The following work contains, within a brief compass, a popular but systematic exposition of Fichte’s Philosophy; and as such will not, it is hoped, be unacceptable to the English Student. It was written at Berlin in 1799, after his retirement from the University of Jena, and at the commencement of that period of profound study which afterwards resulted in the complete elaboration of his theory of the Absolute. In the present work we discover the first traces of those deeply religious tendencies which his mind acquired during that period, and which are more fully developed in his subsequent writings.
A version of the book was published in England a few years ago under the title of “The Destination of Man.” The anxious wish of the translator that a full and accurate edition of these writings should be placed in the hands of the English reader, must be his apology for what may appear, to those unacquainted with the original, an unnecessary or even invidious undertaking.
- Edinburgh, August 1848.
