On the Inside Looking Out: Fichte, the University, and the Psychopolitics of German Idealism

Fichte’s nationalism and reactionary thinking often are seen as representative of a regressive turn in German Idealism and Romanticism. This essay argues, however, that an alternate trajectory for German Idealism is found in the psychological aspects of Fichte’s writing. Precisely when Idealism turns “inward,” following the injunction to “get to know yourself,” as Fichte puts it, a more progressive and tolerant possibility for state institutions, a flexible reign of reason, and a political philosophy that is outward-oriented without being imperialist emerges. The essay uses Fichte’s writing on the French Revolution and other texts, as well as the founding of today’s Humboldt University to discuss an unrealized potential within German Idealism that some of Fichte’s own psychologically inflected philosophy helped create.