Fichte: Addresses to the German Nation

256 Pages·2009·1.08 MB·English

by  Gregory Moore

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CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY
OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Fichte:AddressestotheGermanNation
This is the first translation of Fichte’s Addresses to the German Nation for
almost100years.Theseriesoffourteenspeeches,deliveredwhilstBerlinwas
underFrenchoccupationafterPrussia’sdisastrousdefeatattheBattleofJena
in1806,iswidelyregardedasafoundingdocumentofGermannationalism,
celebratedandreviledinequalmeasure.Fichte’saccountofthedistinctive-
ness of the German people and his belief in the native superiority of its
culturehelpedtoshapeGermannationalidentitythroughoutthenineteenth
century and beyond. With an extensive introduction that puts Fichte’s
argument in its intellectual and historical context, this edition brings an
importantandseminalworktoamodernreadership.Alloftheusualseries
featuresareprovided,includingnotesforfurtherreadingandachronology.
gregorymooreislecturerinGermanattheUniversityofStAndrews.He
previouslytaughtattheUniversityofWalesAberystwyth,andwasJunior
ResearchfellowatSidneySussexCollege,UniversityofCambridge.Heis
SecretaryoftheFriedrichNietzscheSociety.

CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY
OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
FICHTE
ADDRESSESTOTHEGERMANNATION
CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY
OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Serieseditors
RAYMOND GEUSS, ProfessorofPhilosophy,University
ofCambridge
QUENTIN SKINNER, ProfessoroftheHumanities,Queen
Mary,UniversityofLondon
CambridgeTexts intheHistoryofPolitical Thoughtisnowfirmlyestab-
lishedasthemajorstudenttextbookseriesinpoliticaltheory.Itaimstomake
availabletostudentsallthemostimportanttextsinthehistoryofWestern
politicalthought,fromancientGreecetotheearlytwentiethcentury.Allthe
familiarclassictextswillbeincluded,buttheseriesseeksatthesametimeto
enlargetheconventionalcanonbyincorporatinganextensive rangeofless
well-knownworks,manyofthemneverbeforeavailableinamodernEnglish
edition.Whereverpossible,textsarepublishedinacompleteandunabridged
form,andtranslationsarespeciallycommissionedfortheseries.Eachvolume
contains a critical introduction together with chronologies, biographical
sketches,aguidetofurtherreadingandanynecessaryglossariesandtextual
apparatus. When completed, the series will offer an outline of the entire
evolutionofWesternpoliticalthought.
Foralistoftitlespublishedinthisseries,pleaseseeendofbook.
FICHTE: ADDRESSES TO
THE GERMAN NATION
editedwithanintroductionandnotesby
GREGORY MOORE
UniversityofStAndrews
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521444040
© In the translation and editorial matter Cambridge University Press 2008
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
ISBN-13 978-0-511-46369-3 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-44404-0 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-44873-4 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Contents
Acknowledgements pageix
Introduction xi
Chronology xxxvii
Noteonthetextandtranslation xl
Suggestionsforfurtherreading xliii
Abbreviations xlv
AddressestotheGermanNation 1
Foreword 3
1. Preliminaryremarksandoverview 9
2. Onthenatureoftheneweducationingeneral 22
3. Descriptionoftheneweducation–continued 35
4. TheprincipaldifferencebetweentheGermansandother
peoplesofTeutonicdescent 47
5. Consequencesofthedifferencethathasbeenadvanced 60
6. ExpositionofGermancharacteristicsinhistory 73
7. AyetdeeperunderstandingoftheoriginalityandGermanness
ofapeople 85
8. Whatapeopleisinthehighersenseofthewordandwhatis
loveoffatherland 100
9. Atwhatpointexistinginrealitythenewnationaleducation
oftheGermanswillbegin 115
10. TowardsamoreexactdefinitionoftheGermannational
education 128
11. Onwhomtheexecutionofthisplanofeducationwilldevolve 141
vii
Contents
12. Onthemeansofmaintainingourselvesuntilweachieveour
principalpurpose 154
13. Continuationofthereflectionsalreadybegun 166
14. Conclusionofthewhole 183
Glossary 197
Index 199
viii