Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806)

This chapter presents three unpublished works by Karoline von Günderrode. In them, Günderrode discusses and assesses the moral philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Schelling’s philosophy of nature, while also developing her own ethical account of the human relation to the earth in the essay “Idea of the Earth.” Widely regarded as her most important and radical contribution, “Idea of the Earth” distinguishes Günderrode among her contemporaries and places her in proximity to current environmental thought.

Die (Wieder-)Geburt der Grundrechte aus dem (Un-)Geist der totalen Prävention

In the section „On the Constitution“ in his „Foundations of Natural Right“, Johann Gottlieb Fichte designs a total police state. The passport functions as an instrument to ensure permanent surveillance of citizens. This text paradigmatically shows that total surveillance is not only incapable of guaranteeing the desired security, but that it endangers it itself. The need for fundamental rights can therefore be derived from surveillance itself.

The “absolute I” and the “absolute” in the philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte

The article deals with the relationship between the concepts of the “absolute I” and “absolute” in the philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and the relationship of the latter with faith and religion. These concepts play the role of the principle of his philosophy in the early and late period of his work, respectively. The topic of the article is relevant to the issues of religion and theology, first of all, in the sense that in the tradition of interpretation of Fichte’s doctrine, the following two ideas are fixed. First, the principle of the “absolute I” is interpreted as subjective-idealistic, which is why Fichte in the early period of his work had to place the object of faith outside and above knowledge. Second, many researchers are of the view that in his later years, Fichte proceeds to a religious motivated philosophizing that finds expression in his doctrine to change the principle of the “absolute I” with the principle of “absolute”, which is the philosophical equivalent to the concept of God. In the first part of the article, based on the texts of Fichte himself, the unsatisfactoriness of these ideas and the identity of the content of the concepts of the “absolute I” and “absolute” in Fichte are shown. Further, it is demonstrated that the identical content of these concepts is the unconditional first cause of both being and cognition. From the beginning of his work, Fichte sought to understand the true nature of the original and thereby reveal his own definiteness of the subject of religious faith. According to Fichte, his philosophy should overcome the limitations of the theological teachings that preceded it in questions about the essence of the first cause, divine creation and the possibility of its knowledge, and therefore, in fact, represents the experience of creating a new theology.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte as a theologian

The article examines the philosophical work of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) in terms of his theological views. An analysis of Fichte’s accusations of atheism is provided. The paradoxes of “spirit” and “spiritual” in human life itself and in Fichte’s own doctrine of religion are considered. A creative reconstruction is carried out for those parts of “science”, where the productivity of the very idea of theology and philosophy of religion is presented. The article investigates the theoretical implications of the idea of Fichte’s “I” and, on the basis of the inclusion of historical and philosophical generalizations, the so-called “pre-Fichte” criticism of I.Kant. The relevance of the philosophy of Fichte’s religion is revealed and its connection with the modern era is investigated. The thesis that theology is the science of the Absolute as the subject of a person’s creative search is substantiated. Also, the article supports the creative productivity of the very idea of theology and philosophy of religion. The authors compare the views of K.Forberg and Fichte. God, according to Forberg, is the regulatory principle of ethics, and religion itself is not a theory, but the duty of a moral person. But man, according to Fichte, is not called upon to create a moral “world order”. On the contrary, he himself is created and supported by it. The work concludes that the time of reason does not cover the entire totality of time. The people are not just the majority of the population, their basis lies in the moral substance. Therefore, one of the main tasks of the state is to develop the humanitarian culture of the people.

Making Terrorism Thinkable: The Philosophy of the Act and Its European Reception

This chapter challenges the widespread assumption that terrorist ideology was invented in the mid-nineteenth century by such figures as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Mikhail Bakunin. Instead, the chapter argues, the foundations of terrorism were laid at the end of the eighteenth century by the Enlightenment philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte and his disciples, who in turn exerted a strong influence on later radical thinkers. In showing how the intellectual reverberations of the French Revolution gave rise to anarchist ideology as well as acts of terrorism in Germany, the chapter traces a link between the state terror of the French Revolution and the emergence of insurgent terrorism.