Fichtes Subjective Idealism Essay -- Philosophy Essays

Fichte's Subjective Idealism With a dramatic dialectic style, Fichte expounds his subjective idealism which seriously undermines claims of an external world and which ultimately borders on solipsism. Beginning with the question of Free Will, Fichte concludes that there is none before engaging a mysterious Spirit in a philosophical dialogue over the nature of Fichte's knowledge. In the end, Fichte curses the Spirit for revealing the grim truth: "all reality is transformed into a fabulous dream, without there being any life the dream is about, without there being a mind that dreams." Following the same path of reasoning as the dialogue, the Spirit begins by asking Fichte how he knows of external objects. In answering that the knowledge of external object arrives as a result of direct, immediate sense perception, Fichte concedes that he possesses no direct consciousness of outside objects, but only of himself. "In all perception you only perceive yourself," since perception is merely the conscious recognition of observation statements such as 'I see' ... Fichte's Subjective Idealism Essay -- Philosophy Essays Fichte's Subjective Idealism With a dramatic dialectic style, Fichte expounds his subjective idealism which seriously undermines claims of an external world and which ultimately borders on solipsism. Beginning with the question of Free Will, Fichte concludes that there is none before engaging a mysterious Spirit in a philosophical dialogue over the nature of Fichte's knowledge. In the end, Fichte curses the Spirit for revealing the grim truth: "all reality is transformed into a fabulous dream, without there being any life the dream is about, without there being a mind that dreams." Following the same path of reasoning as the dialogue, the Spirit begins by asking Fichte how he knows of external objects. In answering that the knowledge of external object arrives as a result of direct, immediate sense perception, Fichte concedes that he possesses no direct consciousness of outside objects, but only of himself. "In all perception you only perceive yourself," since perception is merely the conscious recognition of observation statements such as 'I see' ...