Abstract

In 1817 a discussion between the mineralogist Ch.S. Weiß and the classical philologist A. Böckh took place at the newly founded University of Berlin: Weiß accused I.H. Fichte, son of the philosopher J.G. Fichte, of submitting a manuscript of his deceased father to the university as dissertation. Böckh took sides with Fichte-junior, refuting Weiß’ accusation in a procedure of taking evidence related to the form and content of the manuscript. In this paper I compare the dissertation with the philosophy of J.G. Fichte. Firstly, the methodological procedure used in the dissertation is different to that in Fichte-senior’s philosophy, proving amongst others that the manuscript wasn’t written by him. Secondly, in this comparison a change in the history of university philosophy comes to light exemplarily that is still taking effect today. Philosophy changed from a system science to a research science, in which the history of philosophy gained a new meaning for philosophising itself.