Clerdon´s Comeback

This paper proposes a reading of Fichte’s Outline of What is Distinctive of the Wissenschaftslehre with regard to the Theoretical Power as a response to Jacobi’s philosophy of belief, particularly as presented in his novel Edward Allwill’s Papers. Fichte’s Outline can be read as a fictional continuation of a scene in Jacobi’s novel, taking the part of the idealist Clerdon to show that the natural realism of the main character Allwill can be explained in terms of his systematic deduction of theoretical cognition, where he shows that sensation is impossible without the involvement of practical reason. The paper shows how the Outline anticipates a response to Jacobi’s letter of 1799, in which he accuses Fichte of constructivism. Fichte shows not only how theoretical knowledge has the negative function of mobilising practical reason but also how the practical exercise of freedom is the completion of theoretical knowledge.