Johann Gottlieb Fichte Quotes

A man can do what he ought to do; and when he says he cannot, it is because he will not.

The living and efficaciously acting moral order is itself God. We require no other God, nor can we grasp any other.

Alle Kraft der Menschen wird erworben durch Kampf mit sich selbst und Überwindung seiner selbst.

Men in the vehement pursuit of happiness grasp at the first object which offers to them any prospect of satisfaction, but immediately they turn an introspective eye and ask, ‘Am I happy?’ and at once from their innermost being a voice answers distinctly, ‘No, you are as poor and as miserable as before.' Then they think it was the object that deceived them and turn precipitately to another. But the second holds as little satisfaction as the first…Wandering then through life restless and tormented, at each successive station they think that happiness dwells at the next, but when they reach it happiness is no longer there. In whatever position they may find themselves there is always another one which they discern from afar, and which but to touch, they think, is to find the wished delight, but when the goal is reached discontent has followed on the way stands in haunting constancy before them.

Upon the progress of knowledge the whole progress of the human race is immediately dependent: he who retards that, hinders this also.

In nearly all the nations of Europe, a powerful, hostile government is growing, and is at war with all the others, and sometimes oppresses the people in dreadful ways: It is Jewry

He who has no means of subsistence, has no duty to acknowledge or respect other people's property, considering that the principles of the social convenant have been violated to his prejudice.

Education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished.

The kind of philosophy one chooses depends on the kind of person one is.

La clase de filosofía que se elige depende de la clase de hombre que se es.

Act! act!—it is to that end we are here. Should we fret ourselves that others are not so perfect as we are, when we ourselves are only somewhat less imperfect than they? Is not this our greatest perfection,—the vocation which has been given to us,—that we must labour for the perfecting of others? Let us rejoice in the prospect of that widely extended field which we are called to cultivate! Let us rejoice that power is given to us, and that our task is infinite!

I do not know without knowing something. I do not know anything about myself without becoming something for myself through this knowledge – or, which is simply to say the same thing, without separating something subjective in me from something objective. As soon as consciousness is posited, this separation is posited; without the latter no consciousness whatsoever is possible. Through this very separation, however, the relation of what is subjective and what is objective to each other is also immediately posited. What is objective is supposed to subsist through itself, without any help from what is subjective and independently of it. What is subjective is supposed to depend on what is objective and to receive its material determination from it alone. Being exists on its own, but knowledge depends on being: the two must appear to us in this way, just as surely as anything at all appears to us, as surely as we possess consciousness. We thereby obtain the following, important insight: knowledge and being are not separated outside of consciousness and independent of it; instead, they are separated only within consciousness, since this separation is a condition for the possibility of all consciousness, and it is only through this separation that the two of them first arise. There is no being except by means of consciousness, just as there is, outside of consciousness, no knowing, as a merely subjective reference to a being. I am required to bring about a separation simply in order to be able to say to myself “I”; and yet it is only by saying “I” and only insofar as I say this that such a separation occurs. The unity [das Eine] that is divided – which thus lies at the basis of all consciousness and due to which what is subjective and what is objective in consciousness are immediately posited as one – is absolute = X, and this can in no way appear within consciousness as something simple.

Was ich als Wahrheit finde, wie es auch immer laute, soll mir willkommen sein. Ich will wissen. Mit derselben Sicherheit, mit welcher ich darauf rechne, daß dieser Boden mich tragen wird, wenn ich darauf trete, daß dieses Feuer mich verbrennen würde, wenn ich mich ihm näherte, will ich darauf rechnen können, was ich selbst bin, und was ich sein werde. Und sollte man etwa dies nicht können, so will ich wenigstens das wissen, daß man es nicht kann: Und selbst diesem Ausgange der Untersuchung will ich mich unterwerfen, wenn er sich mir als Wahrheit entdeckt.

So lange die Menschen nicht weiser und gerechter werden , sind alle ihre Bemühungen , glücklich zu werden , vergebens. Aus dem Kerker des Despoten entronnen werden sie mit den Trümmern ihrer zerbrochenen Fesseln sich unter einander selbst morden . Das wäre ein zu trauriges Loos , wenn nicht ihr eignes , oder wenn sie sich in Zeiten warnen lassen , fremdes Elend sie zur späten Weisheit und Gerechtigkeit leiten könnte . So scheinen mir alle Begebenheiten in der Welt lehrreiche Schildereien , die der große Erzieher der Menschheit aufstellt, das mit sie an ihnen lerne , was ihr zu wissen Noth ist. Nicht daß sie es aus ihnen lerne ; wir werden in der ganzen Weltgeschichte nie Etwas finden , was wir nicht selbst erst hineinlegten : sondern daß sie durch Beurtheilung wirklicher Begebenheiten auf eine leichtere Art aus sich selbst entwickle was in ihr selbst liegt : und so scheint mir die französische Revolution ein reiches Gemälde über den großen Text : Menschenrecht und Menschenwerth .

So lange ihr in euren Schulen mit Leuten vom Handwerke nach der vorgeschriebenen Form darüber redet , täuscht euch beide eben diese vorgeschriebene Form , und wenn ihr nur über sie einig seyd , schenkt ihr euch gegenseitig manche Frage, deren deutliche Beantwortung euch beschwerlich fallen dürfte.

It seems obvious that not only the feeling but also the consciousness of national unity, in the sense of intercourse of thought, which is achieved through unity of language, is a very ancient phenomenon; moreover, the time of its origin cannot be determined with accuracy. In contrast, we hear that the idea of nationality was born for the first time at the beginning of our century. Further, it stimulated “the gradual singling out of the personalities of civilized peoples” “from the original indifference of savage peoples.” And “the great service of the communication of this stimulus” may be credited to certain individuals — “in Germany, among others, to [Johann Gottlieb] Fichte the elder; among us, to the Slavophiles” (Gradovskii 246). Such opinions are voiced by others as well, but only partially with justification. Of course, unlike Ecclesiastes, we believe that everything under the sun is new and that events do not repeat themselves. Our age’s idea of nationality bears an imprint of originality, but similar ideas appeared earlier as well. Their generic similarity seems to me to turn on the following. Such an idea is not a necessary feature of a people but a design of individuals and circles that arises from time to time. It is their intention to make certain qualities that are ascribed to the people the guiding principle of the purposeful activity of individuals, societies, and governments of that people — to impart greater energy of activity by exalting its principles. Accordingly, this idea is partly a certain content of thought, partly a general emotional temper of an individual, a circle, a society, and sometimes, in rare critical moments of national life, of a significant portion of the people. In this sense, we see this idea wherever there arises in the people, in response to conflict with other peoples, an apotheosis of certain national features and there is written on a banner something like “God is with us: understand, O nations, and submit,” or “civilization is with us,” and for this reason, again, “submit.

Mit einem Worte: durch die Wissenschaftslehre kommt der Geist des Menschen zu sich selbst, und ruht von nun an auf sich selbst, ohne fremde Hülfe, und wird seiner selbst durchaus mächtig, wie der Tänzer seiner Füße, oder der Fechter seiner Hände.

Nur mit Johannes kann der Philosoph zusammenkommen, denn dieser allein hat Achtung für die Vernunft, und beruft sich auf den Beweis, den der Philosoph allein gelten lässt: den inneren.

EL MODELO EDUCATIVO PRUSIANO El modelo con el que nos educamos casi todos nosotros es el instaurado por el rey de Prusia en el siglo XVIII, que estableció la educación primaria gratuita y obligatoria, entre otras cosas con el propósito de crear una clase trabajadora dócil, respetuosa de la autoridad, y cuyos integrantes se acostumbraran desde muy niños a cumplir horarios. La idea era que los niños aprendieran a respetar la autoridad de sus padres, sus maestros, sus sacerdotes y su rey, y a levantarse todos los días a la misma hora para ir a sus trabajos. Johann Gottlieb Fichte, el filósofo que impulsó este sistema educativo, escribió que “si quieres tener influencia sobre una persona, tienes que hacer más que tan sólo hablarle: tienes que formar ese joven, y formarlo de tal manera que no pueda hacer otra cosa que lo que quieras que haga”.4 Aunque loable por haber instaurado la educación primaria obligatoria y gratuita, el modelo prusiano no ocultaba ser un mecanismo de control político. Muchos críticos antes que Khan ya habían señalado que el modelo educativo prusiano, al terminar con la educación fragmentada e individualizada, le permitía al rey transmitir a todos los niños su pensamiento político mediante programas de estudios redactados por el gobierno. Pero más allá de los contenidos educativos, el modelo de clases en sí mismo contenía formas mucho más sutiles de moldear la mente de los alumnos: los alumnos estaban sentados en filas para escuchar las disertaciones de su maestro, se levantaban cada vez que entraba el profesor, y las clases estaban separadas en “materias”, que debían ser memorizadas cada una en sí misma, y sin relación con las demás, para no estimular el pensamiento crítico de los estudiantes. Y las “materias”, a su vez, eran dictadas en periodos sucesivos de 50 minutos cada una, para que los estudiantes saltaran de una a otra, con constantes interrupciones que no les permitieran desarrollar ideas peligrosas. Apenas terminaba la lección contemplada en el programa de estudio, sonaba una campana, y terminaba la clase. El modelo Prusiano servía muy bien a los propósitos del rey, y también ayudó a crear una clase media de trabajadores manuales que se emplearon en las fábricas durante la Revolución Industrial, pero ya no sirve para la economía de la innovación del siglo XXI, argumenta Khan. Hoy en día, hace falta exactamente lo contrario: incentivar la creatividad y la facultad de resolver problemas de los alumnos. Según un estudio de Cathy N. Davidson, profesora de la Universidad de Duke y codirectora de la Fundación MacArthur de Medios Digitales y Competencias de Aprendizaje, 65% de los niños que empiezan la escuela este año terminarán trabajando en empleos que aún no han sido inventados.5

It is his incurable illness to regard the accidental as necessary.