Fichte's Path from Kant to the Wissenschaftslehre. Zurich Writings (1793-1794)

FAIN: FA-54503-09

Daniel Breazeale
University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY 40506-0001)

J. G. Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre or "Doctrine of Science" provides the essential link between the critical philosophy of Kant and the "absolute idealism" of Schelling and Hegel. Fichte's best-known and most influential writings are those from his Jena period (1794-99), but the genesis and to some extent the whole point of the latter remain poorly understood. What is proposed is a volume of translations of all of Fichte's significant writings from the immediately preceding Zurich period (1793-94), including the unpublished "Private Meditations on Elementary Philosophy/Practical Philosophy," the five surviving "Zurich lectures," three published reviews, and other material. These will be prefaced by two essays, one philological/biographical in character and the other exegetical and critical, which will explain why these writings are essential for understanding the move "from Kant to Fichte" and hence for understanding the history of German idealism in general.