No More Learning

"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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? 80
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
sentiments subversive of the existing arrangements of
society,--that no one suffered more than he did, from the
clergy on the one hand and the students on the other, in
the attempt to mantain good order in the University. The
unions known by the name of Landsmannschaften existed
at that time in the German schools of learning as they do
now, but their proceedings were then marked by much
greater turbulence and license than they are at the present
day. Riots of the most violent description were of common
occurrence; houses were broken into and robbed of their
contents to supply the marauders with the means of sensual
indulgence. The arm of the law was impotent to restrain
these excesses; and so bold had the unionists become, that
upon one occasion, when the house of a professor at Jena
had been ransacked, five hundred students openly demand-
ed from the Duke an amnesty for the offence. Efforts
had been made at various times, by the academical au-
thorities, to suppress these societies, but the students only
broke out into more frightful excesses when any attempt
was made to restrain their "Burschen-Rights," or "Aca-
demical freedom. " In the hope of effecting some reforma-
tion of manners in the University, Fichte commenced, soon
after his arrival at Jena, a course of public lectures on aca-
demical morality. Five of these addresses were afterwards
published under the title of "Die Bestimmung des Gelehrten. "
(The Vocation of the Scholar. ) They are distinguished by
fervid and impressive eloquence, and set forth the dignity
and duties of the Scholar, as deduced from the idea of his
vocation, with clear, but sublime and spirit-stirring earnest-
ness. He leaves no place for low motives or degrading pro-
pensities, but fills up his picture of the Scholar-life with the
purest and most disinterested virtues of our nature. These
lectures, and his own personal influence among the students
were attended with the happiest effects. The three ordtm
which then existed at Jena expressed their willingness to-
dissolve their union, on condition of the past being forgotten.
They delivered over to Fichte the books and papers of their
society, for the purpose of being destroyed as soon as he
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? SUNDAY LECTURES.
81
could make their peace with the Court at Weimar, and re-
ceive a commission to administer to them the oath of renun-
ciation, which they would receive from no one but him-
self. After some delay, caused in part by the authorities
of the University, who seem to have been jealous of the
success with which an individual professor had accomplished
without assistance, what they had in vain endeavoured to
effect by threatenings and punishment, the desired arrange-
ments were effected, and the commission arrived. But in
consequence of some doubts to which this delay had given
rise, one of the three orders drew back from the engagement,
and turned with great virulence against Fichte, whom they
suspected of deceiving them.
Encouraged, however, by the success which had attended
his efforts with the other two orders, Fichte determined to
pursue the same course during the winter session of 1794, and
to deliver another series of public lectures, calculated to rouse
and sustain a spirit of honour and morality among the
students, Thoroughly to accomplish his purpose, it was
necessary that these lectures should take place at an hour
not devoted to any other course, so that he might assemble
an audience from among all the different classes of the Uni-
versity. But he found that every hour from 8 A. M. till 7 P. M J
was already occupied by lectures on important branches of knowledge. No way seemed open to him but to deliver his
moral discourses on Sundays. Before adopting this plan,
however, he made diligent inquiries whether any law, either
of the State or of the University, forbade such a proceeding.
Discovering no such prohibition, he examined into the prac-
tice of other Universities, and found many precedents to
justify Sunday-lectures, particularly a course of a similar
nature delivered by Gellert at Berlin. He finally asked the
opinion of some of the oldest professors, none of whom
could see any objection to his proposal, provided he did not
encroach upon the time devoted to divine service;--Schiitz
remarking, "If plays are allowed on Sunday, why not moral
lectures? " The hour of divine service in the University was
11 A. M. Fichte therefore fixed upon nine in the morning as
H
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? 82
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
his hour of lecture, and commenced his course with most
favourable prospects. A large concourse of students from all
the different classes thronged his hall, and several professors,
who took their places among the audience, willingly ac-
knowledged the benefit which they derived from his dis-
courses. But he soon discovered that the best intentions,
and the most prudent conduct, are no protection against
calumny. A political print, which had attained an unenvi-
able notoriety for anonymous slander, and had distinguished
itself by crawling sycophancy towards power, now exhibited
its far-seeing sagacity by tracing the intimate connexion
between the Sunday-lectures and the French Revolution,
and proclaimed the former to be a "formal attempt to over-
turn the public religious services of Christianity, and to
erect the worship of Reason in their stead"! Strange to
tell, the Consistory of Jena saw it to be their duty to forward
a complaint on this subject to the High-Consistory at
Weimar; and finally an assembly in which a Herder sat
lodged an accusation before the Duke and Privy-council
against Professor Fichte for "a deliberate attempt against
the public religious services of the country. " Fichte was
directed to suspend his lectures in the meantime, until in-
quiry could be made. He immediately met the accusation
with a powerful defence, in which he indignantly hurled
back the charge, completely demolishing, by a simple narra-
tive of the real facts, every vestige of argument by which it
could be supported; and took occasion to make the Govern-
ment acquainted with his projects for the moral improvement
of the students. The judgment of the Duke is dated 25th
January 1795, and by it, Fichte "is freely acquitted of the
utterly groundless suspicion which had been attached to
him," and confidence is expressed, "that in his future pro-
ceedings he will exhibit such wisdom and prudence as shall
entitle him to the continued good opinion" of the Prince.
Permission was given him to resume his Sunday-lectures,
avoiding the hours of divine service.
But in the meantime the outrageous proceedings of that
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? DEATH OF HARTJIAXN RAHN.
83
party of the students which was opposed to him rendered it
impossible for him to entertain any hope of conciliating
them, and soon made his residence at Jena uncomfortable
and even dangerous. His wife was insulted upon the public
street, and both his person and property subjected to re-
peated outrages. He applied to the Senate of the Univer-
sity for protection, but was informed that the treatment he
had received was the result of his interference in the affairs
of the Orders upon the authority of the State, and without
the cooperation of the Senate; that they could do nothing
more than authorize self-defence in case of necessity; and
that if he desired more protection than the Academy could
give him, he might apply to his friends at Court. At last,
when at the termination of the winter session an attack was
made upon his house in the middle of the night, in which
his venerable father-in-law narrowly escaped with life, Fichte
applied to the Duke for permission to leave Jena. This
was granted, and he took up his residence during the sum-
mer at the village of Osmanstadt, about two miles from
Weimar.
In delightful contrast to the stormy character of his public
life at this time, stands the peaceful simplicity of his domes-
tic relations. In consequence of the suddenness of his re-
moval from Zurich, his wife did not accompany him at the
time, but joined him a few months afterwards. Her vener-
able father, too, was persuaded by his love for his children
to leave his native land, and take up his residence with them
at Jena This excellent old man was the object of Fichte's
deepest respect and attachment, and his declining years were
watched with all the anxiety of filial tenderness. He died
on 29th September 1795, at the age of 76. His remains
were accompanied to the grave by Fichte's pupils as a mark
of respect for their teacher's grief; and a simple monument
records the affectionate reverence of those he left behind him.
It bears the following interesting inscription from the pen
of Fichte:--
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? SlEMOIR OF FICHTF. .
HARTMANN RAHN,
BORX AT ZCRICII, 1>IKI) AT JRSA 29th SEPTEMBER 1795, AOKD 7C VFARS.
He lived amid the most eminent men of his time; was beloved liy the
good; sometimes troubled by others; hated by none.
Intelligence, kindliness, faith in God and man, gave new life to his ape,
and guided him peacefully to the grave.
None knew his worth better than we, whom the old man followed from his father-land, whom he loved even to the end, and of whose grief this memorial
bears record.
JOHANNA FICHTE, his Dacohter
JOH. GOTT. FICHTE, his Son.
Farewell! thou dear Father!
Be not ashamed, 0 Stranger! if a gentle emotion stir within thee:
were he alive, he would clasp thy hand in friendship!
After the death of their venerable parent, Fichte and his
wife were left alone to enjoy, in pure and unbroken attach-
ment, the calm sunshine of domestic felicity; but at a later
period the smile of childhood added a new charm to their
home. A son who was born at Jena was their only child. *
Fichte's intercourse with the eminent men who adorned
this brilliant period of German literary history was extensive
and important. Preeminent among these stands Goethe, in
many respects a remarkable contrast to the philosopher.
The one, calm, sarcastic, and oracular; the other, restless, en-
thusiastic, impetuously eloquent;--the one, looking on men
only to scan and comprehend them; the other, waging cease-
less war with their vices, their ignorance, their unworthiness;
--the one, seating himself on a chilling elevation above
human sympathy, and even exerting all the energies of his
mighty intellect to veil the traces of every feeling which
bound him to his fellow-men; the other, from an eminence
no less exalted, pouring around him a rushing tide of moral
power over his friends, his country, and the world.
To the
one, men looked up with a painful and hopeless sense of
inferiority; they crowded around the other to participate
* Now Professor of Philosophy in the University of Tubingen.
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? LITERARY INTERCOURSE--GOETHE.
85
in his wisdom, and to grow strong in gazing on his Titanic
might. And even now, when a common destiny has laid the
proud gray column in the dust, and stayed the giant's arm
from working, we look upon the majesty of the one with
astonishment rather than reverence, while at the memory of
the other the pulse of hope beats more vigorously than be-
fore, and the tear of patriotism falls heavily on his grave.
Goethe welcomed the "Wissenschaftslehre" with his usual
avidity for new acquisitions. The bold attempt to infuse a
living spirit into philosophical formulas, and give reality to
speculative abstractions, roused his attention. He requested
that it might be sent to him, sheet by sheet, as it went
through the press. This was accordingly done, and the
following passage from a letter to Fichte will show that he
was not disappointed in the expectations he had formed of
it:--
"What you have sent me contains nothing which I do not
understand, or at least believe that I understand,--nothing
that does not readily harmonize with my accustomed way
of thinking; and I see the hopes which I had derived from
the introduction already fulfilled.
"In my opinion you will confer a priceless benefit on the
human race, and make every thinking man your debtor, by
giving a scientific foundation to that upon which Nature
seems long ago to have quietly agreed with herself. For
myself, I shall owe you my best thanks if you reconcile me
to the philosophers, whom I cannot do without, and with
whom, notwithstanding, I never could unite.
"I look with anxiety for the continuation of your work to
adjust and confirm many things for me; and I hope, when
you are free from urgent engagements, to speak with you
about several matters, the prosecution of which I defer until
I clearly understand how that which I hope to accomplish
may harmonize with what we have to expect from you. "
The personal intercourse of these two great men seems to
have been characterized by mutual respect and esteem, with-
out any approach to intimacy. Of one interview Fichte
says,--"He was politeness, friendship itself; he showed me
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? S(i
MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
unusual attention. " But no correspondence was maintained
between them after Fichte left Jena, in consequence of the
proceedings which led to his departure.
Of a more enduring nature was his intimacy with Jacobi.
It commenced in a literary correspondence soon after his
arrival at Jena, from which some extracts have already been
given. Entertaining a deep respect for this distinguished
man, derived solely from the study of his works, Fichte sent
him a copy of the Wissenschaftslehre, with a request that
he would communicate his opinion of the system it contained.
In a long and interesting correspondence, extending over
many years, the points of opposition between them were
canvassed; and although a radical difference in mental con-
stitution prevented them from ever thinking altogether alike,
yet it did not prevent them from cultivating a warm and
steadfast friendship, which continued unbroken amid vicissi-
tudes by which other attachments were sorely tried.
Fichte had formed an acquaintance with Schiller at Tu-
hbingen when on his journey to Jena Schiller's enthusiastic
nature assimilated more closely to that of Fichte than did
the dispositions of the other great poet of Germany, and a
cordial intimacy sprang up between them. Fichte was a
contributor to the "Horen" from its commencement--a jour-
nal which Schiller began soon after Fichte's arrival at Jena.
This gave rise to a singular but short-lived misunderstand-
ing between them . A paper entitled "Briefe iiber Geist und
Buchstaben in der Philosophie" had been sent by Fichte
for insertion in the Horen. Judging from the commence-
ment alone, Schiller conceived it to be an imitation, or still
worse, a parody, of his "Briefe iiber die ^Esthetische Erzie-
hung des Menschen," and, easily excited as he was, demand-
ed with some bitterness that it should be re-written. Fichte
did not justify himself by producing the continuation of the
article, but referred the accusation of parody to the arbitra-
tion of Goethe and Humboldt. Schiller was convinced of
his error, and soon apologized for it; but Fichte did not
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? TREATMENT OF OPPONENTS.
S7
return the essay, and it appeared afterwards in the Philo-
sophical Journal. After this slight misunderstanding they
continued upon terms of confidence and friendship, and, to-
wards the close of his life, Schiller became a zealous student
of the Wissenschaftslehre.
Fichte likewise carried on an extensive correspondence
with Reinhold (who has been already mentioned), Schelling,
W. von Humboldt, Schaumann, Paulus, Schmidt, the Schle-
gels, Novalis, Tieck, Woltmann, besides a host of minor
writers, so that his influence extended throughout the whole
literary world of Germany at that period.
Fichte has been accused of asperity and superciliousness
towards his literary opponents. It may easily be conceived
that, occupying a point of view altogether different from
theirs, his philosophy should appear to him entirely un-
touched by objections to which they attached great weight.
Nor is it surprising that he should choose rather to proceed
with the development of his own system, from his own prin-
ciples, than to place himself in the mental position of other
men, and combat their arguments upon their own grounds.
That diversity of ground was the essential cause of their
difference. Those who could take their stand beside him,
would see the matter as he saw it; those who could not do
this, must remain where they were. Claiming for his system
the certainty of mathematical demonstration,--asserting that
with him philosophy was no longer mere speculation, but
had now become knowledge,--he could not bend or accommo-
date himself or his doctrines to the prejudices of others;--
they must come to him, not he to them. "My philosophy,"
he says, "is nothing to Herr Schmidt, from incapacity; his
is nothing to me, from insight. From this time forth I look ('upon all that Herr Schmidt may say, either directly or in-
directly, about my philosophy, as something which, so far as
I am concerned; has no meaning, and upon Herr Schmidt
himself as a philosopher who, in relation to me, is nobody. "
Such language, although necessarily irritating in the highest
11
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? MEMOIR OF I'K'HTE.
degree to its objects, and easily susceptible of being regarded
as the expression of a haughty and vain-glorious spirit, was
in reality the natural utterance of a powerful and earnest
intellect, unused to courtly phrase, or to the gilded insin-
cerity of fashion. He spoke strongly, because he thought
and felt deeply. He was the servant of truth, and it was
not for him to mince his language towards her opponents.
But it is worthy of remark that on these occasions he was
never the assailant. In answer to some of Reinhold's expos-
tulations he writes thus :--" You say that my tone touches
and wounds persons who do not deserve it. That I sincerely
regret. But they must deserve it in some degree, if they
will not permit one to tell them honestly of the errors in
which they wander, and are not willing to suffer a slight
shame for the sake of a great instruction. With him to
whom truth is not above all other things,--above his own
petty personality,--the Wissenschaftslehre can have nothing
to do. The internal reason of the tone which I adopt is
this: It fills me with scorn which I cannot describe, when I
look on the present want of any truthfulness of vision; on
the deep darkness, entanglement, and perversion which now
prevail. The external reason is this: How have these men
(the Kantists) treated me ? --how do they continue to treat
me ? --There is nothing that I have less pleasure in than
controversy. Why then can they not be at peace ? --For
example, friend Schmidt? I have indeed not handled him
tenderly;--but every just person who knew much that is
not before the public, would give me credit for the mildness
of an angel. " *
* The following amusing passage, from the commencement of an anony-
mous publication on this controversy, may serve to show the kind of reputation which Fichte had acquired among his opponents:--
"After the anathemas which the dreadful Fichte has hurled from the
height of his philosophic throne upon the ant-hills of the Kantists; look-
ing at the stigma forever branded on the foreheads of these unhappy crea-
tures, which must compel them to hide their existence from the eye of an
astonished public; amid the general fear and trembling which, spreading
over all philosophic sects, casts them to the earth before the thunder-tread of
this destroying god,--who dare now avow himself a Kuntint? I dare! --
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? CONTROVERSY WITH JAKOB.
89
The true nature of Fichte's controversialism is well exhi-
bited in a short correspondence with Jakob, the Professor of
Philosophy at Halle. Jakob was editor of the "Annalen der
Philosophie," the chief organ of the Kantists--a journal
which had distinguished itself by the most uncompromising
attacks upon the Wissenschaftslehre. Fichte had replied in
the Philosophical Journal in his usual style. Sometime
afterwards Jakob, who was personally unknown to Fichte,
addressed a letter to him, full of the most noble and gene-
rous sentiments, desiring that, although opposed to each
other in principle, all animosity between them might cease.
The following passages are extracted from Fichte's reply:--
jFtcfjte to fakob.
"I have never hated you, nor believed that you hated me.
It may sound presumptuous, but it is true,--that I do not
know properly what hate is, for I have never hated any one.
And I am by no means so passionate as I am commonly said
to be. . . . That my Wissenschaftslehre was not under-
stood,--that it is even now not understood (for it is supposed
that I now teach other doctrines), I freely believe;--that it
was not understood on account of my mode of propounding
it in a book which was not designed for the public but for
my own students, that no trust was reposed in me, but that
I was looked upon as a babbler whose interference in the
affairs of philosophy might do hurt to science, that it was
therefore concluded that the system which men knew well
enough that they did not understand was a worthless system,
--all this I know and can comprehend . But it is surely to
be expected from every scholar, not that he should under-
stand everything, but that he should at least know whether
one of the most insignificant creatures ever dropped from the hand of fate.
In the deep darkness which surrounds me, and which hides me from every
eye in Germany,--even from the eagle-glance of a Fichte; from this quiet
retreat, every attempt to break in upon the security of which is ridiculous in
the extreme,--from hence I may venture to raise my voice, and cry, / am a
Kan tut! --and to Fichte--Thou canst err, and thou hast erred," &c. &c.
N
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MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
he understand a subject or not; and of every honest man,
that he should not pass judgment on anything before he is
conscious of understanding it. Dear
Jakob! I have unlimited reverence for openness and upright-
ness of character. I had heard a high character of you, and
I would never have suffered myself to pronounce such a
judgment on your literary merit, had I not been afterwards
led to entertain an opposite impression . Now, however, by
the impartiality of your judgment upon me,--by the warm
interest you take in me as a member of the republic of
letters,--by your open testimony in my behalf,* you have
completely won my personal esteem. It shall not be my
fault--(allow me to say this without offence)--if you do not
also possess my entire esteem as an author, publicly ex-
pressed. I have shown B and E that I can do
justice even to an antagonist. "
Jakob's reply is that of a generous opponent:--
"Your answer, much-esteemed Professor, has been most
acceptable to me. In it I have found the man whom I
wished to find. The differences between us shall be erased
from my memory. Not a word of satisfaction to me. If
anything that I do or write shall have the good fortune to
meet your free and unpurchased approbation, and you find
it good to communicate your opinion to the public, it will be
gratifying to me;--for what joy have people of our kind in
public life, that is not connected with the approbation of
estimable men? But I shall accept your candid refutation
as an equally sure mark of your esteem, and joyfully profit
by it . Confutation without bitterness is never unacceptable
to me. "
Gradually disengaging himself from outward causes of dis-
turbance, Fichte now sought to devote himself more exclu-
sively to literary exertion, in order to embody his philosophy
in a more enduring form than that of oral discourses. In
1795 he became joint-editor of the "Philosophical Journal,"
? Jakob had espoused his cause in an important dispute, of which we shall soon have to treat.
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? ACCUSATION OF ATHEISM.
91
which had for some years been conducted by his friend and
colleague Niethammer. His contributions to it form a most
important part of his works, and are devoted to the scientific
development of his system. In 1796 he published his
"Doctrine of Law," and in 1798 his " Doctrine of Morals,"
--separate parts of the application which he purposed to make of the fundamental principles of the Wissenschaftslehre to the complete circle of knowledge. But this period of literary tranquillity was destined to be of short duration, for
a storm soon burst upon him more violent than any he had
hitherto encountered, which once more drove him for a long
time from the path of peaceful inquiry into the angry field
of polemical discussion.
Atheism is a charge which the common understanding has repeatedly brought against the finer speculations of philosophy, when, in endeavouring to solve the riddle of
existence, they have approached, albeit with reverence and
humility, the Ineffable Source from which all existence pro-
ceeds. Shrouded from human comprehension in an obscu-
rity from which chastened imagination is awed back, and
thought retreats in conscious weakness, the Divine Nature is surely a theme on which man is little entitled to dogma- \tize. Accordingly, it is here that the philosophic intellect
becomes most painfully aware of its own insufficiency. It
feels that silence is the most fitting attitude of the finite
being towards its Infinite and Incomprehensible Original,
and that when it is needful that thought should shape itself
into words, they should be those of diffidence and modest
self-distrust. But the common understanding has no such
humility;--its God is an Incarnate Divinity; imperfection
imposes its own limitations on the Illimitable, and clothes
the inconceivable Spirit of the Universe in sensuous and in-
telligible forms derived from finite nature. In the world's
childhood,--when the monstrous forms of earth were looked
upon as the visible manifestations of Deity, or the unseen
essences of nature were imagined to contain His presence;--
in the world's youth,--when stream and forest, hill and
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MEMOIR OF FICHTE.
valley, earth, air, and ocean, were peopled with divinities,
graceful or grotesque, kind or malevolent, pure or polluted;
in the world's ages of toil,--when the crushed soul of the
slave looked to his God for human sympathy, and sometimes
fancied that he encountered worse than human oppression;
--in all ages, men have coloured the brightness of Infinity
with hues derived from their own hopes and fears, joys and
sorrows, virtues and crimes. And he who felt that the
Eidolon of the age was an inadequate representative of his
own deeper thoughts of God, had need to place his hopes of
justice in futurity, and make up his mind to be despised and
rejected by the men of his own day. Socrates drank the
poisoned cup because his conception of divine things sur-
passed the common mythology of Greece; Christ endured
the cross at the hands of the Jews for having told them the
truth which he had heard from the Father; Paul suffered
persecution, indignity, and death, for he was a setter forth
of strange Gods. Modern times have not been without their
martyrs. Descartes died in a foreign land for his bold
thought and open speech; Spinoza--the brave, kind-hearted,
incorruptible Spinoza--was the object both of Jewish and
Christian anathema. In our own land popular fanaticism
drove Priestley from his home to seek refuge in a far distant
clime;--and in our own days legalized bigotry tore asunder
the sacred bonds which united one of the purest and most
sensitive of living beings to his offspring,--the gentle, imagi-
native, deeply-religious Shelley was "an atheist! " And so,
too, Fichte--whose ardent love of freedom made him an
object of distrust and fear to timorous statesmen, and whose
daring speculations struck dismay into the souls of creed-
bound theologians--found himself assailed at once by reli-
gious and political persecution. But in him tyranny once
more found a man who had the courage to oppose himself,
alone and unfriended, against its hate; and whose steadfast
devotion to truth remained unshaken amid all the dangers
and difficulties which gathered round his way.
Fichte's doctrine concerning God has already been spoken
of in a general way. It was the necessary result of his
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? ACCUSATION OF ATHEISM.
93
speculative position. The consciousness of the individual
reveals itself alone; his knowledge cannot pass beyond the
limits of his own being. His conceptions of other things and
other beings are only his conceptions,--they are not those
things or beings themselves. Consciousness is here alone
with itself, and the world is nothing but the necessary limits
which are set to its activity by the absolute law of its own
being. From this point of view the common logical argu-
ments for the existence of God, and in particular what is
called the "argument from design" supposed to exist in the
material world, entirely disappear. We invest the outward
universe with attributes, qualities, and relations, which are
the growth and product of our own minds, and then build
up our faith in the Divine on an argument founded upon the
phenomena we have ourselves called into being. However
plausible and attractive such an argument may appear to
those who do not look below the mere surface of things, it
will not bear the light of strict scientific investigation. Only
from our idea of duty, and our faith in the inevitable conse-
quences of moral action, arises the belief in a principle of
moral order in the world;--and this principle is God. But
this living principle of a living universe must be Infinite;
while all our ideas and conceptions are finite, and applicable
only to finite beings--not to the Infinite. Thus we cannot,
without inconsistency, apply to the Divinity the common
predicates borrowed from finite existence. Consciousness,
personality, and even substance, carry with them the idea of
necessary limitation, and are the attributes of relative and
limited beings; to affirm these of God is to bring him down
to the rank of relative and limited being. The Divinity can
thus only be thought of by us as pure Intelligence, spiritual
life and energy;--but to comprehend this Intelligence in a
conception, or to describe it in words, is manifestly impos-
sible. All attempts to embrace the Infinite in the conceptions
of the Finite are, and must be, only accommodations to the
frailties of man. God is not an object of Knowledge but of
Faith,--not to be approached by the understanding, but by
the moral sense. Our intuition of a Moral Law, absolutely
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