Cambridge Companion to Fichte

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) was the founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a branch of thought which grew out of Kant's critical philosophy. Fichte's work formed the crucial link between eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought and philosophical, as well as literary, Romanticism. Some of his ideas also foreshadow later nineteenth- and twentieth-century developments in philosophy and in political thought, including existentialism, nationalism and socialism. This volume offers essays on all the major aspects of Fichte's philosophy, ranging from the successive versions of his foundational philosophical science or Wissenschaftslehre, through his ethical and political thought, to his philosophies of history and religion. All the main stages of Fichte's philosophical career and development are charted, and his ideas are placed in their historical and intellectual context. New readers will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to Fichte currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Fichte.

David James is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. His previous publications include Fichte's Republic: Idealism, History and Nationalism (Cambridge, 2015), Rousseau and German Idealism: Freedom, Dependence and Necessity (Cambridge, 2013) and Fichte's Social and Political Philosophy: Property and Virtue (Cambridge, 2011). Günter Zöller is Professor of Philosophy at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munchen and is the author of numerous works on Fichte, including Fichte's Transcendental Philosophy (Cambridge, 1998), Fichte lesen (2013) and Res Publica: Plato's Republic in Classical German Philosophy (2015). He is also the co-editor and co-translator of Fichte's The System of Ethics (Cambridge, 2005).