@27256 Johann Gottlieb Fichte was an 18th-century German
philosopher and student of
Immanuel Kant. He examined how it is possible for us to exist as ethical beings with free will, while living in a world that appears to be causally determined; that is to say, in a world where every event follows on necessarily from previous events and conditions, according to
unvarying laws of nature.
The idea that there is a world like this "out there", beyond our selves and independent of us, is known as dogmatism. This is an idea that gained ground in the Enlightenment period, but Fichte thinks that it leaves no room for moral values or choice. How can people be considered to have free will, he asks, if everything is determined by something else that exists outside of ourselves?
Fichte argues instead for a version of idealism similar to Kant's, in which our own minds create all that we think of as reality. In this idealist world, the self is an active entity or essence that exists outside of causal influences, and is able to think and choose freely, independently, and spontaneously.
Fichte understands idealism and dogmatism to be entirely different starting points. They can never be
"mixed" into one philosophical
system, he says; there is no way of proving philosophically which is correct, and neither can be used to refute the other. For this reason one can only "choose" which philosophy one believes in, not for objective, rational reasons, but depending upon "what sort of person one is."
philosopher and student of
Immanuel Kant. He examined how it is possible for us to exist as ethical beings with free will, while living in a world that appears to be causally determined; that is to say, in a world where every event follows on necessarily from previous events and conditions, according to
unvarying laws of nature.
The idea that there is a world like this "out there", beyond our selves and independent of us, is known as dogmatism. This is an idea that gained ground in the Enlightenment period, but Fichte thinks that it leaves no room for moral values or choice. How can people be considered to have free will, he asks, if everything is determined by something else that exists outside of ourselves?
Fichte argues instead for a version of idealism similar to Kant's, in which our own minds create all that we think of as reality. In this idealist world, the self is an active entity or essence that exists outside of causal influences, and is able to think and choose freely, independently, and spontaneously.
Fichte understands idealism and dogmatism to be entirely different starting points. They can never be
"mixed" into one philosophical
system, he says; there is no way of proving philosophically which is correct, and neither can be used to refute the other. For this reason one can only "choose" which philosophy one believes in, not for objective, rational reasons, but depending upon "what sort of person one is."
