Philosophy · Literature · 1762–1814
Born: 19 May 1762 · Died: 29 January 1814 · Age at death: 51
Johann Gottlieb Fichte died aged 51. He was born on 19 May 1762 and died on 29 January 1814.
German philosopher of the Science of Knowledge whose Addresses to the German Nation helped inspire German nationalism
Did you know?He grew up in such poverty that he only received an education after a nobleman heard him recite a sermon from memory.
Johann Gottlieb Fichte was one of the founders of German idealism. He was born into a poor family of ribbon weavers in Saxony. A local nobleman, impressed when the boy repeated a sermon from memory, paid for his schooling. His first book was published anonymously and was mistaken for a work by Kant, making him famous overnight. He taught that the self shapes the world it experiences. His Addresses to the German Nation, given in French-occupied Berlin, stirred German nationalism. He became the first elected rector of the University of Berlin.
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher, and a founding figure of German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant.
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Profile
German philosopher, 1762–1814
Johann Gottlieb Fichte was born in Rammenau on 19 May 1762.
He taught at Jena from 1794.
He gave his Addresses to the German Nation in 1808.
He died in Berlin on 29 January 1814.
Career highlights
Did you know?His first book was mistaken for a work by Kant.
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