What theory developed and Fichte. Teaching and

Fichte - famous German philosopher now considered a classic. His basic idea was that a person forms himself in the process of activity. The philosopher influenced the work of many other thinkers who developed his ideas.

Biography

Fichte Johann Gottlieb - philosopher, an outstanding representative of the direction of the German classical philosophy also involved in social activities. The Thinker was born on 19.05. 1762 in the village of Rammenau in a large family engaged in peasant labor. With the assistance of a wealthy relative, after graduating from a city school, the boy was accepted to study in an elite educational institution, intended for the nobility - Pfortu. Then Johann Fichte studied at the Universities of Jena and Leitsipg. Since 1788, the philosopher has been working as a home teacher in Zurich. At the same time, the thinker gets to know his future wife, Johanna Ran.

Acquaintance with the ideas of Kant

In the summer of 1791, the philosopher attends the lectures of Immanuel Kant, which were then held in Königsberg. Acquaintance with the concepts of the great thinker predetermined the entire further course of the philosophical work of J. G. Fichte. Kant spoke positively of his work entitled An Essay on the Critique of All Revelation. This essay, the authorship of which was initially erroneously attributed to Kant, revealed to the scientist the possibility of obtaining a professorship at the University of Jena. He began working there in 1794.

The biography of Johann Fichte continues with the fact that in 1795 the thinker begins to publish his own journal, called the Philosophical Journal of the Society of German Scientists. It was during this period that his main works were written:

"Fundamentals of General Science" (1794);

"Fundamentals of natural law according to the principles of science" (1796);

"The first introduction to science" (1797);

"A second introduction to the science of science for readers who already have philosophical system"(1797);

"The system of the doctrine of morality according to the principles of science" (1798).

These works influenced Fichte's contemporary philosophers - Schelling, Goethe, Schiller, Novalis.

Retirement from the University of Jena, final years

In 1799, the philosopher was accused of atheism, which was served by the publication of one of his articles. In it, Fichte said that God is not a person, but represents a moral world order. The philosopher had to leave the walls of the University of Jena.

Since 1800, Fichte has been living and working in Berlin. In 1806, after the defeat in the war with Napoleon, the Prussian government was forced to move to Konigsberg. Fichte followed his compatriots and took up teaching at the local university until 1807. After some time, he again moved to Berlin, and in 1810 became rector of the University of Berlin.

His lectures, which were read after the defeat of the Prussian troops at Jena, urged the German townspeople to resist the French occupiers. These speeches made Fichte one of the main intellectuals of the then resistance to Napoleon's regime.

The philosopher's last days were spent in Berlin. He died on January 29, 1814 due to infection with typhus from his own wife, who was then caring for the wounded in the hospital.

Fichte's relation to Kant

The scientist believed that Kant in his works shows the truth without demonstrating its foundations. Therefore, Fichte himself must create a philosophy like geometry, the basis of which will be the consciousness of the "I". He called such a system of knowledge "scientific learning". The philosopher points out that this is the ordinary consciousness of a person, acting as torn off from the individual himself and elevated to the Absolute. Whole the world is a product of "I". It is active and active. The development of self-consciousness occurs through the struggle of consciousness and the surrounding world.

Fichte believed that Kant did not complete several aspects of his teaching. First, by declaring that the true meaning of each "thing in itself" is unknowable, Kant could not eliminate the external world given to the individual and, without any rigorous evidence, insisted that it was real. Fichte, on the other hand, believed that the very concept of the “thing in itself” should be recognized as the result of the mental work of the “I” itself.

Secondly, the scientist considered the structure of a priori forms of consciousness in Kant to be rather complicated. But at the same time, Fichte believed that this part of metaphysics was not sufficiently developed by his colleague, because in his works he did not derive a single principle of knowledge, from which various categories and intuitions would follow.

Other notable works by Fichte

Among the famous works of the scientist, the following works should be highlighted:

"On the appointment of a scientist" (1794);

"On the Appointment of Man" (1800);

“Clear as the sun, a message to the general public about the true essence of modern philosophy. An attempt to force readers to understand "(1801);

"The Main Features of the Modern Age" (1806).

The main ideas of Johann Fichte were outlined in a series of works published under the general title "Scientific Education". Like Descartes, the philosopher recognizes the fact of self-consciousness as the center of everything that exists. According to Fichte, already in this sensation are all those categories that Kant deduced in his works. For example, "I am" is equivalent to "I am I". From this concept follows another philosophical category- identity.

idea of ​​freedom

In the philosophical works of Johann Fichte, two main periods are distinguished: the stage of the concept of activity and the stage of the concept of the Absolute. Under the activity of consciousness, the philosopher primarily understood the moral behavior of a person. To gain freedom and achieve activity capable of overcoming any obstacles is the moral duty of every person.

The philosopher comes to the most important conclusion that a person can come to the realization of freedom only in certain historical conditions, at a certain stage in the development of society. But at the same time, Johann Fichte believed that freedom itself is inseparable from knowledge. It can be acquired only with a high level of development of the spiritual culture of the individual. Thus, culture, together with morality, makes all the work of the individual possible.

Practical activity in the thinker's works

One of the most valuable ideas of Fichte's philosophy is the consideration of activity through the prism of removing intermediate goals with the help of various means. In the process of human life, practical contradictions are inevitable and arise almost constantly. That is why the process of activity is an endless overcoming of these conflicts, incompatibilities. The philosopher understands the activity itself as the work of practical reason, but at the same time the question of activity makes philosophers think about their nature.

One of the most important achievements of Fichte's philosophy is the development of the dialectical method of thinking. He says that everything that exists is contradictory, but at the same time, opposites are in their unity. Contradiction, the philosopher believes, is one of the most important sources of development. Fichte considers categories not just as a set of a priori forms of consciousness, but as a system of concepts. These systems absorb the knowledge that a person acquires in the course of his "I" activity.

A question of freedom

The freedom of the individual, according to Fichte, is expressed in the work of voluntary attention. A person, the philosopher writes, has absolute freedom to direct the focus of his attention to the desired object or to distract it from another object. However, despite the desire to make a person independent of the external world, Fichte still recognizes that the very primary activity of consciousness, through which it is separated from the external world (separated "I" and "Not-I"), does not depend on the free will of an individual person.

The highest goal of the “I” activity, according to Fichte, is to spiritualize the “Not-I” opposing it, and raise it to a higher level of consciousness. At the same time, the realization of freedom becomes possible provided that the “I” is surrounded not by soulless objects, but by other free beings similar to it. Only they can show an arbitrary, and not predictable, reaction to the actions of the "I". Society is a mass of such beings, constantly interacting with each other and inducing collectively to overcome such an external influence of "Not-I".

Philosopher subjectivism

Briefly, the subjectivism of Johann Fichte can be defined by his famous phrase:

The whole world is me.

Of course, this expression of the philosopher should not be taken literally. For example, main idea another philosopher - David Hume - was the idea that the whole world around us is a set of sensations experienced by a person. This provision is not interpreted literally, but is understood in the sense that the entire surrounding reality is given to people through their sensations, and no one knows what it really is.

ontology problem

The philosopher was also interested in the question of what ontology is. The definition of this concept is as follows: ontology is a system of knowledge of a metaphysical nature, revealing the features of a category philosophical understanding being. Fichte introduces a new concept into science - the ontology of the subject. This being is a dialectical process of cultural and historical activity of the entire human civilization. In the process of revealing its essence, the “absolute I” contributes to the limitation of a certain empirical individual, and through it cognizes itself.

The activity of the "I" is revealed in intelligent intuition. It is she who represents the guiding thread that helps to move from the status of an empirical subject through practical activity to an absolute subject. Thus, the question of what ontology is, Fichte considers in the context of the historical and cultural activity of the individual and the transformations that occur to him in the process of this activity.

In Western European philosophy of the 17th-18th centuries, the theme of epistemology (the question of human knowledge) came to one of the most important places. The head of the empirical school, John Locke, believed that the spirit of a person at birth is a blank slate (tabula rasa). There are no "innate ideas" and the only source of our knowledge is experience. The data of experience leave "imprints" in us, of which entirely a picture of the world emerges.

In the second half of the 18th century, the famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant criticized Locke's views. According to Kant's philosophy, the main forms of human perception are intuition space and time, as well as 12 primary categories reason (the concepts of reality, cause, effect, possibility, etc.) - cannot be obtained from experience and exist in our spirit as innate, preceding any practice a priori given. This a priori content conditions experience by determining the fundamental ways in which the external world ("things in themselves") is our knowledge. We do not know what things in themselves really are, because in the process of experience we do not deal directly with them, but with their images, represented in the above-mentioned a priori forms of our epistemological faculty. " Criticism» Kant gained great popularity as a strong objection to Locke and the empiricists.

Immanuel Kant

Fichte's epistemology and criticism of Kant's ideas in it

An attempt to develop Kant's ideas was made by his younger contemporary, the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814). A strong-willed man, very prone to mental independence, Fichte expressed these properties of his character in the philosophical system he created.

Fichte believed that Kant did not fully develop the following aspects of his philosophical teaching:

1) Having declared that the true essence of “things in themselves” is unknowable, Kant nevertheless did not dare to eliminate this world external to man entirely and insisted on its reality without rigorous proofs. Fichte, on the other hand, believed that the very idea of ​​things in themselves should be recognized as the fruit of the mental activity of the human ego.

2) The structure of a priori forms of reason in Kant is quite complex. He himself outlined (in the form of the so-called schemes) connection between space-time intuitions and 12 basic logical categories. But, according to Fichte, this part of metaphysics did not receive sufficient development from Kant, because he did not indicate a single principle of knowledge, from which both intuitions and categories would follow with immutable necessity.

It is already clear from the posing of these questions that Kant's criticism was bound to acquire an even more striking subjectivist bias in Fichte's philosophy. Fichte considered his theory of "subjective idealism" a direct continuation of Kant's "critical idealism", although Kant himself disapproved of it.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Fichte developed the main provisions of his epistemology in a series of works under the general title "Scientific Teaching". Like Descartes, he recognizes the irrefutable fact of self-consciousness as the center of everything. According to Fichte, already in this primary sensation of our own “I” all Kantian categories are contained. “I am” means: “I am I”, “I am identical with my own Self”. Hence the category of identity arises. I am real, and there can be no doubt about it - therefore, the Kantian category of reality is also contained in the fact of self-consciousness. Our self-consciousness necessarily presupposes the concept of an external, of an object that opposes the thinking subject. From here we get the categories of contradiction, negation (“I am not Not-I”), limitations and interactions. Since I and Not-I (subject and object) cannot exist without each other, they must be considered as two inseparable parts of one common entity. This is where the categories of substance – belonging – come from. In a similar way, Fichte derives from self-consciousness all the other Kantian categories.

The act of self-consciousness breaks down into three inevitable moments: 1) self-perception of the Self, 2) the idea of ​​the Not-Self, 3) the realization that without the Not-Self there is no Self. The concept introduced in Fichte's philosophy about these three moments of the manifestation of the spirit - thesis, antithesis and synthesis- was then widely developed in the systems of Schelling and Hegel.

Fichte, in contrast to Kant, treats the intuitions of space and time not as something a priori given man, but as the creation of our very "I". Fichte generally represents consciousness active, while Kant is more inclined to consider it passive-contemplative. This is the root of the difference between their systems, hence all their main differences. The activity of the mind, according to Fichte's philosophy, consists in the constant transfer of attention from one object to another: conscious acts separate, are sequential and directed alternately to different objects. In order for these acts to be such, our "I" and creates intuitions of spatial extension and temporal sequence, rather than placing things in " existing» space and time. Space and time are products creative activity mind. Fichte proves this by saying that "empty space" and "empty time" do not exist. They are conceivable only in specific conscious acts associated with things and processes. Therefore, these two fundamental intuitions created by these acts, but not condition their.

The freedom of the human I is clearly expressed in the activity voluntary attention. We, writes Fichte, have "absolute freedom ... to direct attention to a known object or to divert it from another object." But, despite the constant desire to make the human I completely independent of everything external, Fichte still has to admit that he himself the primary act of consciousness by which I and Not-I, subject and object, are created, does not depend onfree will individual. The emergence of this act cannot be explained without the hypothesis that, along with our personal self, there is another - absolute, supra-individual self. It, like God, gives the initial impetus to the activity of the mind, which, having received it, then goes on freely.

The highest goal of the activity of the Self, according to Fichte's philosophy, is to spiritualize, intellectualize the Not-Self that opposes it, raise it to a higher level of consciousness, subordinate it to the law of reason, identical to the law of conscience. But the realization of my freedom is possible only on the condition that I am surrounded not only by soulless things, but also by other free beings like me. Only they will be able to show arbitrary, unpredictable in advance, not controlled by any laws reaction to my actions. The super-individual Self creates a mass of such beings that interact and induce each other to collectively overcome the inert opposition of Not-Self.

The name of Johann Gottlieb Fichte is usually attributed to classical German philosophy. Continuing the movement begun by Kant, he created a separate philosophical direction which has been called subjective idealism. Fichte's works are of a socio-historical and ethical nature. Fichte's practical philosophy defines the ultimate goals of human actions on the scale of society, the world.

Biography

Johann Fichte was born on May 19, 1762 in a small village called Rammenau into a peasant family. The boy might not have become a philosopher, if not for an accident. Baron Miltitz did not come to church, and the future philosopher was able to accurately retell the sermon. The baron was so impressed that he helped the boy get a job at the Jena and Leipzig universities.

Fichte was educated as a theologian and wanted to become a pastor at the behest of his mother, but Miltitz died, and Johann was left without influential support. To improve the difficult financial situation of his family, after graduation, the young man was forced to give lessons at home.

Since 1790, Fichte began to get acquainted with the works of Kant, with whom Johann felt spiritual unity. Trying to meet with Kant, Fichte sent him one of his manuscripts. A year later they managed to meet in Koenigsberg. Then, Fichte's essay was published anonymously. Initially it was believed that the authorship belongs to Kant, but later Johann woke up famous.

Three years later, Johann Fichte, a professor at the University of Jena, began teaching in the field of ethics and the theory of law. Five years later, the philosopher was accused of promoting atheism, which is why he moved to Berlin.

With the arrival of the French army, the philosopher moved to Konigsberg, where in the period from 1807-1808. read patriotic speeches calling for the unification and reform of the education system.

In 1810, Fithe received the post of professor and rector of the University of Berlin. He stayed in this post for four years, but could have held it longer if he had not joined the ranks of the popular movement against Napoleon. He soon contracted typhus from his wife working in the hospital and died on January 27, 1814.

Key Ideas

At the beginning, the thinker put philosophy at the head of other disciplines, adhering to subjective idealism. Fithe admitted the existence of a defining reality, called the "absolute Self". This reality is reasonable, it creates the world and laws that are inherently opposite to the laws of people. The work of this reality is aimed at moral consciousness. During this period, Fichte's philosophy includes several key ideas. Let's look at them briefly:

1. Man is a being in which there is spirituality, rationality and morality. Its main goal is purposeful activity.
2. Man has a moral mind that constantly requires action. The world is the domain of action.
3. The world for Fichte was secondary. At the head he put the need to act. Knowledge is a means of action.
4. Fichte is interested in the original nature of knowledge.
5. The central idea of ​​the philosopher lies in human freedom, without which he is not able to fulfill his mission - to act.
6. The human "I" is expressed in the desire for the starting point, where the subject coincides with the object, and the absolute "I" - with the individual

The next period can be marked by the philosophy of Fichte's activity. During this period, an idealistic revolution takes place. Subjective idealism remains in the past, and it is replaced by an objective one, revealing the creative principle of human thinking.

Cognition is a dynamic and contradictory process. A person is perceived as a subject, the object is external reality. The result of the interaction of the subject and the object is the mutual transformation of each of them. The philosopher believed in the ability of a person to know the world and subdue it to his will.

Dialectics

Fichte studied cognition from its active side. He viewed action as reality. Substance is considered simultaneously and as a subject. Understanding the subject is possible only through its development.

In the interaction of opposites, the philosopher sees the main law according to which the movement of the human spirit occurs. He does not consider dialectics as separate provisions and moments, but develops it as an independent philosophical method.

Fichte revealed dialectical relations only in the field of consciousness. The manifestation of dialectics is especially pronounced in the science of science. The human "I" acts as a subject. This is an absolute point, based on which the consideration and explanation of phenomena occurring in reality takes place. "I" is considered not from the position of a thing, object or phenomenon, but as a perfect action, or work of consciousness. Through the actions of the human "I" are opposites, (thesis and antithesis), which are later combined in a synthesis.

Appointment of a person

A person has morality, rationality, and spirituality - these are his three main qualities. Willpower and awareness of oneself as such will help to achieve the state of pure "I". Through self-consciousness, a person feels freedom and the ability to define himself. Freedom is achieved only by action.

The individual must transform the surrounding reality, society and natural conditions, bring them into line with the concepts of the ideal. Subjugation of the foolish and reasonable possession on legal grounds is the main goal of human existence.

The last goal of a person must be obviously unrealizable in order to go to it all his life. The goal of human life is getting what you want, approaching infinity and endless self-improvement.

Everyone has their own ideal of a person and the desire to become one. Thus, not only an individual person is improved, but people as a whole. Interaction ideally takes place without coercion.

Perfect individuals have the same, equal rights and are interconnected. This is an unattainable ideal, therefore the main goal of a person is his own improvement of equal, free people. This is possible through free will and culture.

Appointment of a scientist

Like many philosophers, Fichte considered the main tasks of man and the state, their interaction with each other. The purpose of a person and the state is individual and serves as a means for establishing moral order. The main state goal is to cultivate the desire to fulfill the true duty - to improve in terms of intelligence and morality. . Under the scientist, the philosopher understands the educator and teacher of people.

The true purpose of the class of scientists is to monitor the development of the human race, and constant assistance in this development. Their calling is to show a person the direction to his final goal - moral perfection, but first he must independently reach it and show others this path.

A person who is not moral is in a state of anger, so a scientist must be kind and calm. The teaching is not in words, but in examples. A scientist sets an example of a moral ideal during his whole life.

Definition of science

Philosophy is perceived by Johann not as a separate science, but as its primary source. It should explain how possible the very existence of science. Therefore, he called his philosophizing the science of science, that is, the doctrine of science.

Truthfulness and consistency are the main qualities of science. All propositions must be derived from a reliable statement, provable within the framework of science itself. The main task of science is to provide a basis for the development of science, revealing the main provisions of other disciplines.

The reliability of other disciplines is guaranteed, as they are derived through the science of science. It defines and explains the positions of other sciences and disciplines. Scientific teaching must be exhaustive for human knowledge. It must contain all provisions that do not contradict science. If one of them contradicts, then it contradicts all knowledge and is excluded from it, because it is not true.

Thinking does not make mistakes when it is in the process of action. Only one science and one philosophy are certain. Having become the basis for science, it will exclude errors, superstitions, accidents.

Johann Fichte himself called himself a priest of truth, developing reflections on the reasonableness and expediency of the world. The main task of a person in this world, his destiny is to perform reasonable deeds.

Absolute mind is the source of everything on the planet. The task of absolute reason is to create, using a person for this purpose. Man seemed to him a free, active being, whose main task is to realize the moral ideal, to live in peace and harmony. The theory of knowledge contained reflections on the indivisibility of the subject with the object and the dialectical nature of thinking. In the activity of the philosopher saw the development of society.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte(1762-1814) continued the transformation of philosophy begun by Kant. He set himself the goal of developing Kantian philosophy, of creating philosophy as "the science of all sciences". Fichte came to the conclusion that the genius of Kant reveals the truth to him without showing its foundations, and therefore he, Fichte, will create such "Science”, the starting point of which is the consciousness of I. Fichte’s “I” is not an individual “I”. This is, in essence, the consciousness of man, which in Fichte is not determined by anything other than itself. In other words, I am something very much like substance. Fichte is convinced that any knowledge is possible in the presence of a thinking principle, a certain I: “ I-think". Fichte first appears as a subjective idealist. Therefore, the analysis of consciousness and all that exists begins, in his opinion, with the assumption that the conscious self, as the acting Self ( I am who I am). And that is pure activity.

The entire external world is not-I, a product of the I as its opposite. Through the struggle of these opposites (their denial and synthesis), the development of human self-consciousness takes place. The most important achievement of Fichte's philosophy is the development dialectical way of thinking. He writes about the inconsistency of everything that exists, the unity of opposites, suggests considering contradiction as a source of development. For Fichte, categories are not a set of a priori forms of reason (Kant), but a system of concepts that absorb knowledge that develops in the course of cognitive activity of the I.

Fichte seeks to understand the real interaction of subject and object in the process of cognition. In his opinion, to understand the division of the Self into "absolute" and "empirical" and their interaction with non-Self allows "scientific teaching", i.e. philosophy. It is “scientific teaching” that allows one to penetrate into the supra-individual, superhuman, world spirit, which Fichte calls “spiritual substance”. Thus, the philosopher turns from the positions of subjective idealism to the positions objective idealism. Such a transition is noticeable in his work "Instructions to a blessed life", where the Self as an absolute merges with God, and Fichte's philosophy turns into theosophy. Therefore, Fichte's philosophical work is divided into two periods: the period of the philosophy of activity and the period of the philosophy of the Absolute.

Fichte's philosophical doctrine is also divided into doctrine of theoretical I ( theory of knowledge), And the doctrine of the practical self(moral theory). The reality of the theoretical Self is a dependent and non-authentic reality. Only free practical activity, morality is a true reality. Under the activity of the I, Fichte understands the moral behavior of the subject. It must become free and, through this, achieve its activity, which removes all obstacles; this is the moral duty of man. A person must define himself: "Man is what he is." His path is the path of freedom and independence. Freedom consists in the voluntary submission of a person to laws through the realization of their necessity. Human moral acts are determined by the categorical imperative. (Fichte gives a number of his formulations in his works). At the same time, a person is not separated from society. The personal (reasonable) selfishness of all I must coincide with the goals of society. The means to achieve this is culture.

Fichte's practical philosophy is not only his doctrine of ethics, but also the doctrine of law and the state. These views took shape under the impression of the events of the French Revolution and the political and military defeat of Germany. The state, as Fichte believed, is also a means for improving society. The state is not eternal, it will disappear, though in a very distant future. Then people will become moral in the full sense, and morality will replace the state, law, and the church. Inequality between people will disappear, there will be no slaves and masters, all peoples will be free and equal. Then strife and wars will disappear. Modern society, according to Fichte, is on the lowest level - the stage of semi-humanity, or slavery. Fichte proposes a "minimum program". He considers it possible to make the Prussian "state reasonable", preserving in it private property (he is against democracy), estates, but at the same time it is necessary to allow the person himself to choose his own estate. He put forward the progressive idea of ​​creating a planned economy with a guaranteed right to work and education. Law is the voluntary submission of each person to the law established in society. The state is an organization obliged to give fair laws to society.

Such, in brief, are Fichte's socio-philosophical views. His philosophy contains a number of ideas that influenced the development of classical German philosophy(Schelling, Hegel), as well as subsequent philosophical thought.

Philosophy of F.W.J. Schelling: from natural philosophy to the philosophy of revelation (1775-1854)

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling extrapolated the dialectical method that I. Fichte used to analyze the formation of self-consciousness both to the analysis of processes occurring in nature and to understanding the process of world knowledge, and from it - knowledge of God. The creativity of the thinker goes through a series of stages: natural philosophy, transcendental or aesthetic idealism, philosophy of identity, positive philosophy or philosophy of revelation.

Acquaintance with the philosophy of I. Fichte had a strong influence on F. Schelling - the first youthful works of the philosopher were written in the spirit of "scientific teaching". Subsequently, in contrast to I. Fichte, who did not attach independent significance to nature and reduced it to a pure "not-I", F. Schelling began to consider nature as an important and regular step preceding the emergence of consciousness.

In his work "Ideas for the Philosophy of Nature" (1797), F. Schelling presented a natural-philosophical picture of the integral development of natural processes, asserting the idealistic basis for understanding nature. In its formation, F. Schelling assigned the basic role not to material particles, but to various forces that are opposite to each other, but at the same time constitute an inseparable unity (like the positive and negative poles of a magnet, the positive and negative charge of electricity, etc.) . Forces in nature necessarily materialize, creating things of an ever higher level in the course of the evolution of forms of natural existence, which are realized in the phenomena of magnetism, electricity, and the chemical process. Processes analogous to this triad in organic nature are sensitivity, irritability, and reproduction. The philosopher found confirmation of his ideas in contemporary discoveries in natural science. The experiments of A. Volta and L. Galvani in physics and anatomy contributed to the discovery of "animal electricity" and the emergence of a related field of electrophysiology. In 1820, the physicist Oersted discovered the connection between electricity and magnetism. And later science discovered similar relationships. So, for example, after more than a hundred years, another physicist L. de Broglie formulated a synthetic corpuscular-wave theory of light.

The natural philosophy of F. Schelling, along with an expanded understanding of transcendental idealism, set forth in the work “The System of Transcendental Idealism” (1800), became an integral part of the “philosophy of identity” he created.

The fundamental setting for the philosopher was the contradictory unity of the objective (nature, the unconscious) and the subjective (I, the conscious). In contrast to dualism, F. Schelling emphasized the dual unity of opposite principles: matter appears to him as a dormant Spirit, and Spirit, on the contrary, as matter in the making. Thus, it is more accurate to call his system real-idealism. Pure infinite generation, in order to become a product, must set limits for itself, and therefore, oppose something to itself. According to F. Schelling, an infinitely producing activity is a real activity, and one that becomes conscious, faced with a limit, is ideal.

Nature, which has a spiritual basis in the form of "intelligentsia", but does not have consciousness and therefore is not identical with the "I", tends to get out of the unconscious state and come to self-consciousness through improving acts of reflection. The next step is achieved as a result of the strengthening of subjectivity (spirituality) in this unity of opposites. The unconscious, represented in nature, gives rise to the future form of its cognition - consciousness, which expresses itself in a person and is a true subject.

Self-consciousness goes through a series of stages: initial sensation, productive contemplation, reflection and an absolute act of will. By postulating the "original identity" of unconscious activity that produces the world and conscious activity that expresses itself in will, the antinomy between the "theoretical" and "practical" parts of the system of transcendental idealism is resolved.

F. Schelling believed that such an identity finds expression only in aesthetic contemplation. In the work of the artistic "genius" who creates his works, a deliberate design and unconscious inspiration merge together, with the latter clearly playing the leading role. “The artist, as it were, instinctively brings into his work, in addition to what he expresses with obvious intention, a certain infinity, which no finite mind is capable of fully revealing.” It is in art, according to F. Schelling, that the connection between the “finite” and the “infinite” takes place. An infinite meaning finds expression in the final artistic product.

The original identity of the subject and object is represented in the Absolute, self-cognizing itself through intellectual intuition, which, according to F. Schelling, is absolutely ideal, as well as absolutely real. In the Absolute, the division into I and non-I, conscious and unconscious, spirit and nature is leveled, a kind of indifference of forces is observed. Outside of absolute identity, no thing exists by itself, representing a "single whole." Such a position of pantheistic spiritualism is consonant with the ideas of the Neoplatonists and B. Spinoza, who considered God and the universe as different moments of the emerging identity, and the Universe as the unfolded potential of a single organism and an absolute work of art.

Unlike B. Spinoza and J. Fichte, F. Schelling interprets God as a person (that is, in the spirit of Christian tradition), which self-creates itself, which is a significant departure from the official Christian doctrine. From this statement of F. Schelling, a natural conclusion follows about the initial divine incompleteness, but, accordingly, the inherent possibility of development, due to the fact that opposites not only unite, but also fight in the Absolute.

If everything that exists is only in God, then there is both a dark and blind beginning, an irrational will, and a positively rational beginning in him. God is not only pure Spirit, but also Nature. Development goes along the path of highlighting the shadow moments that are present, but still unconscious, the expulsion of evil into the sphere of non-existence, the victory of the positive over the negative. This concept reveals echoes of the mysticism of M. Eckhart and Boehme, which is unusual for rational Western culture.

The late stage of F. Schelling's work is characterized by the distinction between "positive" and "negative" philosophy. Under the “negative” philosophy, F. Schelling understood reflections on nature and man; he included natural philosophy and the philosophy of identity, which he had developed up to that time, into its composition. By "positive" philosophy, F. Schelling meant philosophy dealing with the "real existence of things", focused on the knowledge of the divine due to the absoluteness of its being. F. Schelling extended the concept of Revelation to all historical forms religions, including polytheistic and pagan mythology. Despite the fact that the philosopher's efforts were aimed at some kind of synthesis of religious aspirations, God in positive philosophy is understood as a personal God, Creator and Savior.

The ideas of F. Schelling reflected the desire among natural scientists to comprehend nature as a self-sufficient sphere, and at the same time were in tune with the religious and philosophical searches of that time. The concept of the development of the world as a constant becoming, presented in the philosophy of F. Schelling, will later be formulated by S. Kierkegaard in an existential key as the idea of ​​irreducibility of existence to essence.

Anthropological materialism L. Feuerbach (1804-1872)

The completion of German classical philosophy was philosophy Ludwig Feuerbach. Initially, the ideas of G. Hegel, whose lectures made an indelible impression on him, had a great influence on the formation of L. Feuerbach's views. After graduating from the university, L. Feuerbach defended his dissertation "On the One, Universal and Infinite Mind", which, on the whole, was sustained in the spirit of Hegelian idealism. Gradually, the philosopher moves away from the Hegelian teachings. The evolution of L. Feuerbach's ideas from theology to anthropology, from idealism to materialism is expressed in his statement: "My first thought was God, the second was Mind, the third and last was man." Some ideas of the concept of L. Feuerbach were accepted and further developed in the subsequent German philosophy, in particular, in the teachings of K. Marx.

In the works "On the Criticism of Hegelian Philosophy" (1839), "Preliminary Theses for the Reform of Philosophy" (1842) and "Basic Propositions of the Philosophy of the Future" (1843), L. Feuerbach criticized Hegelianism from materialistic positions. Thus, he wrote: “Hegel began with being, with the concept of being, or with abstract being; so why not start with being itself, that is, real being? Sharply, L. Feuerbach opposed the thesis of the identity of being and thinking, considering being a subject, and thinking a predicate, that is, one of the qualities of being. Having eliminated the transcendent God, G. Hegel replaced it with the Spirit, which gave a certain abstractness to human reality, and accordingly leveled the specific person.

Criticism of idealism developed into criticism of religion, presented in the works Thoughts on Death and Immortality (1830), The Essence of Christianity (1841), The Essence of Religion (1845), Theogony (1857). L. Feuerbach proposed to replace theology with theonomy, which considers reliable knowledge about how man created God. The philosopher believed that the root of the phenomenon of religion lies in the relation of a person to his essence, in the fact that a person already perceives this essence not as his own, but as someone else's. Ideas about God are a projection of the generic human essence, which is necessarily greater than a specific individual, but manifests itself in each person and precisely through him. Thus, L. Feuerbach saw the unity of the finite and the infinite in man, and not in God and not in the absolute Idea.

Self-alienation occurred because nature is insensitive to the suffering of a person who is painfully aware of his own finiteness and his powerlessness. In religion man has found some relief. In God, human aspirations are concentrated, which have become a real certainty. The more perfect God appears, the less perfect man seems to himself. In Christianity, according to L. Feuerbach, this process has reached its climax. The philosopher believed that the true state of things should be restored - religion should become the religion of man. However, the idealization of the concept of man can lead to the emasculation of the human being itself, to its abstraction and eclipse real person, which, according to L. Feuerbach, is primarily nature, body, sensuality and needs.

The philosopher emphasized the relationship of selfishness and a sense of community of a person with other people. However, maintaining the balance of these two components, as history shows, is one of the most difficult tasks facing humanity. L. Feuerbach proposed to solve it through the awareness of the unity and interconnection of I and You. According to him, I can neither be happy nor even exist without You. The pursuit of one's own happiness is unattainable outside of human unity on the basis of love, to which L. Feuerbach attached fundamental importance and believed that love, as the main feeling, is the meaning of life itself. Philosophy, on the other hand, should contribute to the formation of people, and not to the empty creation of ideas.

Anthropology L. Feuerbach became a transitional point from metaphysics early XIX century to Marxism and the philosophy of life, but has received various interpretations. Thus, Marxism recognized it as one of its sources, emphasizing its materialistic and atheistic orientation.

Almost a century of intensive intellectual searches of German classical philosophy was expressed in the philosophical canon, which concentrated the potential of all Western European philosophy from Plato to the 18th century. This era became the final link in the development of new European philosophical rationalism and philosophical classics with its inherent claims for systematic integrity and completeness, conviction in the natural orderliness of the world order, the presence of harmony and orders in it, accessible to rational comprehension. This is also the source with which the modern world is genetically connected. western philosophy the last third of the 19th and 20th centuries, because it was precisely its paradigmatic attitudes that largely determined the appearance of most of the main directions, schools and trends of the non-classical and post-classical style of philosophizing.

FICHTE(Fichte) Johann Gottlieb (May 19, 1762, Rammenau - January 29, 1814, Berlin) was a German philosopher and public figure, a representative of German classical idealism. Born into a peasant family. He studied at the theological faculty of the Jena and then Leipzig universities. In 1790 he discovered the works of Kant, and they captured him. Written under the influence of Kant, An Essay on the Criticism of All Revelation (Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenbarung, published anonymously in 1792) was accepted as Kant's work and received high praise. Under the influence of the events of the French Revolution, he wrote a work devoted to the defense of freedom of thought. In 1794–99 he was a professor at the University of Jena; his lectures are a great success; here are his works - "The basis of general science of science" (1794), "The first introduction to science of science" (1797), "The second introduction to science of science for readers who already have a philosophical system" (1797), as well as "Fundamentals of natural law according to the principles of science of science "(1796) and "The system of the doctrine of morality according to the principles of science" (1798) (see. "Science" ). Fichte's influence grows, he receives recognition from Goethe, W. von Humboldt, Fr. Jacobi, draws closer to the Jena circle of romantics, and is friends with Schelling. However, his accusation of atheism, which caused a public scandal, forced him to leave Jena in 1799. Since 1800, he has been working in Berlin, publishing the works “The Destiny of Man” (Die Bestimmung des Menschen, 1800), “The Closed Trading State” (Der geschlossene Handelsstaat, 1800), “The Main Features of the Modern Era” (Grundzüge des gegenwärtigen Zeitalters, 1806 ), "Instructions for a blessed life" (Anweisung zum seligen Leben, 1806). In 1807, in Berlin occupied by Napoleon, Fichte read a cycle of public lectures "Speech to the German Nation" (Reden an die deutsche Nation, 1808), calling on compatriots to moral revival and resistance to the invaders. In 1810 he was elected rector of the University of Berlin. During the war with Napoleon, he died of typhus, infected by his wife, who cared for the wounded in the hospital.

Fichte completes the turn begun by Kant from the metaphysics of being to the metaphysics of freedom: if “dogmatism” comes from the object, substance, then “criticism” comes from the subject, self-consciousness, or I. “This is the essence critical philosophy that some absolute I is established in it, as something completely unconditional and not determined by anything higher ... On the contrary, that philosophy is dogmatic, which equates and opposes something to the I itself in itself; what happens just in the concept of a thing (ens) that should occupy a higher place, which ... is arbitrarily considered as an unconditionally higher concept ”(Soch. Works 1792–1801. M., 1995, pp. 304–305). The essence of self-consciousness, according to Fichte, is freedom, and he considers his system from beginning to end as an analysis of the concept of freedom.

However, unlike Kant's transcendental philosophy, whose critical edge is directed against the speculative spirit of 17th-century rationalism, Fichte creates a new form of idealism - speculative transcendentalism. Philosophy, according to Fichte, must be strictly scientific and serve as the foundation for all particular sciences. It is philosophy that must substantiate science as a universally significant reliable knowledge, become the "science of science", i.e. "scientific learning" (Wissenschaftslehre). specificity scientific knowledge is its systematic form; it is achieved by the fact that all the provisions of science are derived from one principle, which, according to Fichte, must have truth and certainty in itself. Here he is close to Descartes , who sought to find such a self-reliant starting point, starting from which it would be possible to build the entire edifice of science. Self-consciousness, "I am I," is such an obvious and immediately certain principle. Self-consciousness is unique in the sense that it generates itself: in the act of self-consciousness, the generative and the generated, the action and its product, the subject and the object coincide.

Fichte's philosophy is based on the conviction that a practical-active attitude to an object precedes a theoretically contemplative attitude to it, and this distinguishes him in the interpretation of self-consciousness as a self-reliant beginning of knowledge from Descartes: consciousness is not given, it generates itself; its evidence rests not on contemplation, but on action; it is not perceived by the intellect, but is affirmed by the will. "By nature" the individual is something impermanent: his sensual inclinations, impulses, moods are always changing and dependent on something else. From these external determinations he is freed in the act of self-consciousness. By this act the individual gives birth to his spirit, his freedom. Self-determination appears as a requirement, a task to which the subject is destined to strive forever. There is a contradiction: self-consciousness, posited as the beginning of the system, is at the same time the infinitely receding goal of the "I". Fichte takes this contradiction as a starting point, and its consistent development is the construction of a system with the help of the dialectical method. Fichte's system has the structure of a circle: the beginning already contains the end; the movement towards completion is at the same time a return to the source. Kant's principle of the autonomy of the will, according to which practical reason gives itself a law, turns in Fichte into the universal principle of the entire system. Thus, he overcomes the dualism of Kant's teaching, removing the border between the intelligible and sensual worlds, and sets as its task to derive from the principle of practical reason - freedom - also theoretical reason - nature. For him, cognition constitutes only a subordinate moment of a single practical-moral action.

Any reality, according to Fichte, is a product of the activity of the “I”, and the task of science is to show how and why the activity necessarily takes on an objective form. Not allowing the existence of a consciousness-independent "things in themselves" , Fichte derives the entire content of knowledge from the I. What kind of I is this, which produces the whole world from itself? Who is meant: a separate individual, a person as a representative of the genus (and thus humanity) or God himself? Fichte demands to distinguish the individual "I" from the "I" of the absolute, but at the same time does not recognize the existence of the absolute "I" as a kind of substance independent of the individual "I". When describing the "I" as the initial principle of science, Fichte uses predicates that are usually attributed to God: absoluteness, infinity, unlimitedness, the cause of oneself, all-reality. In early scientific teaching, the absolute “I” has an ideal status and appears most likely as the idea of ​​God in the human mind, an idea identical to the moral world order, which must be implemented in the course of an endless historical process. Therefore, Fichte's individual and absolute "I" either coincide or disintegrate, and this "pulsation" of coincidences and disintegrations forms the core of his dialectic as the driving principle of thought.

Fichte formulates three basic propositions of theoretical philosophy: "I" initially posits itself - the thesis; The "I" posits itself as determined by the "Not-I" - the antithesis; the thesis and antithesis contradict each other and, as two opposing definitions, should destroy each other. However, in order to preserve the unity of consciousness, the thesis and antithesis must partially destroy each other, i.e. limit. As a result, a synthesis arises: the "I" determines partly itself, and the "Not-I" is partly determined. Limitation means the emergence of a divisible "I" and a divisible "Not-I", for only the divisible can be limited. The meaning of synthesis is revealed through the distinction between the absolute and the final "I": "I" (meaning the absolute "I") contrasts the divisible "I" (i.e., the empirical subject) with the divisible "Not-I" (i.e., the empirical nature ).

With the help of three principles, Fichte gives a dialectical derivation of logical laws and categories; thesis - "I am I" - the source of the law of identity and, accordingly, the category of reality; antithesis is the source of the law of contradiction and the category of negation, while synthesis generates the law of reason and the category of quantity, the premise of which is divisibility.

The fluctuation of the “I” between the requirement to synthesize opposites and the impossibility of fulfilling this requirement, this struggle with itself, is carried out by the productive ability of the imagination, which is, therefore, the central ability of the theoretical I. “The ability of synthesis has as its task to unite opposites, to think them as a single ... But she is not able to do this ... and so. there is a struggle between incapacity and demand. In this struggle, the spirit lingers in its movement, oscillating between the two opposites... but it is precisely in such and such a state that it holds them both at the same time... lends them to them by touching them, bounces off them, and then touches them again, in relation to to oneself some definite content and some definite extension... This state is called... contemplation... The ability effective in it... is the productive power of the imagination” (ibid., p. 384).

Everything that for theoretical consciousness appears as a sphere of things independent of it, is a product of the unconscious activity of the imagination, the limitations it imposes, which appear to consciousness as sensation, contemplation, representation, reason, reason, etc. up to time, space and the entire system of categories of the theoretical "I". The positing of these restrictions, as well as the theoretical "I" in general, is necessary for the existence of a practical "I" that sets goals and realizes them. The activity of the "I" in Fichte is absolute; she provides herself with tasks, doing this, however, unconsciously. The “I” that puts up “obstacles” and the one that overcomes them know nothing about each other. The world generated by the unconscious activity of the absolute "I" is not something independent: nature is only an object, a means for realizing the goals set by the practical "I", an obstacle that must be constantly overcome; it has no independent existence and independent value. Such is not only external nature, but also nature in man himself, i.e. his sensual inclinations and inclinations, which, like everything natural, have the power of inertia, inertia and must be overcome by moral activity, since they constitute the root of primordial evil in man. Freedom is conceived by Fichte as an active principle, opposite to the passive inertia of nature. Overcoming external and internal obstacles one after another, the practical subject, without realizing it at first, is increasingly approaching identity with itself. Fichte's ideal of the whole movement and development of mankind is the coincidence of the individual and the absolute "I", and thereby the realization that the entire objective sphere of a person is only a product of the "I"'s own activity, alienated from him and acting as an external reality to him. However, the full achievement of this ideal is impossible, because it would lead to the cessation of activity, which, according to Fichte, is absolute; all human history is but an endless approximation to the ideal. In the early Fichte, the Absolute is not actual, but potential being, realized through the finite “I”; The Absolute acts, therefore, in the form of a multitude of finite self-consciousnesses, which by their activity for the first time realize the Absolute as an ideal, as a moral world order.

In the teaching that comes from the “I”, the question arises: how to justify the existence of other “I”, many self-consciousnesses? To attribute only phenomenal reality to other “Selves” means, from a theoretical point of view, to fall into solipsism, and from a practical point of view, to leave unresolved precisely the problem of freedom, the key one for Fichte. Fichte carries out the deduction of the other (other "I") not in theoretical, but in practical philosophy. In the work "Fundamentals of Natural Law", discussing the problems of the possibility of human freedom, Fichte proves that the consciousness of the freedom of the "I" is due to the recognition of other "I" as free. “Man (like all finite beings in general) only becomes a man among people;... it follows from this that if there must be people at all, then there must be many” (Werke, Auswahl in sechs Bänden, hrsg. von F. Medicus. Lpz., 1908-11, Bd. 2, S. 43). We do not know, but recognize the existence of other beings like us. Fichte points out two ways of recognizing other "I". In the philosophy of law, this is the external call of another free person addressed to me as the reason for my self-determination for freedom; in the philosophy of morality, the recognition of other personalities occurs through the moral law, which prohibits considering them only as a means and requiring that everyone be seen as an end in itself. Thus, the presence of many free individuals serves as a condition for the possibility of the “I” itself as a reasonable free being. At the same time, the legal category of recognition acts as a constitutive moment of human consciousness, generic in nature.

After 1800, Fichte introduced significant changes to his system: he now considers the science of science not as a theory of the Absolute, but as a theory of absolute knowledge. As for the Absolute itself, according to Fichte, it cannot have any definition, for it stands above all knowledge. Therefore, it cannot be called either being, or knowledge, or the indifference of being and knowledge, as Schelling defined the Absolute in the early 1800s in a polemic with Fichte. Thus, Fichte draws closer to Neoplatonism and mysticism. Eckhart , where the highest beginning is United , not involved in much. The One, which does not allow participation in itself, is outside of any relation, and therefore is incomprehensible. And that unity, to which many things are involved, Fichte calls absolute knowledge and sees in it the discovery of the Absolute, a way of revelation, its manifestation for the “I”, also calling it an image, or a scheme. “In itself there is only one God, and God is not a dead concept ... but ... the purest life. It cannot change or be determined in itself and make itself a different being... If knowledge still must be and must not be God himself, then, since there is nothing but God, it can only be God, but God outside of God. ; the being of God outside of his Being; His discovery, in which He is wholly as He is, remaining in Himself wholly as He is. And such a discovery is an image or a scheme” (“The Facts of Consciousness”, St. Petersburg, 1914, p. 135). As a result, Fichte rethinks the nature of the connection between the Absolute and the finite individual. Previously, the absolute "I" acted as an unattainable goal of the activity of an individual subject, as the potential infinity of this activity itself, which was essentially the only real being. Now the Absolute was understood as actual being, as God, therefore the principle of activity was deprived of its universal significance; For Fichte, mystical contemplation acquired the highest religious meaning as a way to achieve "unio mystica" - merging with God.

The concept of "self" in the late Fichte turned from a positive into a negative one: the "affect of independence" became for the philosopher an expression of the fundamental evil in man - the self-assertion of an egoistic individual. He now understands freedom as liberation not only from sensual inclinations, but in general from everything individual, i.e. as a renunciation of the self.

Fichte's socio-political views also underwent a significant evolution: from the enthusiasm for the ideals of the French Revolution in the early period to the development of the idea of ​​nationality as a collective personality with its own special vocation, during the struggle against Napoleon (Speech to the German Nation). The idea of ​​assigning separate nations culminates in Fichte's philosophy of history. The history of mankind, according to Fichte, is a process of development from a state of original innocence (unconscious domination of reason) through the general fall and deep corruption characteristic of the contemporary era, to the conscious kingdom of reason. Fichte's philosophy had a great influence on the development of German classical idealism - early Schelling and Hegel, on the formation of the philosophical and aesthetic ideas of the Jena romantics, as well as on the neo-Kantians ("neofichteans") W. Windelband, G. Rickert, and partly G. Cohen and P. Natorp. Under the influence of Fichte's ideas, the teachings of R. Aiken, G. Münsterberg, F. Medicus, R. Lauth and others were also formed. In the future, Schelling and Hegel, overcoming subjective idealism Fichte, subjected his philosophy to versatile criticism.

Compositions:

1. Sämtliche Werke, Bd. 1–8. V., 1845–46;

2. Werke, Bd. 1–6. Lpz., 1908–12;

3. Briefwechsel, Bd. 1–2. Lpz., 1925;

4. in Russian per.: The main features of the modern era. St. Petersburg, 1906;

5. Facts of consciousness. SPb., 1914;

6. Fav. soch., vol. 1. M., 1916;

7. Closed trading state. M., 1923;

8. On the appointment of a scientist. M., 1935;

9. Clear as the sun, a message to the general public about the true essence of the latest philosophy. M., 1937;

10. Compositions. Works 1792–1801. M., 1995.

Literature:

1. Fisher K. History of New Philosophy, vol. 6. St. Petersburg, 1909;

2. Questions of philosophy and psychology, 1914, book. 122(2);

3. Vysheslavtsev B.P. Fichte's ethics. M., 1914;

4. Oizerman T.I. Philosophy of Fichte. M., 1962;

5. Gaidenko P.P. Fichte's philosophy and modernity. M., 1979;

6. She is. Paradoxes of freedom in Fichte's doctrine. M., 1990;

7. Lask E. Fichtes Idealismus und die Geschichte. Tube., 1914;

8. Leon X. Fichte et son temps, vols. 1–2. P, 1922–1927;

9. Medicus F. Fichtes Leben, 2 Aufl. Lpz., 1922;

10. Heimsoeth H. Fichte. Munch., 1923;

11. Schulte G. Die Wissenschaftslehre des spaten Fichte. Fr./M., 1971;

12. Verweyen H. Recht und Sittlichkeit in J. G. Fichtes Gesellschaftslehre. Freiburg-Münch., 1975;

13. Tietjen H. Fichte and Husserl. Fr./M., 1980;

14. Der transzendentale Gedanke. Die gegenwärtige Darstellung der Philosophie Fichtes, hrsg. v. Κ.Hammacher. Hamb., 1981;

15. Fichte-Studien. Beiträge zur Geschichte und Systematik der Transzendentalphilosophie, Bd. 1–3, hrsg. von K.Hammacher, R.Schottky, W.H.Schrader. amst. - Atlanta, 1990-91.