Fundamental Principle of Fichte’s Philosophy

“The purpose of this monograph is to make a careful study of Fichte’s conception of the ultimate principle. In his various writings the principle appears under many different names. ‘The Ego,’ ‘the Idea of the Ego,’ ‘the moral world-order,’ ‘God,’ ‘the Absolute,’ ‘Being,’ ‘the Light,’ are some of the phrases by which it is most commonly designated.
The references to Fichte’s writings are to the Sammtliche Werke (Berlin, 1845-1846, 8 vols.) and to the Nachgelassene Werke (Bonn, 1834-1835, 3 vols.).” E. B. T. Mount Holyoke College

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Kant and Fichte: The Relation of Human Consciousness to Its Ideal
Dualism of form and content in the Kritik der reinen Vernunft; In the Kritik der praktischen Vernunfi; In the Kritik der Urtheikkraft; Fichte’s conception of the nature of consciousness.

CHAPTER II.
The Works of the First Period: The Idea of the Ego
Idealism and dogmatism; The Ego as unity of subject and object; The three Griindsdtze; The self-limitation of the Ego; Kant and Fichte; The Ego as Idea; The two conceptions of the ideal in the Grundlage; In the Siitenlehre of 1798; Explanation of the contradiction; The disappearance of individuality; The higher and the lower individuality; Altruism and the suppression of individuality; The ideal as a higher form of consciousness

CHAPTER III.
The Works of the Second Period: Being and Existence
Apparent change in the conception of the fundamental principle in the second period; The principle still conceived as activity; Nature of the change in the second period; Relation between consciousness and its ultimate ground in the earlier writings; the later writings; Why the Absolute manifests itself; Freedom as the ground of actuality; The presence of value in the realm of fact; Significance of the distinction between Sein and Dasein; Is Fichte’s ultimate principle the hypostatization of the supreme value?; The absolute value as self-realizing principle; The universal consciousness.