George J. SeidelCorresponding author

The Imagination in Kant and Fichte, and Some Reflections on Heidegger’s Interpretation

Article
21/2 - Fall 2016, pages 215-225
Date of online publication: 31 July 2017
Date of publication: 30 December 2016

Abstract

The paper deals with the meaning of the transcendental imagination in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, comparing it with that of the productive imagination proposed by Fichte in his Wissenschaftslehre of 1794.  It also presents Heidegger’s views concerning both Kant and Fichte.  Regarding Kant there is also a discussion of the difference between the first and second editions of the First Critique.  It may be noted that Heidegger prefers the first edition to the second, since, in his view, the latter leads into German Idealism. The imagination in Fichte plays a considerably larger role in Fichte’s philosophy than it does in Kant.  And Heidegger early on (in 1929) recognizes the importance of Fichte as a philosopher in its own rite, and not just, customary in the period, as a mere transitional figure between Kant and Hegel.  The paper concludes with a critique of Heidegger’s views regarding both Fichte and Kant. Though there is an addendum discussing the function of the imagination in the aesthetics of Kant (classicism) and in that of Fichte (romanticism), and a brief comparison with Heidegger’s own aesthetics.

Cite this article

Seidel, George J. “The Imagination in Kant and Fichte, and Some Reflections on Heidegger’s Interpretation.” Forum Philosophicum 21, no. 2 (2016): 215–25. doi:10.35765/forphil.2016.2102.12.