‎FICHTE, JOHANN GOTTLIEB.‎
‎Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenbarung. - [FICHTE'S FIRST MAJOR PUBLICATION]‎

‎Köningsberg, Hartung, 1792. 8vo. In contemporary cardboard binding. With traces of old paper title-label to spine. With stamp to front free end-paper and title-page. Author and previous owner's name on contemporary hand to title-page. Light wear to extremities and stain to f. B, otherwise a nice and clean copy. (2), 182 pp.‎

Reference : 61977

‎Rare first edition of Fichte’s first major publication in which he an attempted to apply Immanuel Kant’s critical philosophy - particularly from the Critique of Pure Reason and Critique of Practical Reason - to the concept of revelation (Offenbarung) When Fichte submitted his Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenbarung (“An Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation”) to Kant, the latter was favourably impressed by it and helped find a publisher. Fichte’s name and preface were accidentally omitted from the first edition and the work was ascribed by its earliest readers to Kant himself. When Kant corrected the mistake while commending the essay, Fichte’s reputation was made. ”In the Versuch, Fichte sought to explain the conditions under which revealed religion is possible" his exposition turns upon the absolute requirements of the moral law. Religion itself is the belief in this moral law as divine, and such belief is a practical postulate, necessary in order to add force to the law. The revelation of this divine character of morality is possible only to someone in whom the lower impulses have been, or are, successful in overcoming reverence for the law. In such a case it is conceivable that a revelation might be given in order to add strength to the moral law. Religion ultimately then rests upon the practical reason and satisfies the needs of man, insofar as he stands under the moral law. In this conclusion are evident the prominence assigned by Fichte to the practical element and the tendency to make the moral requirements of the ego the ground for all judgment on reality.” (Encyclipedia Britannica). ""In the history of philosophy, Fichte's thought marks a crucial transitional stage between Kant and post-Kantian philosophy. Fichte radicalized Kant's thought by arguing that human freedom, not external reality, must be the starting point of all systematic philosophy, and in Foundations of Natural Right, thought by many to be his most important work of political philosophy, he applies his ideas to fundamental issues in political and legal philosophy, covering such topics as civic freedom, rights, private property, contracts, family relations, and the foundations of modern political organization."" (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) ‎