136 F I C H T E compelled to obtain leave to reside out of Jena. The third storm, however, was the most violent. In 1798 Fichte, who, with Niethammer, had edited the Philosophical Journal since 1795, received from his friend Forberg an essay on the " Development of the Idea of Religion." With much of the essay he entirely agreed, but he thought the exposition in so many ways defective and calculated to create an erroneous impression, that he prefaced it with a short paper On the Grounds of our Belief in a Divine Government of the Universe, in which God is defined as the moral order of the universe, the eternal law of right which is the foundation of all our being. Any other mode of existence must be denied to him. Against these papers the cry of atheism was raised, and the electoral Government of Saxony suppressed the Journal and confiscated the copies found in their universities, acts imitated by all the German states except Prussia. The duke of Saxe-Weimar, patron of Jena university, was almost ordered to reprove and dismiss the offenders. Fichte s defences (Appellation an das Publicum gegen die Anklage des Atheismus, and Gerichtliche Verantivortung der Herausgeber der phil. Zeitschrift (1799), though masterly, did not make the matter easier for the court of Saxe-Weimar, who strongly wished to let the affair pass quietly, and an unfortunate letter, in which he threatened to resign in case of reprimand, turned the scale altogether against him. The court arbitrarily accepted his threat as a request to resign, passed censure, and extended to him permission to withdraw from his chair at Jena ; nor would they alter their decision, even though Fichte himself endeavoured to explain away the unfortunate letter. Berlin was now the only town in Germany open to him. His residence there from 1799 to 1806 was only broken by the delivery of lectures during the summer of 1805 at Erlangen, where he had been named professor. Surrounded by friends, including such men as Schlegel and Schleier- macher, he continued his literary work, perfecting and amending the Wissenschaftslehre. The most remarkable of the works from this period are (1) the Bestimmung des Menschen (Vocation of Man, 1800), a book which, for beauty of style, richness of content, and elevation of thought, may be ranked with the Meditations of Descartes ; (2) Der geschlossene Handelsstaat, 1800 (The Exclusive or Isolated Commercial State), a very remarkable treatise, intensely socialist in tone, and bitterly opposed to free-trade and competition, inculcating in fact organized protectioa ; (3) Sonnenklarer Bericht an das grossere Publicum ilber die neueste Pkilosop/iie, 1801. In 1801 was also written the Darstellung der Wissenschaftslehre, which was not published till after his death. In 1 804 a set of lectures on the Wissen schaftslehre was given at Berlin, the notes of which were pub lished in the Nachgelassene Werke, vol. ii. In 1 804 were also delivered the noble lectures on the Characteristics of the Present Jye(Grundziige der gegenwa rtigen Zeitalters, 1804), containing a most admirable analysis of the Aufklarung, tracing the position such a movement of thought holds in the natural evolution of the general human consciousness, point ing out its inherent defects, and indicating as the ultimate goal of progress the life of reason in its highest aspect as a belief in the divine order of the universe. The philosophy of history sketched in this work has something of value with much that is fantastic and absurd. In 1805 and 1806 ap peared the Nature of the Scholar (Wesen des Gelehrten) and the Way to a Blessed Life (Anweisung zum seligen Leben oder Religionslehre), the latter the most important work of this Berlin period. In it the union between the finite self- consciousness and the infinite ego or God is handled in an almost mystical manner. The knowledge and love of God is the end of life ; by this means only can we attain blessedness (Seligkeit), for in God alone have we a perma nent, enduring object of desire. The infinite God is the all ; the world of independent objects is the result of re flection or self-consciousness, by which the infinite unity is broken up. God is thus over and above the distinction of subject and object ; our knowledge is but a reflex or picture of the infinite essence. Being is not thought. The disasters of Prussia in 1806 drove Fichte from Berlin. He retired first to Stargard, then to Konigsberg (where he lectured for a time), then to Copenhagen, whence he returned to the capital in August 1807. From this time till his death his only published writings are practical iu character ; not till after the appearance of the Nachge- lassene Werke was it known in what shape his final specula tions had been thrown out. We may here note the order of these posthumous writings as being of importance for tracing the development of Fichte s thought. From the year 1806 we have the remarkable Bericht iiber die Wissen schaftslehre ( Werke, vol. viii.) with its sharp critique of Schel- ling; from 1810 we have the Thatsachen des Bewusstseyns, published in 1817, of which another treatment is given in lectures of 1813 (Nachgel. Werke, vol i.). Of the Wissen schaftslehre we have, in 1812-13, four separate treatments contained in the Nachgel. Werke. As these consist mainly of notes for lectures, couched in uncouth phraseology, they cannot be held to throw much light on Fichte s views. Perhaps the most interesting are the lectures of 1812 on Transcendental Logic (Nach. Werke, i. 106-400). From 1812 we have notes of two courses on practical philosophy, Rechtslehre (Nach. Werke, vol ii.) and Sittenlehre (Ib., vol. iii.), A finished work in the same department is the Staatslehre, published in 1820. This gives the Fichteau Utopia or state organized on principles of pure reason ; iu too many cases the proposals are identical with principles of pure despotism. During these later years, however, Fichte s energies were mainly occupied with public affairs. In 1807 he drew up an elaborate and minute plan for the proposed new uni versity of Berlin. In 1807-1808 he delivered at Berlin, amidst danger and discouragement, his noble addresses to the German people (Reden an die Deutsche Nation]. Even if we think that in these pure reason is sometimes over shadowed by patriotism, we cannot but recognize the im mense practical value of what he recommended as the only true foundation for national prosperity. In 1810 he was elected rector of the new university founded in the previous year. This post he resigned in 1812, mainly on account of the difficulties he experienced in his endeavour to alter and amend the student life of the university. In 1813 began the great effort of Germany for national independence. Debarred from taking an active part, Ficbte made his contribution by way of lectures. The addresses on the idea of a true war (Ueber dtn Begriff einer wahrhaftcn Kriegs, forming part of the Staatslehre) contain a very subtle and admirable contrast between the positions of France and Germany in the war. In the autumn of 1813 the hospitals of Berlin were filled with sick and wounded from the campaign. Among the most devoted in her exertions was P ichte s wife, who, in January 1814, was attacked with a virulent hospital fever. On the day after she was pronounced out of danger Fichte was struck down by the same disease. His constitution, weakened by severe illness in 1808, was unable to withstand the attack He lingered for some days in an almost un conscious state, and died on the 27th January 1814. The philosophy of Fichte, worked out in a series of writings, and falling chronologically into two distinct periods, that of Jena and that of Berlin, seemed in the course of its development to undergo a change so fundamental that many critics have sharply separated and opposed to one another an earlier and a later phase. The ground of tha modification, further, has been sought and
