This essay focuses on a review of Johann G. Fichte’s The Destination of Man, published by Friedrich D.E. Schleiermacher in the journal Athenæum in 1800. The author places the book within the context of the debates on the critical function of reviewing that took place between the Schlegel brothers and the Enlightenment writers of the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung. Schleiermacher’s Notiz can indeed be seen as a genuine attempt at a mise en abîme: a review of the value of reviewing. Distancing himself from Fichte’s rationalistic approach, and in line with Heinrich Jacobi’s philosophy of religion, Schleiermacher rejects the universal concept of destination in favour of a morality based on the principle of existence (as openness and contact with the infinite). However, unlike the Schlegel brothers, he does not settle for a solipsistic and aestheticizing conception of man. Instead, he presents a theory that focuses on the progressive social formation of the original essence of the individual. The critical act of reviewing is a means of establishing formative relationships (bildende Beziehungen) with others.
University of Verona, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-4857-7717
Chapter Title
“A Related yet Foreign Element”. Schleiermacher Reviews Fichte’s The Destination of Man
Authors
Davide Bondì
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0573-3.06
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Philosophical Reviews in German Territories (1668-1799)
Book Subtitle
Volume 1
Editors
Marco Sgarbi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
162
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0573-3
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0572-6
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0573-3
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-0574-0
Series Title
Knowledge and its Histories