Fichte-Studien

Volume 43, 2016

Fichte und seine Zeit

Fichte und seine Zeit: Versuch einer transzendentallogischen Erörterung der „Zeitigung“ nebst näherer Bestimmung eines personalen Zeitbegriffs im Thema

The following paper presents a transcendental concept of time. It is based on Fichte’s theory of the cross-link between subjectivity and objectivity on the one hand and the manifestation of the absolute being in internal and external acts of existence (Existenzialakte) on the other hand. Referring to the theme of the congress, “Fichte and his time”, and by applying the named four principles it is possible to deduce a complex structure of time divided into four dimensions. These dimensions are namely the following: the biographical time, which means the external, yet subjective dimension of time; the contemporary time, which means the external, yet objective dimension of time; the eschatological time, which means the internal, yet objective dimension of time and the ontogenetic time, referring to the internal, yet subjective dimension of time. Understanding “Fichte and his time” cannot be reduced to explaining his thoughts in the light of the ideas of the philosophers of his time, including Kant, Schelling Reinhold etc. Neither is it possible to understand the topic just from the perspective of the contemporary, political and social circumstances Fichte lived in, e. g. the French Revolution. “Fichte and his time” should rather be explained from the context and the interaction between the four dimensions of time. According to Fichte’s own understanding it is mainly the eschatological and the ontogenetic dimensions that enable a true, meaningful and blessed time life (“Zeitleben”).