"I have somewhere found it recorded that as Johann Gottlieb Fichte progressed with his first reading of Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason," he was moved to tears. To those who have labored through the tortured pages of the great German thinker this would be no matter for surprise, were it not for the quality of the tears: not those of vexation and baffled understanding, indeed, but of enthusiasm and sheer gratitude. For Fichte had fallen into the melancholy persuasion of Spinoza. At least, certain views of this austere thinker of the seventeenth century appeared to Fichte as no less gloomy in their implication than irresistible in the logic which led to them. Irresistible were the reasons which had driven Spinoza to look upon nature as governed by inexorable Fate. In the world as a whole there was no purpose, in its parts there was no freedom."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Philosophers from the United StatesUniversity of Pennsylvania alumniUniversity of Pennsylvania faculty
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 63: Chapter 3. A disciple of Spinoza, an illustration
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_A._Singer%2C_Jr.
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Edgar A. Singer, Jr.
Edgar Arthur Singer, Jr. (November 13, 1873 – April 4, 1954) was an American philosopher, Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and proponent of .
13 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Edgar A. Singer, Jr. →
Related Quotes
"Art is (1) a messenger of discontent, yet (2) no teacher of new ideals, but rather (3) an inspiration to each it touc…"
"All the categories of life and mind are to my understanding of them teleological."
"The straightest way to the heart of old matters is an old letter."
""All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare." These words which bring to a close Spinoza's masterpiece Et…"
"Looking back over the years that have lapsed since this was written, I cannot say that James's prophecy as to the fut…"
"I have tried to show pragmatism as a moment in the swing of thought from realism to idealism, and how for it the most…"
"We may not feel as confident as once we did that the way to truth lies all open before us the moment we have brought …"
"It is seldom given to philosophers to enter into one another's enthusiasms, but they are sometimes allowed to share a…"
""The serious meaning of a concept," writes James, following Peirce, "lies in the concrete difference to some one whic…"
"Singer's historical study focused on how we know; how we learn facts and laws and the relationship between these. He …"