Johann Gottlieb Fichte: Band I,10: Werke 1808–1812

The centerpiece of this volume is Fichte’s well-known text »Reden an die deutsche Nation«, consisting of public lectures delivered in Berlin in 1807/8 and published in 1808. These lectures, together with the two preceding lecture series from 1806, »Grundzüge des gegenwärtigen Zeitalters« and »Anweisung zum seeligen Leben«, constitute a trilogy signalling a new interest on Fichte’s part in the philosophy of history. Following in the steps of Pestalozzi, Fichte here appeals for an intellectual reformation of the German people and outlines how this can be accomplished by means of new educational reforms and institutions. The »Reden« are also clearly inspired by Fichte’s fervent desire to participate as directly as possible in shaping the course of the political events of his own time. For Fichte, there was a direct connection between the impeding intellectual decline of Germany and its loss of political autonomy under Napoleonic domination. Under these circumstances, he felt that it was his right and duty to take some public action. This volume also includes Fichte’s adaptations of short pieces by Petrarch and Luis Vaz de Camões, the revised final lecture from his 1810 lectures on the Wissenschaftslehre, entitled »Die Wissenschaftslehre in ihrem allgemeinen Umrisse«, and a published address that he delivered in 1811, when he assumed his duties as rector of the newly founded University of Berlin, »Ueber die einzig mögliche Störung der akademischen Freiheit«. Also included are two published lectures from the series entitled »Vorlesungen über die Bestimmung des Gelehrten«, which Fichte delivered during the Summer Semester of 1812, as well as 14 brief book reviews from 1788, which represent Fichte’s very first publications (and which were identified as such only after the publication of the first volume in this series).

Content:

• Reden an die deutsche Nation
• Petrarka’s 63stes Sonett nach Laura’s Tode (Nachdichtung)
• Ankündigungen zu den Vorlesungen in Berlin
• Aus Camões Lusiade. Gesang 3. Stanze 118 (Nachdichtung)
• Die Wissenschaftslehre, in ihrem allgemeinen Umrisse, 1810
• Ueber die einzig mögliche Störung der akademischen Freiheit (Rektoratsrede Oktober 1811)
• Vorlesungen über die Bestimmung des Gelehrten (1812)
• Vierzehn Rezensionen (1788)