“Das Gefühl ist factisch das erste ursprüngliche”: Remarks on the Role of Feeling in Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre Nova Methodo
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Maurizio M. Malimpensa
Abstract
This paper examines the role of feeling in Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre nova methodo(1796/1799), highlighting its significance in response to Kant’s accusation of mere logicism and, as a result, of solipsism against Fichte’s philosophical system. The analysis contends that Kant’s objections misinterpret Fichte’s position, rooted in a doctrine of feelings, which is pivotal for understanding the relationship between the mind and the world. By demonstrating how feeling provides the anchoring of our representations in reality and the key to the relation between ideal and empirical realms, the paper argues that Fichte’s framework offers a solution to a crucial aspect of pure apperception left unresolved by Kant. That is what Fichteachieves through the concepts of a “system of sensibility” and “feeling of self”. Moreover, Fichte’s theory of feelings, in its connection with the other fundamental concept of “strive”, is aimed to provide the objective validity of the ideas of God, right, and morality.
Abstract
This paper examines the role of feeling in Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre nova methodo(1796/1799), highlighting its significance in response to Kant’s accusation of mere logicism and, as a result, of solipsism against Fichte’s philosophical system. The analysis contends that Kant’s objections misinterpret Fichte’s position, rooted in a doctrine of feelings, which is pivotal for understanding the relationship between the mind and the world. By demonstrating how feeling provides the anchoring of our representations in reality and the key to the relation between ideal and empirical realms, the paper argues that Fichte’s framework offers a solution to a crucial aspect of pure apperception left unresolved by Kant. That is what Fichteachieves through the concepts of a “system of sensibility” and “feeling of self”. Moreover, Fichte’s theory of feelings, in its connection with the other fundamental concept of “strive”, is aimed to provide the objective validity of the ideas of God, right, and morality.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface 5
- Contents IX
- Abbreviations of Kant’s Works 11
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Section I: Feelings and Action:Moral and Political Perspectives
- Kant on the Difference between Right and Ethics: Are We Capable of Acting (Solely) from Duty? 3
- Courage vs. Laziness: The Kantian Perspective between Education and Politics 19
- Kant’s Concept of Unsocial Sociability 33
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Section II: Feelings and Judgements:Scientific and Aesthetical Approaches
- Kant’s Concept of Intensive Magnitude: Anticipating Scientific Experience 49
- Kant’s Hypotyposis as Rhetorical and Poetical Presentation 61
- The Aesthetic Representation of the Supersensible: Reassessing the Space of the Sublime 77
- On the Conceptual Restriction of Aesthetic Judgments 97
- The Heroic, the Pathic, the Barbaric: Kant’s Critique of Judgment and the Sight of War 111
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Section III: Feelings and Environment Today:From a Kantian Perspective
- Kant and Environmental Ethics, Starting from the Doctrine of Virtue 135
- Shared Commitments and Ethical Values in the UN Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals: A Kantian Approach towards a Collectively Desirable State of the World 151
- Climate Change and Natural Beauty: Kant’s Aesthetic Moderate Ecocentrism 175
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Section IV: Feelings and Kant’s Heritage
- “Das Gefühl ist factisch das erste ursprüngliche”: Remarks on the Role of Feeling in Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre Nova Methodo 195
- The Problem of the Aesthetic Idea in Kant and Hegel: The Relationship between Beauty and Morality 207
- The Regulatory Use of the Ideas of Reason in Kant and Husserl 221
- Feeling and System: The Developments of Kant’s Concept of the Feeling of Pleasure and Displeasure in Hermann Cohen’s Aesthetics 235
- Index of persons
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface 5
- Contents IX
- Abbreviations of Kant’s Works 11
-
Section I: Feelings and Action:Moral and Political Perspectives
- Kant on the Difference between Right and Ethics: Are We Capable of Acting (Solely) from Duty? 3
- Courage vs. Laziness: The Kantian Perspective between Education and Politics 19
- Kant’s Concept of Unsocial Sociability 33
-
Section II: Feelings and Judgements:Scientific and Aesthetical Approaches
- Kant’s Concept of Intensive Magnitude: Anticipating Scientific Experience 49
- Kant’s Hypotyposis as Rhetorical and Poetical Presentation 61
- The Aesthetic Representation of the Supersensible: Reassessing the Space of the Sublime 77
- On the Conceptual Restriction of Aesthetic Judgments 97
- The Heroic, the Pathic, the Barbaric: Kant’s Critique of Judgment and the Sight of War 111
-
Section III: Feelings and Environment Today:From a Kantian Perspective
- Kant and Environmental Ethics, Starting from the Doctrine of Virtue 135
- Shared Commitments and Ethical Values in the UN Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals: A Kantian Approach towards a Collectively Desirable State of the World 151
- Climate Change and Natural Beauty: Kant’s Aesthetic Moderate Ecocentrism 175
-
Section IV: Feelings and Kant’s Heritage
- “Das Gefühl ist factisch das erste ursprüngliche”: Remarks on the Role of Feeling in Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre Nova Methodo 195
- The Problem of the Aesthetic Idea in Kant and Hegel: The Relationship between Beauty and Morality 207
- The Regulatory Use of the Ideas of Reason in Kant and Husserl 221
- Feeling and System: The Developments of Kant’s Concept of the Feeling of Pleasure and Displeasure in Hermann Cohen’s Aesthetics 235
- Index of persons
