Johann Gottlieb Fichte - Collected Philosophical Works (18 books)

* Johann Gottlieb Fichte - Collected Philosophical Works (18 books)

JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE (1762–1814) was a central figure in German Idealism who developed a radically revised version of Kantian transcendental philosophy, which he named Wissenschaftslehre ("Doctrine of Scientific Knowledge" or "Theory of Scientific Knowledge"). Fichte is an important philosopher in his own right due to his original insights into the nature of self-consciousness or self-awareness.

His philosophical breakthrough occurred when he embraced Immanuel Kant’s philosophy, which he interpreted as a "revolution" that reconciled his commitment to human freedom with the demands of reason. Fichte’s initial fame arrived when he was mistaken for Kant, publishing the ATTEMPT AT A CRITIQUE OF ALL REVELATION (1792). His work aimed to eliminate the Kantian "thing-in-itself" (the unknowable cause of sensation), instead proposing that the phenomenal world is constructed through the absolute activity of the "pure I" or transcendental self.

Fichte’s most critical, systematic work, FOUNDATION OF THE ENTIRE SCIENCE OF KNOWLEDGE (1794-1795), attempted to derive all knowledge from a single, foundational principle: "the I posits itself as self-positing," aiming for a "system of freedom" where subjectivity is primary. This work was later accompanied by fundamental social and political texts that cemented his reputation as a radical thinker, such as FOUNDATIONS OF NATURAL RIGHT (1796/97), which argued that self-consciousness is socially conditioned through mutual recognition, and THE SYSTEM OF ETHICS (1798), which centered on the moral duty to strive for self-determination.

Following the 1799 Atheism Controversy, which resulted in his departure from the University of Jena, Fichte moved to Berlin and shifted toward more accessible writing, blending philosophy with moral and religious themes. During this period, he produced THE VOCATION OF MAN (1800), a popular work detailing the transition from skepticism to practical faith. He also authored THE CLOSED COMMERCIAL STATE (1800), a controversial vision of an economically self-sufficient and tightly regulated society designed to secure justice and equality, and THE WAY TOWARDS THE BLESSED LIFE (1806), which reflected a more mystical, religious tone that equated the absolute self with the divine moral order.

During the Napoleonic occupation of Berlin, Fichte delivered his ADDRESSES TO THE GERMAN NATION (1808), a series of lectures calling for cultural and moral renewal through education. These later works reveal his enduring concern with freedom—not merely as an abstract principle, but as something to be realized in ethical life, political institutions, and historical development. Following his death from typhus in 1814, numerous revisions of the Wissenschaftslehre were published posthumously, cementing his legacy as a critical transitional figure between Kantian idealism and the Absolute Idealism of Hegel.


The following books are in PDF and/or ePUB format as indicated:

* Addresses to the German Nation [ed. Moore] (Cambridge, 2008) – PDF
* Addresses to the German Nation [ed. Nakhimovsky et al.] (Hackett, 2012) – ePUB
* Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation [ed. Wood] (Cambridge, 2010) – PDF
* The Closed Commercial State [tr. Adler] (SUNY, 2012) – ePUB / PDF
* Contribution to the Correction of the Public's Judgments on the French Revolution (SUNY, 2021) – ePUB / PDF
* Early Philosophical Writings [tr. Breazeale] (Cornell, 1988) – PDF
* Fichte and the Atheism Dispute, 1798-1800 [ed. Estes & Bowman] (Ashgate, 2010) – PDF
* Foundation of the Entire Wissenschaftslehre & Related Writings [tr. Breazeale] (Oxford, 2021) – PDF
* Foundations of Natural Right [ed. Neuhouser] (Cambridge, 2000) – PDF
* Foundations of Transcendental Philosophy [tr. Breazeale] (Cornell, 1992) – PDF
* Introductions to the Wissenschaftslehre [tr. Breazeale] (Hackett, 1994) – PDF
* Lectures on the Theory of Ethics (1812) [tr. Crowe] (SUNY, 2015) – ePUB / PDF
* The Philosophical Rupture between Fichte and Schelling [tr. Vater & Wood] (SUNY, 2012) – ePUB / PDF
* The Science of Knowing: The 1804 Lectures on the Wissenschaftslehre [tr. Wright] (SUNY, 2005) – PDF
* The Science of Knowledge [tr. Heath & Lachs] (Cambridge, 1982) – PDF
* The System of Ethics [tr. Breazeale & Zöller] (Cambridge, 2005) – PDF
* The Vocation of Man [ed. Chisholm] (Library of Liberal Arts, 1956) – PDF
* The Vocation of Man [tr. Preuss] (Hackett, 1987) – ePUB


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