The Jena Wissenschaftslehre as an Answer to Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment

This article demonstrates that the systematic progress in the elaboration of the Wissenschaftslehre during Fichte’s Jena period results from a continuous confrontation with Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment, which Fichte first read and reviewed in Leipzig. Fichte deems insufficient Kant’s proposed solution to bridge the “uncalculable” (unübersehbare Kluft) between theoretical and practical philosophy, a gap that jeopardizes philosophy as science. Only the theory of sollicitation (Aufforderungstheorie), first developed in the Foundations of Natural Right and later placed at the core of the New Presentation of the Wissenschaftslehre, allows for overcoming the unfinished nature of Kantian critique, refuting the accusation of solipsism raised by Jacobi, and safeguarding the unity of philosophy.