In Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation (1792), J. G. Fichte extends Kant's practical philosophy to a consideration of revealed religion: its justification, its use, and the limits of what it can claim. Kant had warranted our practical faith in God and immortality in his Critique of Practical Reason (1788), but Fichte was the first to explain the implications of this approach for religion, predating even Kant's own Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1793).
This edition of Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation uses an already existing translation by Garrett Green, which was published by Cambridge in 1978, along with a newly commissioned introduction by Allen Wood, who is best known for his first-rate scholarship on Kant and Hegel. Wood's introduction provides a brief biography of Fichte, compares Kant's and Fichte's philosophies of religion, and makes a case for Fichte's importance in the history of modern and contemporary philosophy. Wood also explains the concept of volition in Fichte's work and his "synthetic method," both of which stake out new philosophical territory for post-Kantian idealism. Fichte conceives of self-determination in terms of the unity of the agent, but such a unity can only be achieved by relating the moral motive of respect to empirical impulses. By envisioning a life whose projects are all informed by an overarching moral vocation, Fichte relates morality and happiness in a way that challenges Kant's sharp distinction between these two kinds of goodness and that anticipates themes in Fichte's later work. In addition, Fichte's synthetic method extends Kant's claim that metaphysical speculation leads to a conflict of reason with itself that must be resolved. Fichte adopts this as a more general argument strategy whereby immediately certain propositions, such as consciousness is of one's own activity, lead to seemingly contradictory propositions that are synthesized by a new concept. Wood does a good job of explaining these ideas clearly and concisely. Although he is a bit hyperbolic -- e.g., "Fichte is the key to the entire tradition of modern continental philosophy" (xxvii) -- Wood makes a strong case for Fichte's philosophical importance.
Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation is Fichte's first published book. Kant himself encouraged Fichte to publish it, and Kant recommended it to his own publisher. When the book appeared anonymously in 1792, many people thought that Kant had written it. Subsequently, Kant wrote a public letter identifying Fichte as the author, and Fichte became widely known as the next great Kantian philosopher. On the strength of this work, Fichte was appointed chair of philosophy at the University of Jena in 1794, where he would develop his own philosophy, the Wissenschaftslehre, and write a series of books that are only now being fully appreciated in the English-speaking world. MsSVig
This edition of Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation uses an already existing translation by Garrett Green, which was published by Cambridge in 1978, along with a newly commissioned introduction by Allen Wood, who is best known for his first-rate scholarship on Kant and Hegel. Wood's introduction provides a brief biography of Fichte, compares Kant's and Fichte's philosophies of religion, and makes a case for Fichte's importance in the history of modern and contemporary philosophy. Wood also explains the concept of volition in Fichte's work and his "synthetic method," both of which stake out new philosophical territory for post-Kantian idealism. Fichte conceives of self-determination in terms of the unity of the agent, but such a unity can only be achieved by relating the moral motive of respect to empirical impulses. By envisioning a life whose projects are all informed by an overarching moral vocation, Fichte relates morality and happiness in a way that challenges Kant's sharp distinction between these two kinds of goodness and that anticipates themes in Fichte's later work. In addition, Fichte's synthetic method extends Kant's claim that me
Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation is Fichte's first published book. Kant himself encouraged Fichte to publish it, and Kant recommended it to his own publisher. When the book appeared anonymously in 1792, many people thought that Kant had written it. Subsequently, Kant wrote a public letter identifying Fichte as the author, and Fichte became widely known as the next great Kantian philosopher. On the strength of this work, Fichte was appointed chair of philosophy at the University of Jena in 1794, where he would develop his own philosophy, the Wissenschaftslehre, and write a series of books that are only now being fully appreciated in the English-speaking world. MsSVig
