J. G. Fichte

Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Born	(1762-05-19)May 19, 1762 Rammenau, Saxony
Died	January 27, 1814(1814-01-27) (aged 51) Berlin, Prussia
Nationality	German
Education	Schulpforta
Alma mater	University of Jena (1780; no degree) Leipzig University (1781–1784; no degree)
Era	18th-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	German idealism Post-Kantian transcendental idealism Jena Romanticism Romantic nationalism
Institutions	University of Jena University of Erlangen University of Berlin
Main interests	Self-consciousness and self-awareness, moral philosophy, political philosophy
Notable ideas	Das absolute Bewusstseyn (the absolute consciousness),Thesis–antithesis–synthesis, (the not-I), das Streben (striving), gegenseitig anerkennen (mutual recognition), Wissenschaftslehre (Doctrine of Science), der Satz der Wechselbestimmbarkeit (the Principle of Reciprocal Determination), coining the terms Real-Idealismus ("real-idealism") and Ideal-Realismus ("ideal-realism") to characterize Wissenschaftslehre (his own version of transcendental idealism), philosophy pragmatic history of the human spirit (pragmatische Geschichte des menschlichen Geistes),Anstoss (impulse), (fact and/or act), Aufforderung (calling, summons), intellectual intuition, the primacy of the practical (Handeln), Urtrieb (original drive), "Fichte's original insight," the power of productive imagination as an original power of the mind
Influences Immanuel Kant, Salomon Maimon,Karl Leonhard Reinhold,Gottlob Ernst Schulze,Jean-Jacques Rousseau,Baruch Spinoza,Ernst Platner
Influenced G. W. F. Hegel, Dieter Henrich, Johann Friedrich Herbart, Novalis, F. W. J. Schelling, August Ludwig Hülsen, Jules Lequier, Karl August von Eschenmayer,Wilhelm von Humboldt,Friedrich Schleiermacher, Ludwig Tieck, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Solger

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (/ˈfɪxtə/;German: [ˈjoːhan ˈɡɔtliːp ˈfɪçtə]; May 19, 1762 – January 27, 1814), was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant. Recently, philosophers and scholars have begun to appreciate Fichte as an important philosopher in his own right due to his original insights into the nature of self-consciousness or self-awareness. Fichte was also the originator of thesis–antithesis–synthesis, an idea that is often erroneously attributed to Hegel. Like Descartes and Kant before him, Fichte was motivated by the problem of subjectivity and consciousness. Fichte also wrote works of political philosophy; he has a reputation as one of the fathers of German nationalism.

Fichte was born in Rammenau, Upper Lusatia. The son of a ribbon weaver, he came of peasant stock which had lived in the region for many generations. The family was noted in the neighborhood for its probity and piety. Christian Fichte, Johann Gottlieb's father, married somewhat above his station. It has been suggested that a certain impatience which Fichte himself displayed throughout his life was an inheritance from his mother.