Johann Gottlieb Fichte: Band II,8: Nachgelassene Schriften 1804

This volume contains Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre of 1804, as presented in 28 lectures between April 16 and June 28. Since Fichte’s own manuscript is apparently lost, it was deemed necessary to reproduce the two surviving versions of this text on facing pages. Neither of these texts is authentic. One is the text published by I. H. Fichte in 1834, apparently based upon his father’s manuscript. The other is a copy, in a still unidentified hand, which contains some gaps and occasional, small errors of transcription. Printing these two complete texts on facing pages makes it possible, for the first time, for the reader to compare the two complete texts and to assume for himself the responsibility of deciding upon the original wording. This device was made necessary on editorial and critical grounds, which also made it necessary to interrupt the otherwise strictly observed chronological order of the edition.