Reason and agency in Kant and Fichte

Michael Vater

in: Inv(i)erno 2018, Revista de estud(i)os sobre Fichte 16, 2018.

Abstract

This paper explores the question of the unity of Transcendental Idealism at the end of Eighteenth Century German philosophy, given that it circulated in different versions, Kant’s Critique [of humans’ rational powers] and Fichte’ System of Science [Wissenschaftslehre]. Both thinkers take the transcendental turn. They base conceptual investigations not on facts or empirical evidence, but on the possibility of a situation; they are idealists since they look inward to the spontaneity of the agent/knower for explanation, not the environment, stimulus, or sensory given. Reason can fathom only what it has constructed.

Cited authors

Kant Immanuel

Fichte Johann Gottlieb