From the early 1790s until after the turn of the century, a very productive but also controversial exchange took place between Reinhold and Fichte. Though many key aspects of post-Kantian philosophy were discussed, the philosophical confrontation between Reinhold and Fichte is most instructive for the understanding of post-Kantian philosophy. The exchange started when Fichte published his verdict on Reinhold's Elementarphilosophie and disapproved of its fundamental principle. In 1794 Fichte challenged Reinhold by presenting his Wissenschaftslehre. Reinhold was not convinced of Fichte's foundation of philosophy at first, but announced that he accepted the Wissenschaftslehre in 1797. While Reinhold and Fichte officially collaborated in the following three years, tensions concerning fundamental questions were still present. When Reinhold adopted Rational Realism, his relation to Fichte deteriorated and the exchange between the two finally ended. The contributions in the present collection focus on the central systematic issues at the different stages of the confrontation between Fichte and Reinhold, thereby illuminating questions that are essential to the understanding of the evolution of post-Kantian German philosophy.

This volume of articles in English by an international team of scholars presents new critical perspectives on the first principles of J.G. Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre and some of the key sub-disciplines of his philosophy.

The Wissenschaftslehre or "doctrine of science" was the great achievement of the German idealist philosopher J. G. Fichte. Daniel Breazeale presents accessible new translations of three works in which Fichte developed this philosophical system. The centerpiece of this volume is a new English translation of Fichte's only full-scale presentation of the principles of his philosophy, the Foundation of the Entire Wissenschaftslehre (1794/95). Accompanying this are new translations of the work in which Fichte first publicly introduced his new system, Concerning the Concept of the Wissenschaftslehre (1794) and the Outline of what is Distinctive of the Wissenschaftslehre with respect to the Theoretical Power (1795), which was intended as a companion to the Foundation. In addition Breazeale includes the transcripts of Fichte's unpublished "Zurich lectures" on his system (1794), translated here for the first time in English. Breazeale supplements his translations with an extensive historical and systematic introduction, detailed outlines of the contents and structure of the Foundation and Outline, and copious scholarly annotation of the translated texts, helping to orient readers who may otherwise find themselves lost in the wilderness of Fichte's complex "derivations."

This book offers the first comprehensive exploration of the relevance of naturalism and theories of nature in Classical German Philosophy. It presents new readings from internationally renowned scholars on Kant, Jacobi, Goethe, the Romantic tradition, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and Marx that highlight the significance of conceptions of nature and naturalism in Classical German Philosophy for contemporary concerns. The collection presents an inclusive view: it goes beyond the usual restricted focus on single thinkers to encompass the tradition as a whole, prompting dialogue among scholars interested in different authors and areas. It thus illuminates the post-Kantian tradition in a new, wider sense. The chapters also mobilize a productive perspective at the intersection of philosophy and history by combining careful textual and historical analysis with argument-based philosophizing. Overall, the book challenges the stereotypical view that Classical German Philosophy offers at best only an idealistic, one-sided, anachronistic, and theological view of nature. It invites readers to put traditional views in dialogue with current discussions of nature and naturalism. Nature and Naturalism in Classical German Philosophy will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working on Classical German Philosophy, 19th-Century Philosophy, and contemporary perspectives on naturalism.

This volume brings together a series of cutting-edge studies on significant controversies and prize essay contests of the German Enlightenment. It sheds new light on the nature and impact of the philosophical debates of the period, while analyzing a range of pressing philosophical questions. In doing so, it focuses on controversies and prize competitions as conditions for the advancement of knowledge and the staking out of new philosophical terrain. Chapters address not only the rich content of the questions but also their wider context, including the theoretical framework of the debates and their institutional support and aims. Together they demonstrate how these debates created a rallying point and generated momentum for sustained philosophical argument and engagement in the Enlightenment era. The collection offers novel perspectives on the major role played by the Berlin Academy both within the German Enlightenment and across Europe more broadly. Through the introduction of several understudied but key figures such as Johann Heinrich Abicht, Leonhard Cochius, Pierre Le Guay de Prémontval, and Guillaume Raynal, it deepens our understanding of the richness and complexity of the period. Arranged in three parts – natural law and history, metaphysics, and anthropology – the essays provide fascinating new material on areas such as the problem of language, the emergence of psychology, colonialism, and the origins of aesthetics for the wider study of the intellectual milieu in eighteenth-century Germany and beyond.

"This work is a model of what a philosophical text should be."--Reinhard Lauth "Breazeale's translation is fluent, precise, and perhaps most important of all... it is readable.... This is an excellent translation by the ranking Fichte scholar working in English at present, accompanied by a full, useful scholarly apparatus, likely to be of interest to Fichte scholars and all those concerned with the development of German idealism."--Review of Metaphysics "The publishing of this volume in English... provides us with a wealth of new material, not just about Fichte's development, but about the essentially Cartesian project that first gave rise to phenomenology in our own century."--International Philosophical Quarterly