FICHTE, Johann Gottlieb, German phi losopher : b. at Rammenau in Lusatia, 19 May 1762; d. Berlin, 27 Jan. 1814. He came of healthy peasant stock which had lived in the region for many generations. A tradition in the family was to the effect that a Swedish sergeant, left wounded in the village during the wars of Gustavus Adolphus, had recovered and later married the daughter of his kindly benefactor. From this marriage sprang the Fichtes, a family noted in the neighborhood for its probity and piety. Christian Fichte, Johann Gottlieb's father, married mmewhat above his station. It has been suggested that a certain impatience which Fichte himself displayed throughout his life was an inheritance from his mother.
Young Fichte received the rudiments of his education from his father. He early showed remarkable ability, and it was owing to his reputation among the villagers that he gained the opportunity for a better education than he otherwise would have received. The story runs that Freiherr von Militz, a country land owner, arrived too late to hear the local pastor preach. He was, however, informed that a lad in the neighborhood would be able to repeat the sermon practically verbatim. The upshot of the affair was that the lad was taken under Von Militz's protection. He was placed in the family of Pastor Krebel at Niederau near Meissen and there received thorough ground ing in the classics. The kindly home of the good pastor must have made the parting from his parents less severe than it would otherwise have been. From this time onward, Fichte saw little of his parents. In October of the year 1774, we find him at the celebrated founda tion-school at Pforta near Naumberg. This famous school is associated with the names of Novalis, the Schlegels, Fichte and Nietzsche. The spirit of the institution was semi-monastic and, while the education given was excellent in its way, it is doubtful whether there was enough social life and contact with the world for a pupil of Fichte's temperament and ante cedents. Perhaps his education strengthened a tendency toward introspection and independ ence, characteristics which appear strongly in his doctrines and writings. In 1780, he en rolled himself in the theological faculty at Jena. How far his heart was given to the career for which this was an opening it is' im possible to say. His mother desired it, and it was the path of least resistance for a poor boy of pietistic heritage. It is well to bear in mind that Schelling and Hegel, two other leaders of German romantic idealism, entered philosophy from theology, a fact not without bearing upon the drift of their thinking. Fichte seems to have supported himself at this period of bitter poverty and hard struggle, years which surely had their effect upon his spirit. He now be came a tutor and spent two of the happiest years of his life at Zurich in Switzerland. Here he met Johanna Rahn who was afterward to be his wife.
Thus far, Fichte had not discovered his vocation. He had already become acquainted with the philosophy of Spinoza and shown a tendency to adapt Its monism to the problems of theology. This influence of Spinoza re mained with him throughout his life and affected his interpretation of Kant. It was not until about 1790, however, that he studied the Kantian philosophy. In it, he at last found what he had been seeking, a satisfactory way of approach to speculative problems; a way of approach, moreover, which did justice to those moral demands which were such a dominant part of his nature. He now occupied
himself with the task of thinking through the implications of the Kantian position and of perfecting it. But while he was assimilating the Kantian philosophy and preparing to de velop it, fate gave him another blow. Financial reverses were suffered by the Rahn family, and the impending marriage had to be post poned. He went as a tutor to Warsaw, but was soon released. Now came his chance to see Kant at KOnigsberg. After a disappoint ing first interview, he shut himself in his lodg ings and threw all his energies into the com position of an essay which would compel Kant's attention and Interest. This essay, com pleted in five weeks, was the 'Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenharung' ('Essay toward a Critique of all Revelation)). Kant's interest was awakened and led to the publication of the essay. Fichte's name having been omitted from the title-page by accident, it was taken by reviewers for Kant's own production. Fichte's reputation was thus made as the best interpreter of the critical philosophy. In October 1793, he was married at Zurich, where he remained the rest of the year. Stirred by the events and principles of the French Revolu tion, he wrote and published anonymously two pamphlets which mark him as a devoted de fender of liberty of thought and action and an advocate of political changes. In December of the same year, he received an invitation to fill the position of extraordinaryprofessor of philosophy at Jena. He accepted and began his lectures in May of the next year. His success was immediate. He seems to have ex celled as a lecturer because of the earnestness and force of his personality. These lectures were later published under the title 'The Voca tion of the Scholar.' He gave himself up to intense production, and a succession of works soon appeared. Among these are his chief work, 'Foundation of the whole Theory of Science' (1789) ; 'Theory of Morals' (1798), and several 'Introductions) to his system. It is generally admitted that his theoretical phi losophy reflects his practical philosophy. The primacy of the moral will is his starting-point. After weathering a couple of academic storms, he was finally dismissed as a result of a charge of atheism (1799). The whole affair was un fortunate, to say the least. For Fichte, God should be conceived primarily in moral terms. To many this seemed to rob Him of personality. Since all the German states except Prussia had joined in the cry against him, he was forced to go to Berlin. Here he associated himself with the Schlegels, Schleiermacher, Schelling and Tieck. The disaster at Jena in which Napoleon completely crushed the Prussian army drove him abroad for a time, but he re turned the next year (1807) and continued his literary activity. The deplorable situation of Germany stirred him to the depths and led him to deliver the famous 'Addresses to the German Nation' (1808) which guided the uprising against Napoleon. He became a professor of the new university at Berlin founded in 1809, and its rector in the succeeding year. But, once more, his impetuosity and reforming zeal led. to friction, and he resigned in 1812. The campaign against Napoleon began, and the hospitals at Berlin were soon full of patients. Fichte's wife devoted herself to nursing and caught a virulent fever. Just as she was re covering, he, himself, was stricken down. He did not have the force to recover and died 27 Jan. 1814.