The Dignity of Man
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~1,900 words · 9 passages
Cite this work
- APAJohann Fichte. (n.d.). The Dignity of Man. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/johann-fichte/the-dignity-of-man
- MLAJohann Fichte. "The Dignity of Man." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/johann-fichte/the-dignity-of-man.
- ChicagoJohann Fichte. The Dignity of Man. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/johann-fichte/the-dignity-of-man.
What it is about
The Dignity of Man (1794): a short, fervent lecture.
Context and history
In a few pages Fichte says what he takes a human being to be: not a thing among things but an activity that gives itself its own law. It is probably the easiest of his texts to enter by. An old English translation. The catalogue also holds Fichte in German; the original is what should be cited.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
We have completed the survey of the human mind; we have created a foundation, upon which a scientific system, as the correct representation of the original system in man, may be built. In conclusion, let us take a glance at the whole. Philosophy teaches us to look for every thing in knowledge—in the Ego. Only through it is order and harmony brought into the dead, formless matter. From man alone does regularity proceed, and extend around him to the boundary of his perception; and in proportion as he extends this boundary are order and harmony also extended. His observation marks out for each object of the infinite diversity its proper place, so that no one may crowd out the other, and brings unity into this infinite variety. By his observations are the heavenly bodies kept together, and form but one organized body; by it the suns move in their appointed courses. Through reason there arises the immense gradation from the worm to the seraph; in it is hidden the system of the whole spirit-world; and man expects justly that the law, which he gives it and himself, shall be applicable to it; expects justly the future universal acknowledgment of that law. In reason we have the sure guarantee that from it there will proceed, in infinite development, order and harmony, where at present none yet exists; that the culture of the universe will progress simultaneously with the advancing culture of mankind. All that is still unshaped and orderless will, through man, develop into the most beautiful order, and that which is already harmonious will become ever more harmonious, according to laws not yet developed. Man will extend order into the shapeless mass, and a plan into universal chaos; through him will corruption form
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