Conclusion: Complexity, Unity, Infinity

Abstract

This chapter concludes the volume with some reflections on the prospects and problems for Fichte studies in the years ahead. One enduring source of promise, but also of difficulty, is the complexity of Fichte’s philosophy. This makes the interpretation of his writings particularly challenging, but it also constitutes his work as a rich resource, whose potential is far from exhausted and whose historical impact we have only recently begun to appreciate. Two somewhat more specific challenges are the development of more-unified accounts of the Jena WL in particular, and of the WL as a whole, through and beyond the writings of 1800. To say this is, of course, to presuppose the overall and enduring consistency of at least the essentials of Fichte’s philosophy. But some such working assumption seems justified, not only by the general principle of charity, but also by Fichte’s own firm will to integrity.