Abstract: In the Encyclopedia, Hegel lauds Fichte for advancing philosophy toward a systematic science. By deducing a priori forms from thought itself, Fichte provides a systematic answer to the question quid facti. He thereby enables philosophy to become a logic whose formal content is not factical or brutely imposed on thought, but arises sui generis from it. However, a decade prior, in the Difference essay and “Faith and Knowledge”, Hegel charges the Wissenschaftslehre with subjectivism. In what does this early charge consist? How can we reconcile it with Hegel’s later praise of Fichte? I argue that Hegel’s charge of subjectivism against Fichte is a charge of vestigial facticity, of residual bruteness in a system meant to eliminate bruteness from philosophy. For Fichte, philosophy’s first principle is the absolute freedom of reason or the I. The I is self-determining such that a priori forms are not factically imposed on but rather generated by it. While this demands presuppositionlessness, Hegel criticizes Fichte for presupposing not only the I, but also its opposition to the not-I. The facticity of this opposition undermines the necessity of Fichte’s deduction of a priori forms, which betrays the spirit of the Wissenschaftslehre. Thus, I show that Hegel charges Fichte’s system with subjectivism, not because it fails to be objective, but because it fails by its own lights to be scientific. The system’s vestigial facticity compels Hegel to perfect Fichte’s science by adopting a dialectical method that presupposes neither a priori forms nor a first principle nor, indeed, any opposition whatsoever. In this way, Hegel aims to redeem the spirit of the Wissenschaftslehre and bring the post-Kantian answer to the question quid facti to a close.
Note: This paper will be pre-circulated and should be read in advance of the session. If you are interested in attending the seminar, please email jack.wearing@philosophy.ox.ac.uk for a copy of the paper.
Post-Kantian European Philosophy Seminar Convenors: Jack Wearing, Joseph Schear, Manuel Dries, Kate Kirkpatrick and Mark Wrathall
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