Abstract

The author argues for the significance of the critique of Rousseau found in Fichte’s early series of lectures on the vocation of the scholar by showing how his presentation of his foundational philosophical science, the Wissenschaftslehre, was in large part shaped by the wish to meet certain challenges posed by Rousseau’s Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts. These challenges concern Rousseau’s claim that the sciences have their source in pride and his claim that they are incompatible with virtue. Fichte’s portrayal of the dispute between idealism and dogmatism and his claim that the Wissenschaftslehre presupposes the existence of a kind of virtue represent responses to these particular challenges. The author also explores the implications of Fichte’s attempt to meet these challenges for his account of the “republic of scholars.”