Fichte's Theory of Subjectivity (review)

146 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 31 : ~ JANUARY 1993 harmonic whole, and a shift from viewing oneself as a detached knower to a dynamic living entity for whom knowledge of nature is only one aspect of its vital existence. The third part, finally, draws out more explicitly hermeneutic aspects in Kant's work, turning first to the notion of an "aesthetic normal idea" as another place where the linear, serial, almost mechanistic model of the first Cr/t/que is displaced in favor of a more dynamic interaction among the cognitive faculties oriented by a part/whole relationship in nature. Moreover, with aesthetic ideas the presentation of the suprasensible becomes possible so that a mediation between the practical and theoretical realms is achieved~again through the offices of imagination as the faculty capable of transcending what is directly given in experience. Makkreel stresses the harmony among the cognitive faculties as the positive contribution of the reflective interpretation of reality. Moreover, it is the imagination that extends the possibility of communication beyond the limits of discursive concepts of the understanding, and also makes possible the kinds of speculative histories that employ and further moral ideas as expressions of the purposiveness of human life. Kant's mature work, according to Makkreel's reading, provides not only the foundation for the natural sciences in which reflective judgment serves a regulatory function, but also determines reflective interpretation in such a way that it can also be seen as constitutive for the human sciences, which are oriented by questions of the meaning and significance of human life as a whole. This study is a significant contribution to the scholarly literature on Kant. It is not meant to replace the detailed studies of the first two Critiques,but complements such work in an important way by providing a better outline of Kant's general views of nature and human life than approaches directed strictly to the more famous Critiques usually convey. Given the range of topics the author addresses, some sections, particularly the discussion of the role of the imagination in the CritiqueofPure Reason, cannot provide all of the detailed analysis and careful argumentation that some readers will expect to substantiate the general claims made there. And the discussion of Heidegger strikes me as neither necessary here nor helpful in understanding what Heidegger was attempting in his Kant book. But these are small points compared to the overall importance of the way that Makkreers study demonstrates a unity in the two parts of the CritiqueofJudgment and in Kant's work as a whole, which the specialized literature on Kant often overlooks. TOM NENON MemphisState University Frederick Neuhouser. Fichte'sTheoryofSubjectivity. Modern European Philosophy. New York: Cambridge University Press, a99o. Pp. x + 18o. Cloth, $39.5 o. Paper, $12.95. Neuhouser's study is a useful contribution to the growing English-language literature on the work of the "secondary" figures in the tradition of classical German philosophy. Like other recent authors, Neuhouser goes well beyond the elementary expositions that were' typical twenty years ago. BOOK REVIEWS 147 Neuhouser's topic is Fichte's theory of subjectivity, his "search for a principle that defines what it is to be a subject," the elucidation of which will enable us "to understand how the various capacities we ascribe to subjects can be viewed as grounded in, and made possible by, the unique set of properties that are said to constitute the subject's essential nature" (~). According to Neuhouser, this aim leads Fichte "to articulate the single fundamental structure, or 'activity', that underlies and informs all of consciousness" (167)As Neuhouser correctly notes, the merit of this inquiry with respect to Fichte's philosophy is that it leads us to many of the broadest themes that concerned Fichte, such as the nature of reason, the unity of its theoretical and practical aspects, and the possibility of moral freedom in the Kantian sense. While noting these topics and outlining some of the issues involved in them, Neuhouser concentrates his attention on Fichte's account of subjecthood, or the "structure" of consciousness. As is true of most discussions of Fichte's work, Neuhouser limits himself to the texts from the 179os, primarily the...