Vitalism and System. Jacobi and Fichte on Philosophy and Life

This paper thematizes the crucial agreement and point of departure
between Jacobi and Fichte at the height of the “atheism controversy.”
The argument on the proper relationship between philosophy and existence
or speculation and life had far-reaching consequences in the history of thought
after Jacobi and Fichte in German Idealism on the one hand, primarly advocated
by Schelling and Hegel, and on the other hand by existentialism and
vitalism. The essay focuses first on Jacobi’s philosophy of life, which centrally
influenced and attracted Fichte to Jacobi. Jacobi’s dualism between
speculation, of which he was skeptical, and life, became Fichte’s dualism.
Fichte’s transcendentalism, however, prioritized, contrary to Jacobi, both
speculation and systematicity. Both of these elements became central for
later forms of German Idealism. In the last part of the essay Hegel’s absolute
idealism becomes the platform affording a critical perspective on Fichte’s
transcendental philosophy.