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Fichte Studies
This volume presents the first complete translation of Fichte Studies, a critique of Fichtean philosophy by the young philosopher-poet Friedrich von Hardenberg. Under the pen-name Novalis, von Hardenberg became the most well-known and beloved of the early German Romantic writers. Those interested in the fate of German philosophy and literature immediately following Kant will find that this collection of notes and aphorisms consists of original contributions on the nature of self-consciousness, the relationship of art to philosophy, and the nature of philosophical inquiry.
- GenresPhilosophyRomanticism
242 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1796
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About the author
Novalis
351 books407 followersNovalis was the pseudonym of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, an author and philosopher of early German Romanticism.
His poetry and writings were an influence on Hermann Hesse. Novalis was also a huge influence on George MacDonald, and so indirectly on C.S. Lewis, the Inklings, and the whole modern fantasy genre.
His poetry and writings were an influence on Hermann Hesse. Novalis was also a huge influence on George MacDonald, and so indirectly on C.S. Lewis, the Inklings, and the whole modern fantasy genre.
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April 19, 2020
This work is sadly underexamined in the history of thought, perhaps largely due to its status as a collection of notebook reflections. And yet Novalis, the young blue bud clipped before he could blossom, here manifests his primacy of place in the ranks of the philosophical thinkers of the Romantic movement.
Contrary to what the title (given to the book originally be its editor) suggests, the notes comprising this book are far from simply reflections on Novalis' study of Fichte. Rather, the young prodigy uses Fichte as a running-up before his leap into a unique thought which synthesizes elements from Kant, Reinhold, Fichte, and the poetic arts.
Novalis finds himself critiquing Fichte by bringing into question the very grounds of Fichte's system, the grounding of which was to ground Kant's transcendental project (in Fichte's estimation, at least) - that is, the very grounding of the system in the pure or absolute I is brought into question. For this I is supposed to ground itself by means of its originary Tathandlung, its act of self-positing by means of reflectively objectifying itself through the mirror-image of the not-I. But this commits the pure I to a divestiture of its purity, of its absoluteness, and of its identity, for it necessarily must compromise itself by being bound to the finite, limited, empirical I. It stands at the origin, by means of the stehen, in the figure of a Gegenstand - the subject it was absolutely to be remains but an echo, an echo of the subject which never raised itself, posited itself, in its own voice, or in its own name...
Of course, the reflections remain scattered, like pollen in the wind. A Romantic expression of fragmentation, then, perhaps? A system without system, a "systematic systemlessness" as Novalis himself refers to such a thought here in these notes themselves. Fragmentary - not bits of a whole, but fragments which deny any totality or wholism, any final systematic structuring - the fragmentary which answers to the question by invoking its emergence, its contagion, and its proliferation. Akin, perhaps, to the originary lack of ground which, Novalis claims, is the impetus and drive, the Trieb, of all philosophizing. The fragmentary - echoing the exigency of an interminable thought, a questioning, which finds no ground, stirs up the abyss, and thus, perhaps, (re)turns us ever again to that absence, that unspeakable excess, which marks our very being, ever at the limits of being.
Contrary to what the title (given to the book originally be its editor) suggests, the notes comprising this book are far from simply reflections on Novalis' study of Fichte. Rather, the young prodigy uses Fichte as a running-up before his leap into a unique thought which synthesizes elements from Kant, Reinhold, Fichte, and the poetic arts.
Novalis finds himself critiquing Fichte by bringing into question the very grounds of Fichte's system, the grounding of which was to ground Kant's transcendental project (in Fichte's estimation, at least) - that is, the very grounding of the system in the pure or absolute I is brought into question. For this I is supposed to ground itself by means of its originary Tathandlung, its act of self-positing by means of reflectively objectifying itself through the mirror-image of the not-I. But this commits the pure I to a divestiture of its purity, of its absoluteness, and of its identity, for it necessarily must compromise itself by being bound to the finite, limited, empirical I. It stands at the origin, by means of the stehen, in the figure of a Gegenstand - the subject it was absolutely to be remains but an echo, an echo of the subject which never raised itself, posited itself, in its own voice, or in its own name...
Of course, the reflections remain scattered, like pollen in the wind. A Romantic expression of fragmentation, then, perhaps? A system without system, a "systematic systemlessness" as Novalis himself refers to such a thought here in these notes themselves. Fragmentary - not bits of a whole, but fragments which deny any totality or wholism, any final systematic structuring - the fragmentary which answers to the question by invoking its emergence, its contagion, and its proliferation. Akin, perhaps, to the originary lack of ground which, Novalis claims, is the impetus and drive, the Trieb, of all philosophizing. The fragmentary - echoing the exigency of an interminable thought, a questioning, which finds no ground, stirs up the abyss, and thus, perhaps, (re)turns us ever again to that absence, that unspeakable excess, which marks our very being, ever at the limits of being.
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