The real as problem in Fichte’s doctrine of knowledge

Abstract

Fichte describes in his The Characteristics of the Present Age ( Grundzüge des gegenwärtigen Zeitalters ) a three-stage structure of world history. In the first age of the world the reason stands in instinct and credibility, and therefore the Foundation of the beliefs reached through them, remain hidden from him. This fact, according to Fichte, explains the lack of science in this age. Our age marks the turning point where the rising reason begins. This rise, that is, the liberation of the reason from the form of instinct, is that this age in principle learns the idea of science as a clear understanding of itself. However, this knowledge of his own nature transhistorically this age still do not understand real science, indeed a defining reason, understanding the science is only formally. The new age, that is about to come, will be, according to Fichte, an “epoch of the science of reason” in which philosophy has solved all problems of justification. This will be the very basis for the ongoing systematic progress of science. Despite the undeniable progress that science has made since the time of Fichte this goal has not been achieved to this day. In the essay, I will try to show why this promise of Fichte’s “science of knowledge” has not been fulfilled. The answer lies in certain unresolved problems of transcendental philosophy in general and the Fichtian philosophy in particular. Namely, Fichte also failed to completely solve the problem of transcendent schematism, because he did not demonstrate the separation of thought and intuition. In addition, I will indicate a possible solution by surmounting the transcendental schematism.