Abstract
The main claim in this essay is that there is another vital but overlooked religious meaning and tradition of Tathandlung with which the idealistic philosopher J.G. Fichte engages, in addition to the legalistic tradition of Tathandlung that so far has been the sole tradition noted in Fichte scholarship. Crucially, it is precisely this other neglected religious tradition that especially becomes philosophically transformed by Fichte in his central work of the Jena period, the Foundation of the Entire Wissenschaftslehre (Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre) (1794/95).
The key elements of this essay on the historical origins of J.G. Fichte’s concept and philosophical use of the term “Tathandlung” were first presented in a talk on 28 April 2018 at an international Fichte conference at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Leuven, Belgium. And then again in a talk on 5 October 2018, at Aix-Marseille Université, France, at the 10th Congress of the International Johann Gottlieb Fichte Society (X. Kongress der Internationalen Johann-Gottlieb-Fichte Gesellschaft).