The Vocation of Man

by JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE, William Smith (Translator)

Overview

Fichte's Vocation of Man covers more ground in less than hundred pages than most Philosophers and Theologians can cover in a thousand. There are three sections in this book: Doubt, Knowledge, and Faith. These three sections would suggest to the uninitiated observer that Fichte's going to lead us out of our sorrow and doubt towards faith. This misconception, along with the work's seemingly masculine title do a great deal to detract the contemporary intellectual. That's unfortunate, because it's really one of the most readable, brief but content-rich books available to the modern philosopher.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940161515525
Publisher:	Murine Publications LLC
Publication date:	05/19/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	277 KB

About the Author

Fichte a German philosopher, was born at Rammenau in Upper Lusatia on the 19th of May 1762. His father, a ribbon-weaver, was a descendant of a Swedish soldier who (in the service of Gustavus Adolphus) was left wounded at Rammenau and settled there. The family was distinguished for piety, uprightness, and solidity of character. With these qualities Fichte himself combined a certain impetuosity and impatience probably derived from his mother, a woman of a somewhat querulous and jealous disposition. At a very early age the boy showed remarkable mental vigour and moral independence. A fortunate accident which brought him under the notice of a neighbouring nobleman, Freiherr von Miltitz, was the means of procuring him a more excellent education than his father's circumstances would have allowed. He was placed under the care of Pastor Krebel at Niederau. After a short stay at Meissen he was entered at the celebrated school at Pforta, near Naumburg. In 1780 he entered the university of Jena as a student of theology. He supported himself mainly by private teaching, and during the years 1784-1787 acted as tutor in various families of Saxony. In 1787, after an unsuccessful application to the consistory for pecuniary assistance, he seems to have been driven to miscellaneous literary work. A tutorship at Zurich was, however, obtained in the spring of 1788, and Fichte spent in Switzerland two of the happiest years of his life. He made several valuable acquaintances, among others Lavater and his brother-in-law Hartmann Rahn, to whose daughter, Johanna Maria, he became engaged.