r0b’s Reviews > Early Philosophical Writings > Status Update

...And to this extent the Humean system is skeptical and the Critical system is dogmatic— and indeed negatively so.’

‘...the Humean system holds open the possibility that we might someday be able to go beyond the boundary of the human mind, whereas the Critical system proves that such progress is absolutely impossible, and it shows that the thought of a thing possessing existence and specific properties in itself and apart from any faculty of representa­tion is a piece of whimsy, a pipe dream, a nonthought...

Footnote:

‘‘Ich bin schlechthin, weil ich bin.” This striking expression occurs again in exactly the same form at the beginning of Fichte’s Foundations of the Entire Wissenschaftslehre: “I am absolutely, because I am.” Indeed, this formula recurs so frequently in Fichte’s Jena writings that it might well serve as the unofficial motto of the early Wissenschaftslehre.’

... I have discovered a new foundation, out of which it will be easy to develop the whole of philosophy. Kant’s philosophy, as such, is correct— but only in its results and not in its reasons.“

“[Aenesidemus] has overthrown Reinhold in my eyes, has made me suspicious of Kant, and has overturned my whole system from the ground up. One cannot live under the open sky. It cannot be helped; the system must be rebuilt. And this is what I have been faithfully doing for the past six weeks or so. Come celebrate the harvest with me!...

“Fichte is now the soul ofJena,” wrote Hölderlin in a letter to Neuffer of November, 1794.

‘...the Foundations of Natural Right is, in the strictest sense, a true extension of the argument of the Foundation of the Entire Wissenschaftslehre...This [books] ingenious argument, which has no precise parallel in Kant’s writings on practical philosophy, profoundly influenced Hegel and had an important impact upon the subsequent history of European social philosophy.’

...Both the young Hölderlin and the young Friedrich Schlegel expressed admiration for Fichte’s style as a lecturer and author.’

‘...Fichte was a celebrated orator, and for a reader willing to use a bit of imagination the printed texts of Fichte’s public speeches still make stirring reading. See, for example, Concerning Human Dignity and Some Lectures concerning the Scholar's Vocation, which are translated below, Sections II and IV....

After explaining the unfavorable circum­ stances under which the Foundations was written and distinguishing be­ tween his valid ideas and his imperfect presentation of the same, he adds: “As I see it, the presentation of the Wissenschaftslehre will require by itself an entire lifetime.” As it turned out, even an entire lifetime proved insufficient for Fichte’s task...