Fichte's System of Ethics

A Critical Guide

Stefano Bacin, Owen Ware

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781108480628
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108575430
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Modern Philosophy

The System of Ethics was published at the height of Fichte's academic career and marks the culmination of his philosophical development in Jena. Much more than a treatise on ethics narrowly construed, the System of Ethics presents a unified synthesis of Fichte's core philosophical ideas, including the principle I-hood, self-activity and self-consciousness, and also contains his most detailed treatment of action and agency. This volume brings together an international group of leading scholars on Fichte, and is the first of its kind in English to offer critical and interpretive perspectives on this work, covering topics such as normativity, belief, justification, desire, duty, and the ethical life. It will be an essential guide for scholars wanting to deepen their understanding of Fichte's ethical thought, as well as for those interested in the history of ethics more broadly.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations and Translations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Fichte’s Ethics as Kantian Ethics
• Chapter 2 Fichte on Normativity in the Late Jena Period (1796–1799)
• Chapter 3 Fichte on Autonomy
• Chapter 4 Feeling, Drive, and the Lower Capacity of Desire
• Chapter 5 Fichte and the Path from “Formal” to “Material” Freedom
• Chapter 6 Fichte on the Content of Conscience
• Chapter 7 Fichte’s Theory of Moral Evil
• Chapter 8 Embodiment and Freedom: Fichte “On the Material of the Ethical Law”
• Chapter 9 Ethics as Theory of Society: Morality and Ethical Life in Fichte’s System of Ethics
• Chapter 10 My Duties and the Morality of Others: Lying, Truth, and the Good Example in Fichte’s Normative Perfectionism
• Bibliography
• Index