Abstract

As early as Plato’s Sophist we find the claim that there are two basic forms of doing philosophy: realism and idealism. Taking this reaction to the sophist Protagoras as its point of departure, this article aims to trace the crucial and paradigmatic stages in the further development of this problem. Besides Protagoras and Plato this includes above all Schelling and Fichte, both of whom delved profoundly into the relation of realism and idealism. Fichte’s position is distinguished by a particularly high degree of reflection; for him the relation of realism and idealism takes on the function of justifying philosophy in its consummation. The article closes with a summary, not entirely resigned, arguing that the problem is still unsolved and undecided in the present.