaries at
Jena:--
"Jena, 12th May 1794.
"I look with great confidence to Fichte, who is daily ex-
pected here. But I would have had still greater confidence
in him if he had written the "Kritik der Offenbarung"
twenty years later. A young man who ventures to write a
masterpiece must commonly suffer for it . He is what he is,
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? PROFESSORSHIP AT JENA.
but he will not be what he might have been. He has spent
his strength too soon, and his later fruits will at least want
ripeness. A great mind has no merit if it does not possess
sufficient resignation not to appear great for a time, that
thereby it may become greater. If a man cannot sacrifice a
dozen years' fame as an offering to truth, what else can he
lay upon her altar? I believe that Reinhold's theory has
done much injury to the study of the Kantian Philosophy,
but that is nothing to the injury it has done to the author
himself! His philosophy is finished for this world,--nothing
more is to be expected from him but polemics and reminis-
cences. Fichte is not here yet,--but I am eager to know
whether he has anything still to learn. It would be almost
a wonder if he had, considering the incense that they burn
before him. Oh! there is nothing so easily unlearned as
the power of learning. "
"7th December 1794.
"Since Reinhold has left us, his philosophy (with us at
least) has expired. Every trace of the "Philosophy without
nickname" has vanished from among the students. Fichte is
believed in, as Reinhold never was believed in. They under-
stand him indeed even less than they did his predecessor;
but they believe all the more obstinately on that account. Ego and Non-Ego are now the symbols of the philosophers of yesterday, as substance and form were formerly.
"Fichte's philosophy is, so to speak, more philosophical
than Reinhold's. You hear him going digging and seeking
after truth. In rough masses he brings it forth from the
deep, and throws it from him. He does not say what he
will do; he does it. Reinhold's doctrine was rather an an-
nouncement of a philosophy, than a philosophy itself. He
has never fulfilled his promises. Not unfrequently did he
give forth the promise for the fulfilment. He never will ful-
fil them,--for he is now past away. Fichte seems really de- (Itermined to work upon the world through his philosophy.
The tendency to restless activity which dwells in the breast
of every noble youth he would carefully nourish and cultivate,
that it may in due season bring forth fruit. He seizes
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? 7G
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
every opportunity of teaching that action--action--is the
vocation of man; whereby it is only to be feared that the
majority of young men who lay the maxim to heart may look
upon this summons to action as only a summons to demoli-
tion. And, strictly speaking, the principle is false. Man is
not called upon to act, but to act justly; if he cannot act
without acting unjustly; he had better remain inactive.
"Every reader of Kant or Fichte is seized by a deep feel-
ing of the superiority of these mighty minds; who wrestle
with their subjects, as it were, to grind them to powder;
who seem to say all that they do say to us, only that we
may conjecture how much more they could say.
"All the truth that J has written is not worth a tenth
part of the false which Fichte may have written. The one
gives me a small number of known truths; the other gives
me perhaps one truth, but in doing so, opens before me the
prospect of an infinity of unknown truths.
"It is certain that in Fichte's philosophy there is quite a
different spirit from that which pervades the philosophy of
his predecessor. The spirit of the latter is a weak, fearful
spirit, which timidly includes wide, narrow, and narrowest
shades of meaning between the hedges and fences of a " to
some extent" and "in so far ;"--a weak exhausted spirit,
which conceals (and ill-conceals) its poverty of thought be-
hind the mantle of scholastic phraseology, and whose Phi-
losophy is form without substance, a skeleton without flesh
and blood, body without life, promise without fulfilment.
But the spirit of Fichte's philosophy is a proud and bold
spirit, for which the domain of human knowledge, even in
its widest extent, is too narrow; which opens up new paths
at every step it takes; which struggles with language in
order to wrest from it words enough for its wealth of
thought; which does not lead us, but seizes and hurries us
along, and whose finger cannot touch an object without
bruising it to dust. But that which especially gives Fichte's
philosophy quite another interest from that of Reinhold, is
this,--that in all his inquiries there is a motion, a struggle,
an effort, thoroughly to solve the hardest problems of Reason.
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? FICHTE AND REINHOLD.
77
His predecessor never appeared to suspect the existence of
these problems--to say nothing of their solution. Fichte's
philosophemes are inquiries in which we see the truth before
our eyes, and thus they produce knowledge and conviction.
Reinhold's philosophemes are exhibitions of results, the
production of which goes on behind the scenes. We may
believe, but we cannot know! . . . .
"The fundamental element of Fichte's character is the highest honesty. Such a character commonly knows little of delicacy and refinement. In his writings we do not meet
with much that is particularly beautiful; his best passages
are always distinguished by greatness and strength. He
does not say fine things, but all his words have force and
weight. He wants the amiable, kind, attractive, accomodating spirit of Reinhold. His principles are severe, and not much softened by humanity. Nevertheless he suffers--
what Reinhold could not suffer--contradiction; and under-
stands--what Reinhold could not understand--a joke. His
superiority is not felt to be so humiliating as that of Rein-
hold; but when he is called forth, he is terrible. His is a
. . . . . . 1 restless spirit, thirsting for opportunity to do great things in the world.
"Fichte's public delivery does not flow on smoothly, sweetly
and softly, as Reinhold's did; it rushes along like a tempest,
discharging its fire in separate masses. He does not move
the soul as Reinhold did; he rouses it. The one seemed as
if he would make men good; the other would make them great. Reinhold's face was mildness, and his form was
majesty; Fichte's eye is threatening, and his step daring
and defiant. Reinhold's philosophy was an endless polemic
against Kantists and Anti-Kantists; Fichte, with his, desires to lead the spirit of the age,--he knows its weak side, and therefore he addresses it on the side of politics. He pos-
sesses more readiness, more acuteness, more penetration,
more genius,--in short, more spiritual power than Reinhold.
His fancy is not flowing, but it is energetic and mighty;--
his pictures are not charming, but they are bold and
massive. Ho penetrates to the innermost depths of his
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? 78
MEMOIR OF FICHTK.
subject, and moves about in the ideal world with an ease and
confidence which proclaim that he not only dwells in that
invisible land, but rules there. "*
It might naturally be supposed that a teacher possessed
of so many qualities fitted to command the respect and ad-
miration of his students could not fail to acquire a power-
ful influence, not only on the nature and direction of their
studies, but also on their outward relations. Accordingly
we find Fichte, soon after his settlement at Jena, occupy-
ing a most commanding position towards the youth, not of
his own department merely, but of the whole University.
Doubts had been entertained, even before his arrival, that
his ardent and active spirit might lead him to use the in-
fluence he should acquire over the students for the further-
ance of political projects. His supposed democratic opinions
were even made a ground of objection to his appointment.
* The following graphic sketch of Fichte's personal appearance and manner
of delivery is taken from the Autobiography of Henry Steffens. Although it
refers to a later period of his life, it is thought most appropriate to introduce
it here :--
"Fichte appeared, to deliver his introductory lecture on the Vocation of
Man. This short, strong-built man, with sharp commanding features, made.
I must confess, a most imposing appearance, as I then saw him for the first
time. Even his language had a cutting sharpness. Well acquainted with
the metaphysical incapacity of his hearers, he took the greatest possible
pains fully to demonstrate his propositions; but there was an air of authori-
tativeness in his discourse, as if he would remove all doubts by mere word
of command. 'Gentlemen,' said he,' collect yourselves--go into yourselves
--for we have here nothing to do with things without, but simply with the
inner self. ' Thus summoned, the auditors appeared really to go into them-
selves. Some, to facilitate the operation, changed their position, and stood
up; some drew themselves together,, and cast their eyes upon the floor: all
were evidently waiting under high excitement for what was to follow this
preparatory summons. 'Gentlemen,' continued Fichte,' think the wall,'--
(Denten <? ie bic SEaitb. ) This was a task to which the hearers were evidently
all equal; they thought the wall. 'Have you thought the wall V asked
Fichte. 'Well then, gentlemen, think him who thought the wall. ' It was curious to see the evident confusion and embarrassment that now arose.
Many of his audience seemed to be utterly unable anywhere to find him who
had thought the wall. --Fichte's delivery was excellent, being marked
throughout by clearness and precision. "
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? LANDSMANNSCHAFTEX.
79
And it cannot be affirmed that such anticipations were im-
probable; for certainly the tendency of his own character,
and the peculiar circumstances of the age, presented strong
temptations to convert the chair of the professor into the
pulpit of the practical philanthropist. He himself says that he was assailed by not a few such temptations, and even in- |vitations, at the beginning of his residence at Jena, but
that he resolutely cast them from him. He was not one of
those utilitarian philosophers who willingly sacrifice high
and enduring good to the attainment of some partial and
temporary purpose. His idea of the vocation of an aca-
demical teacher opened to him another field of duty, su-
perior to that of direct political activity. In all his inter-
course with his pupils, public or private, his sole object was
the development and cultivation of their moral and intellect-
ual powers. No trace can be found of any attempt to lead
his hearers upon the stage of actual life, while the opposition
between the speculative and practical sides of their nature
still existed. To reconcile this opposition was the great
object of his philosophy. In his hands philosophy was no longer speculation, but knowledge--(it was soon divested
even of its scholastic terminology, and the Ego, Non-Ego,
&c . entirely laid aside),--the expression of the profoundest
thoughts of man, on himself, the world, and God;--while,
on the other hand, morality was no preceptive legislation,
but the natural development of the active principle of our
own being, indissolubly bound up with, and indeed the essen-
tial root of, its intellectual aspect. Binding together into a
common unity every mode and manifestation of our nature,
his philosophy is capable of the widest application, and of
an almost infinite variety of expression; while in the cease-
less elevation of our whole being to higher grades of nobility
and greatness, is found at once its intellectual supremacy
and its moral power.
So far indeed was Fichte from lending his countenance to
political combination among the students, or inculcating any
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?
? MORAL RELATIONS OF THE FINITE EGO.
G3
'[am'--a certainty infinitely superior to all objective cer-
tainty, which can only become possible mediately, through
the existence of the intelligent Ego. ^Enesidemus indeed
demands an objective proof for the existence of God and the
Immortality of the soul. What can he mean by this? Or
does objective certainty appear to him superior to subjec-
tive certainty 1 The axiom--'I am myself--possesses only
subjective certainty; and so far as we can conceive of the
self-consciousness of God, even God is subjective so far as
regards himself. And then, as to an objective existence of
Immortality! (these are ^Enesidemus' own words),--should
any being whatever, contemplating its existence in time, de-
clare at any moment of that existence--'Now, I am eternal! '
--then, on that very account, it could not be eternal. "
We have seen that the attitude of the finite Ego towards
the Non-Ego is practical; towards the Infinite Ego, specu-
lathe. In the first relation we find ourselves surrounded
by existences, over one part of which we exercise causality,
and with the other (in whom we suppose an independent
causality) we are in a state of reciprocal influence. In these
relations the active and moral powers of man find their
sphere. The moral law imparts to its objects--to all
things whose existence is implied in its fulfilment--the
same certainty which belongs to itself. The outward world
assumes a new reality, for we have imperative duties to
perform which demand its existence. Life ceases to be an
empty show without truth or significance;--it is our field of
duty, the theatre on which our moral destiny is to be
wrought out. The voice of conscience, of highest reason,
bids us know, love, and honour beings like ourselves;--and
those beings crowd around us. The ends of their and our
existence demand the powers and appliances of physical life
for their attainment;--that life, and the means of sustaining
and using it, stand before us. The world is nothing more than the sphere and object of human activity; it exists be-
cause the purposes of our moral life require its existence. Of the law of duty we are immediately certain;--the world
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? 64
MKMOIR OF FICHTK.
becomes a reality to us by means of that previous certainty.
Our life begins with an action, not a thought; we do not
act because we know, but we know because we are called
upon to act.
But not only does the law of human activity require our
faith in its immediate objects and implements; it also
points to a purpose, an aim, in our actions, lying beyond
themselves, to which they stand related as means to an end.
Not that the moral law is dependent on the perception of
this end--the moral law is absolute and imperative in it-
self ;--but we necessarily connect with our actions some
future result as a consequence to which they inevitably
tend, as the final accomplishment of the purpose which gave
them birth. The moral sense cannot find such a fulfilment
in the present life;--the forces of nature, the desires and
passions of men, constantly oppose its dictates. It revolts
against the permanence of things as they now are, and un-
ceasingly strives to make them better. Nor can the indi-
vidual look for such an accomplishment of the moral law of
his nature in the progressive improvement of his species.
Were the highest grade of earthly perfection conceived and
attained in the physical and moral world--(as it is conceivable
and attainable)--Reason would still propose a higher grade
beyond it. And even this measure of perfection could not
be appropriated by humanity as its own,--as the result of its
own exertions,--but must be considered as the creation of an
unknown power, by whose unseen agency the basest passions
of men, and even their vices and crimes, have been made
the instruments of this consummation; while too often
their good resolutions appear altogether lost to the world,
or even to retard the purposes which they were apparently
designed to promote. The chain of material causes and
effects is not affected by the motives and feelings which
prompt an action, but solely by the action itself; and the
purposes of mere physical existence would be as well, or
even better promoted by an unerring mechanism as by the
agency of free beings. Nevertheless, if moral obedience be
a reasonable service, it must have its result; if the Reason
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? MORAL RELATIONS OF THE FINITE EGO.
05
which commands it be not an utterly vain delusion, its law must be fulfilled. That law is the first principle of our nature, and it gives us the assurance, our faith in which no difficulty can shake, that no moral act can be fruitless, no work of Reason utterly lost. A chain of causes and effects,
in which Freedom is superfluous and without aim, cannot
thus be the limit of our existence: the law of our being can-
not be fulfilled in the world of sense;--there must then be
a super-sensual world in which it may be accomplished. In
this purely spiritual world, will alone is the first link of a chain of consequences which pervades the whole invisible realm of being; as action, in the sensual world, is the first
link of a material chain which runs through the whole
system of nature. Will is the active living principle of the
super-sensual world; it may break forth in a material act,
which belongs to the sensual world, and do there that which
pertains to a material act to do;--but, independently of all
physical manifestation, it flows forth in endless spiritual
activity. Here human Freedom is untrammeled by earthly
obstructions, and the moral law of our being may find that
accomplishment which it sought in vain in the world of
sense
.
But although we are immediately conscious that our Will,
our moral activity, must lead to consequences beyond itself,
we yet cannot know what those consequences may be, nor
how they are possible. In respect of the nature of these results, the present life is, in relation to the future, a life in faith. In the future life we shall possess these results, for
we shall then make them the groundwork of new activity,
and thus the future life will be, in relation to the present, a life in sight. But the spiritual world is even now with us, for we are already in possession of the principle from which
it springs. Our Will, our free activity, is the only attribute
which is solely and exclusively our own; and by it we are
already citizens of the eternal world; the kingdom of
heaven is here, or nowhere--it cannot become more imme-
diately present at any point of finite existence. This life is
the beginning of our being; the outward world is freely
K
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? 06
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
given to us as a firm ground on which we may commence
our course; the future life is its continuation, for which we
must ourselves create a starting-period in the present; and
should the aim of this second life prove as unattainable to
finite power as the end of the first is to us now, then the
fresh strength, the firmer purpose, the clearer sight which
shall be its immediate growth, will open to us another and
a higher sphere of activity. But the world of duty is an
infinite world;--every finite exertion has but a definite
aim;--and beyond the highest point toward which our la-
bouring being strives, a higher still appears; and to such
progression we can conceive no end. By free determination
--in the effort after moral perfection,--we have laid hold on
Eternal Life.
In the physical world we see certain phenomena following
each other with undeviating regularity. We cannot see
that what we name cause has in itself any power over that
which we call effect, that there is any relation between them
except that of invariable sequence. But we suppose a law
under which both subsist, which regulates the mode of their
existence, and by the efficiency of which the order of their
succession is determined. So likewise, in the spiritual
world, we entertain the firmest conviction that our moral
Will is connected with certain consequences, though we
cannot understand how mere Will can of itself produce such
consequences. We here again conceive of a law under which
our Will, and the Will of all finite beings, exists, in virtue
of which it is followed by certain results, and out of which
all our relations with other beings arise. So far as our Will
is simply an internal act, complete in itself, it lies wholly
within our own power;--so far as it is a fact in the super-
sensual world--the first of a train of spiritual consequences,
it is not dependent on ourselves, but on the law which
governs the super-sensual world. But the super-sensual
world is a world of Freedom, of living activity; its principle
cannot therefore be a mechanical force, but must itself
possess this Freedom--this living activity. It can be no-
thing else than self-determining Reason. But self-deter-
mining Reason is Will. The law of the super-sensual world
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? FAITH IN THE ABSOLUTE.
67
must thus be a Will;--a will operating without material
implement or manifestation, which is in itself both act and
product, which is eternal and unchangeable,--so that on it
finite beings may securely rely, as the physical man does on
the laws of his world, that through it, all their moral acts of
Will, and these only, shall lead to certain and unfailing
results. In this Living Will, as the principle of the spiritual
world, has our moral Will its first consequence; and through
Him its energy is propagated throughout the series of finite
beings who are the products of the Infinite Will. He is the
spiritual bond which unites all free beings together:--not
immediately can they know or influence each other, for they
are separated from each other by an impassable barrier;-- their mutual knowledge comes through Him alone, to whom
all are equally related. Our faith in duty, and in the ob-
jects of duty, is only faith in Him, in His wisdom, in His
truth He is thus the creator and sustainer of all things;
for in Him alone all the thronging forms which people our
dream of life "live and move and have their being. " All
partake His essence:--material nature disappears, but its
images are invested with a new reality. All our life is His
life; and we are eternal, for He is eternal. Birth and the
grave are no more; but, in their stead, undying energy and
immortal youth. Of Him--the Infinite One,--of the mode
of His being, we know nothing, nor need we to know; we
cannot pierce the inaccessible light in which He dwells, but
through the shadows which veil His presence from us, an
endless stream of life, power, and action flows around and
about us, bearing us and all finite things onward to new life,
love, and beauty.
"The Oxe remains, the many change and pass;
Heaven's light for ever shines, Earth's shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments. "
All Death in nature is Birth,--the assumption of a new garment, to replace the old vesture which humanity has laid
aside in its progress to higher being. And serene above all
change, the unattainable object of all finite effort--fountain
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? MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
of our life--home of our spirits--Thou art--the One Being,
--the I AM,--for whom Reason has no idea, and Language
no name.
"Sublime and living Will, named by no name, compassed
by no thought, I may well raise my soul to Thee, for Thou
and I are not divided. Thy voice sounds within me, mine
resounds in Thee; and all my thoughts, if they are but good
and true, live in Thee also. In Thee, the Incomprehensible,
I myself, and the world in which I live, become clearly com-
prehensible to me, all the secrets of my existence are laid
open, and perfect harmony arises in my soul.
"Thou art best known to the childlike, devoted, simple
mind. To it Thou art the searcher of hearts, who seest its
inmost depths; the ever-present true witness of its thoughts,
who knowest its truth, who knowest it though all the world
know it not. Thou art the Father who ever desirest its
good, who rulest all things for the best. To Thy will it un-
hesitatingly resigns itself: 'Do with me,' it says,'what thou
wilt; I know that it is good, for it is Thou who dost it. '
The inquisitive understanding, which has heard of Thee,
but seen Thee not, would teach us Thy nature; and, as Thy
image, shows us a monstrous and incongruous shape, which
the sagacious laugh at, and the wise and good abhor.
"I hide my face before Thee, and lay my hand upon my
mouth. How Thou art, and seemest to Thine own being, I
can never know, any more than I can assume Thy nature,
11 After thousands upon thousands of spirit-lives, I shall com-
IIprehend Thee as little as I do now in this earthly house.
That which I conceive, becomes finite through my very
conception of it; and this can never, even by endless exalta-
litjon, rise into the Infinite. Thou differest from men, not in
degree but in nature. In every stage of their advancement
they think of Thee as a greater man, and still a greater:
but never as God--the Infinite,--whom no measure can
mete. I have only this discursive, progressive thought, and
I can conceive of no other:--how can I venture to ascribe it
to Thee ? ''in the idea of person there are imperfections,
limitations:--how I can clothe Thee with it without these y
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? ABSOLUTE RELIGION.
69
"I will not attempt that which the imperfection of my
finite nature forbids, and which would be useless to me :--
how Thou art, I may not know. But Thy relations to me--
the mortal--and to all mortals, lie open before my eyes,--
were I but what I ought to be,--and surround me more
clearly than the consciousness of my own existence. Thou
workest in me the knowledge of my duty, of my vocation in
the world of reasonable beings :--how, I know not, nor need
I to know. Thou knowest what I think and what I will:--
how Thou canst know, through what act Thou bringest about
that consciousness, I cannot understand,--nay, I know that
the idea of an act, of a particular act of consciousness, be-
longs to me alone, and not to Thee,--the Infinite One.
Thou wiliest that my free obedience shall bring with it
eternal consequences:--the act of Thy will I cannot com-
prehend,--I know only that it is not like mine. Thou doest, and Thy will itself is the deed: but the way of Thy working is not as my ways,--I cannot trace it. Thou livest
and art, for Thou knowest and wiliest and workest, omni-
present to finite Reason; but Thou art not as / now and
always must conceive of being. "*
Such is a very broken and imperfect outline of the most
complete system of Transcendental Idealism ever offered to
the world. To those few among British students, who, amid
the prevailing degradation of sentiment and frivolity of
thought, have pondered the deep mysteries of being until
the common logic, which pretends to grasp its secret, seems
a vain and presumptuous trifling with questions which lie
far beyond its reach, and who find in the theological solu-
tion but a dry and worthless husk which conceals the kernel
of truth it was only meant to preserve,--to such it may be
no unacceptable service to have pointed the way to a modern
Academe, where the moral dignity of the Athenian sage is
united with the poetic sublimity and intellectual keenness
of his two most distinguished pupils. If by such humble
* " Bestimmung des Meim-hen,' Hock III.
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? 70
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
guidance any should be induced to turn aside towards that
retreat, let them not be deterred if at first the path should
seem to lack something of the smoothness of the well-
trodden highway on which they have hitherto travelled ;--
let them proceed courageously;--it will lead them into calm
sunshine, and beside clear and refreshing streams;--nor
shall they return thence without nobler thoughts and higher
aspirations.
Fichte lived in close retirement in Zurich. The manners
of the inhabitants did not please him, and he seldom came
out into society. His wife, his father-in-law, Lavater, and a
few others, composed his circle. Rahn enjoyed in no ordi-
nary degree the society of his distinguished son-in-law; and
it is pleasing to know that the celebrated and venerable
preacher preserved, even in advanced age, a keen relish for
new truth, a perfect openness of mind not frequently met
with in his profession. At his request Fichte prepared a
short course of lectures, by which his friends might be intro-
duced to an acquaintance with the Critical Philosophy, the
fame of which had now reached Switzerland. At the con-
clusion of the lectures Lavater addressed a letter of thanks
to his young instructor, full of the strongest expressions of
gratitude and esteem, in which he styles himself his " pupil,
friend, and fellow-man. " Up to the period of his death, this
excellent man retained the warmest feelings of friendship
towards the philosopher;--and the following lines, written
some years after Fichte's departure from Zurich; whatever
may be their value in other respects, serve at least to show
the respect, almost approaching to reverence, with which
Fichte was regarded by one who was himself no ordinary
man :--
"Brntyctle nut metnim Cooe. an Jtjerrn Pro tenor jTirfite. 1800.
'Unerretdjbarer iPaiftr, ? >tin Dafepn berorift mir tat Baffin,
(C)inrf etttgen (C)rifle*, bem &obe (C)eifler tnflra&tm!
. Somitefl it S5u jrorifetn: icb, (IctUe Didb ftIbfl oor t>ia) fetbfl mir;
Bt'&tt Vit in Etr felbfl ben (C)trabl be<< eroigen Stifle*. "
Although Fichte had as yet published nothing to which
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? LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE :--REINHOLD. 71
his name was attached, he had nevertheless acquired an ex-
tensive philosophical reputation. In several powerful and
searching criticisms which appeared in the "Allgemeine
Literatur Zeitung," the hand of the author of the " Critique
of Revelation" was discovered. He was now generally
looked upon as the man who was destined to complete the
philosophy of Kant, and was thus led into literary corre-
spondence with some of the most distinguished men of the
day. At the head of these must be placed Reinhold, the professor of philosophy at Jena, who had hitherto stood fore-
most among the disciples of Kant. The relation between
these two celebrated men was a most remarkable one.
Although their characters were very different, although they
never saw each other, they lived on terms of the most in-
timate and trustful confidence, such as is commonly attained
by long-tried friendship alone. In their extensive corre-
spondence, Fichte's powerful and commanding intellect
evidently possesses great ascendency over the more diffident
and pliable nature of Reinhold; but his influence never in-
terferes with the mental freedom of his friend. On the
other hand, Reinhold's open enthusiastic character, and his
pure love of truth, engaged the warm affection and sympathy
of his more daring correspondent;--while the frequent mis-
understandings which lend an almost dramatic interest to
their letters, afford room for the exhibition of manly and
generous kindness in both. In 1797 Reinhold abandoned
his own system and accepted the " Wissenschaftslehre," an-
nouncing the change to Fichte in the following terms :--
"I have at length come to understand your "Wissen-
schaftslehre," or, what is the same thing to me--philosophy
without nickname. It now stands before me as a perfect
whole, founded on itself--the pure conception of self-conscious
Reason,--the mirror of our better selves. Individual parts
are still obscure to me, but they cannot now deprive me of
my comprehension of the whole; and their number is dimin-
ishing every day. Beside it lie the ruins of the edifice which
cost me so much time and labour, in which I thought to
dwell so securely and commodiously, to entertain so many
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? >-
72
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
guests,--in which I laughed, not without self-gratulation, over
so many Kantists who mistook the scaffolding for the house
itself. This catastrophe would have caused me much pain
for a time, if it had happened by the hand of scepti-
cism. "
"Adieu! I salute you with the deepest gratitude. Is
personal intercourse absolutely necessary to the growth of
friendship? I doubt it. For indeed it is not mere gratitude,
not mere reverence,--it is heartfelt love that I feel for you,
since I now, through your philosophy, understand yourself.
"
In Fichte's literary correspondence while at Zurich we
find the first intimations of his departure from the system
of Kant, and his plan of a complete and comprehensive
philosophy. He could not rest satisfied with results alone,
unless he could perceive the grounds on which they rested.
His reason imperatively demanded absolute unity of con-
ception, without separation, without division,--above all
without opposition. Writing to Niethammer in October
1793 he says--"My conviction is that Kant has only indi-
cated the truth, but neither unfolded nor proved it. This
singular man either has a power of divining truth, without
being himself conscious of the grounds on which it rests;
or he has not esteemed his age worthy of the communication
of those grounds; or he has shrunk from attracting that
superhuman reverence during his life, which sooner or later
must be his in some degree. " And as the great idea of his
own system dawned upon his mind, he says to Stephani,--
"I have discovered a new principle, from which all philosophy
can easily be deduced In a couple of years
we shall have a philosophy with all the clearness of geo-
metrical demonstration. "--To the development of this
scheme he devoted all the energies of his powerful intellect
during the leisure of his retirement, He refused an invita-
tion to become tutor to the Prince of Mecklenberg-Strelitz:
--" I desire," he says, " nothing but leisure to execute my
plan,--then fortune may do with me what it wilL"
But his studies were soon broken in upon by a call of
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? INVITATION TO JENA.
73
another and more important nature. This was his appoint-
ment as Professor Supernumerarius of Philosophy at the
University of Jena, in room of Reinhold who removed to
Kiel. The distinguished honour of this invitation, unasked
and unexpected, and the extensive field of usefulness which
it opened up to him, determined Fichte at once to accept it.
Unable, however, to satisfy himself that his views were as
yet so fully matured and settled as to justify him in entering
at once upon the important duties of a teacher, invested as
these were to his mind with a peculiar sacredness and so-
lemnity, he endeavoured to obtain a postponement of his
inauguration which had been fixed for Easter 1794, in order
that, by the more complete elaboration of the principle which
he had discovered, he might be able to elevate his philosophy
at once to the rank of positive science. For this purpose he
requested a year's delay. But as it was considered that the
interests of the University might suffer by the chair remain-
ing so long vacant, his request was refused,--with permission,
however, to devote the greater part of his time, during the
first year, to study. He therefore sent an unconditional ac-
ceptance, and plunged at once into the most arduous pre-
paration for his new duties.
Weimar and its neighbouring University was at this time
the focus of German literature and learning. The Grand
Duke Charles Augustus had gathered around him the most
distinguished men of his age, and Wieland, Herder, Goethe,
Schiller and Humboldt shed a more than Medicean lustre
upon the little Saxon Court. Probably at no other period
was so much high genius, engaged in every department of
mental exertion, gathered together in one spot. The Uni-
versity, too, was the most numerously frequented of any in
Germany, not by the youth of Saxony alone, but by students
from almost every part of Europe: Switzerland, Denmark,
Poland, Hungary, the Free Cities, and even France, sent
their sons to Jena for education. The brilliant intellect-
ual circle at Weimar presented to the cultivated mind at-
tractions which could be found nowhere else; whilst at Jena
L
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MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
the academic teacher found a most extensive and honourable
field for the exercise of his powers. It was to this busy
scene of mental activity that Fichte was called from his Swiss
retreat,--to the society of the greatest living men,--to the
instruction of this thronging crowd from all surrounding
nations. Previous to his own appearance, he published as
a programme of his lectures, the " Begriff der Wissenschafts-
lehre, oder der Sogenannten Philosophie. " The high re-
putation he had already acquired, and the bold originality
of his system, drew universal attention. Expectation was
strained to the utmost; so that those who had marked the
rapid growth of his fame had great apparent reason to fear
that it might prove short-lived. But notwithstanding the
shortness of the time allowed him for preparation, he en-
tered upon his course with a clear perception of the task
that lay before him, and confident reliance on his own
power to fulfil the important duties to which he was called.
He arrived at Jena on the 18th of May 1794, and was
received with great kindness by his colleagues at the Uni-
versity. On the 23d he delivered his first lecture. The
largest hall in Jena, although crowded to the roof, proved
insufficient to contain the audience. His singular and
commanding address, his fervid, fiery eloquence, the rich
profusion of his thoughts, following each other in the most
convincing sequence and modelled with the sharpest pre-
cision, astonished and delighted his hearers . His triumph
was complete;--he left the Hall the most popular Professor
of the greatest University in Germany. The following acute
and graphic remarks on this subject, from Forberg's "Frag-
menten aus meinen Papieren," afford us some glimpse of
the opinions entertained of him by his contemporaries at
Jena:--
"Jena, 12th May 1794.
"I look with great confidence to Fichte, who is daily ex-
pected here. But I would have had still greater confidence
in him if he had written the "Kritik der Offenbarung"
twenty years later. A young man who ventures to write a
masterpiece must commonly suffer for it . He is what he is,
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? PROFESSORSHIP AT JENA.
but he will not be what he might have been. He has spent
his strength too soon, and his later fruits will at least want
ripeness. A great mind has no merit if it does not possess
sufficient resignation not to appear great for a time, that
thereby it may become greater. If a man cannot sacrifice a
dozen years' fame as an offering to truth, what else can he
lay upon her altar? I believe that Reinhold's theory has
done much injury to the study of the Kantian Philosophy,
but that is nothing to the injury it has done to the author
himself! His philosophy is finished for this world,--nothing
more is to be expected from him but polemics and reminis-
cences. Fichte is not here yet,--but I am eager to know
whether he has anything still to learn. It would be almost
a wonder if he had, considering the incense that they burn
before him. Oh! there is nothing so easily unlearned as
the power of learning. "
"7th December 1794.
"Since Reinhold has left us, his philosophy (with us at
least) has expired. Every trace of the "Philosophy without
nickname" has vanished from among the students. Fichte is
believed in, as Reinhold never was believed in. They under-
stand him indeed even less than they did his predecessor;
but they believe all the more obstinately on that account. Ego and Non-Ego are now the symbols of the philosophers of yesterday, as substance and form were formerly.
"Fichte's philosophy is, so to speak, more philosophical
than Reinhold's. You hear him going digging and seeking
after truth. In rough masses he brings it forth from the
deep, and throws it from him. He does not say what he
will do; he does it. Reinhold's doctrine was rather an an-
nouncement of a philosophy, than a philosophy itself. He
has never fulfilled his promises. Not unfrequently did he
give forth the promise for the fulfilment. He never will ful-
fil them,--for he is now past away. Fichte seems really de- (Itermined to work upon the world through his philosophy.
The tendency to restless activity which dwells in the breast
of every noble youth he would carefully nourish and cultivate,
that it may in due season bring forth fruit. He seizes
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MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
every opportunity of teaching that action--action--is the
vocation of man; whereby it is only to be feared that the
majority of young men who lay the maxim to heart may look
upon this summons to action as only a summons to demoli-
tion. And, strictly speaking, the principle is false. Man is
not called upon to act, but to act justly; if he cannot act
without acting unjustly; he had better remain inactive.
"Every reader of Kant or Fichte is seized by a deep feel-
ing of the superiority of these mighty minds; who wrestle
with their subjects, as it were, to grind them to powder;
who seem to say all that they do say to us, only that we
may conjecture how much more they could say.
"All the truth that J has written is not worth a tenth
part of the false which Fichte may have written. The one
gives me a small number of known truths; the other gives
me perhaps one truth, but in doing so, opens before me the
prospect of an infinity of unknown truths.
"It is certain that in Fichte's philosophy there is quite a
different spirit from that which pervades the philosophy of
his predecessor. The spirit of the latter is a weak, fearful
spirit, which timidly includes wide, narrow, and narrowest
shades of meaning between the hedges and fences of a " to
some extent" and "in so far ;"--a weak exhausted spirit,
which conceals (and ill-conceals) its poverty of thought be-
hind the mantle of scholastic phraseology, and whose Phi-
losophy is form without substance, a skeleton without flesh
and blood, body without life, promise without fulfilment.
But the spirit of Fichte's philosophy is a proud and bold
spirit, for which the domain of human knowledge, even in
its widest extent, is too narrow; which opens up new paths
at every step it takes; which struggles with language in
order to wrest from it words enough for its wealth of
thought; which does not lead us, but seizes and hurries us
along, and whose finger cannot touch an object without
bruising it to dust. But that which especially gives Fichte's
philosophy quite another interest from that of Reinhold, is
this,--that in all his inquiries there is a motion, a struggle,
an effort, thoroughly to solve the hardest problems of Reason.
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? FICHTE AND REINHOLD.
77
His predecessor never appeared to suspect the existence of
these problems--to say nothing of their solution. Fichte's
philosophemes are inquiries in which we see the truth before
our eyes, and thus they produce knowledge and conviction.
Reinhold's philosophemes are exhibitions of results, the
production of which goes on behind the scenes. We may
believe, but we cannot know! . . . .
"The fundamental element of Fichte's character is the highest honesty. Such a character commonly knows little of delicacy and refinement. In his writings we do not meet
with much that is particularly beautiful; his best passages
are always distinguished by greatness and strength. He
does not say fine things, but all his words have force and
weight. He wants the amiable, kind, attractive, accomodating spirit of Reinhold. His principles are severe, and not much softened by humanity. Nevertheless he suffers--
what Reinhold could not suffer--contradiction; and under-
stands--what Reinhold could not understand--a joke. His
superiority is not felt to be so humiliating as that of Rein-
hold; but when he is called forth, he is terrible. His is a
. . . . . . 1 restless spirit, thirsting for opportunity to do great things in the world.
"Fichte's public delivery does not flow on smoothly, sweetly
and softly, as Reinhold's did; it rushes along like a tempest,
discharging its fire in separate masses. He does not move
the soul as Reinhold did; he rouses it. The one seemed as
if he would make men good; the other would make them great. Reinhold's face was mildness, and his form was
majesty; Fichte's eye is threatening, and his step daring
and defiant. Reinhold's philosophy was an endless polemic
against Kantists and Anti-Kantists; Fichte, with his, desires to lead the spirit of the age,--he knows its weak side, and therefore he addresses it on the side of politics. He pos-
sesses more readiness, more acuteness, more penetration,
more genius,--in short, more spiritual power than Reinhold.
His fancy is not flowing, but it is energetic and mighty;--
his pictures are not charming, but they are bold and
massive. Ho penetrates to the innermost depths of his
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MEMOIR OF FICHTK.
subject, and moves about in the ideal world with an ease and
confidence which proclaim that he not only dwells in that
invisible land, but rules there. "*
It might naturally be supposed that a teacher possessed
of so many qualities fitted to command the respect and ad-
miration of his students could not fail to acquire a power-
ful influence, not only on the nature and direction of their
studies, but also on their outward relations. Accordingly
we find Fichte, soon after his settlement at Jena, occupy-
ing a most commanding position towards the youth, not of
his own department merely, but of the whole University.
Doubts had been entertained, even before his arrival, that
his ardent and active spirit might lead him to use the in-
fluence he should acquire over the students for the further-
ance of political projects. His supposed democratic opinions
were even made a ground of objection to his appointment.
* The following graphic sketch of Fichte's personal appearance and manner
of delivery is taken from the Autobiography of Henry Steffens. Although it
refers to a later period of his life, it is thought most appropriate to introduce
it here :--
"Fichte appeared, to deliver his introductory lecture on the Vocation of
Man. This short, strong-built man, with sharp commanding features, made.
I must confess, a most imposing appearance, as I then saw him for the first
time. Even his language had a cutting sharpness. Well acquainted with
the metaphysical incapacity of his hearers, he took the greatest possible
pains fully to demonstrate his propositions; but there was an air of authori-
tativeness in his discourse, as if he would remove all doubts by mere word
of command. 'Gentlemen,' said he,' collect yourselves--go into yourselves
--for we have here nothing to do with things without, but simply with the
inner self. ' Thus summoned, the auditors appeared really to go into them-
selves. Some, to facilitate the operation, changed their position, and stood
up; some drew themselves together,, and cast their eyes upon the floor: all
were evidently waiting under high excitement for what was to follow this
preparatory summons. 'Gentlemen,' continued Fichte,' think the wall,'--
(Denten <? ie bic SEaitb. ) This was a task to which the hearers were evidently
all equal; they thought the wall. 'Have you thought the wall V asked
Fichte. 'Well then, gentlemen, think him who thought the wall. ' It was curious to see the evident confusion and embarrassment that now arose.
Many of his audience seemed to be utterly unable anywhere to find him who
had thought the wall. --Fichte's delivery was excellent, being marked
throughout by clearness and precision. "
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? LANDSMANNSCHAFTEX.
79
And it cannot be affirmed that such anticipations were im-
probable; for certainly the tendency of his own character,
and the peculiar circumstances of the age, presented strong
temptations to convert the chair of the professor into the
pulpit of the practical philanthropist. He himself says that he was assailed by not a few such temptations, and even in- |vitations, at the beginning of his residence at Jena, but
that he resolutely cast them from him. He was not one of
those utilitarian philosophers who willingly sacrifice high
and enduring good to the attainment of some partial and
temporary purpose. His idea of the vocation of an aca-
demical teacher opened to him another field of duty, su-
perior to that of direct political activity. In all his inter-
course with his pupils, public or private, his sole object was
the development and cultivation of their moral and intellect-
ual powers. No trace can be found of any attempt to lead
his hearers upon the stage of actual life, while the opposition
between the speculative and practical sides of their nature
still existed. To reconcile this opposition was the great
object of his philosophy. In his hands philosophy was no longer speculation, but knowledge--(it was soon divested
even of its scholastic terminology, and the Ego, Non-Ego,
&c . entirely laid aside),--the expression of the profoundest
thoughts of man, on himself, the world, and God;--while,
on the other hand, morality was no preceptive legislation,
but the natural development of the active principle of our
own being, indissolubly bound up with, and indeed the essen-
tial root of, its intellectual aspect. Binding together into a
common unity every mode and manifestation of our nature,
his philosophy is capable of the widest application, and of
an almost infinite variety of expression; while in the cease-
less elevation of our whole being to higher grades of nobility
and greatness, is found at once its intellectual supremacy
and its moral power.
So far indeed was Fichte from lending his countenance to
political combination among the students, or inculcating any
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