Document Type : Research

Authors

1 Assistant professor of philosophy, faculty member of Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 PhD student in philosophy, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Department, Iran

10.30465/crtls.2024.50394.2888

Abstract

Fichte's Die Bestimmung des Menschen was published during a pivotal moment in his intellectual life and sparked significant challenges within the philosophical culture of Germany. Shortly before this, Fichte had written a book titled Die Bestimmung des Gelehrten, indicating the historical context of an important literary genre in the late 18th and early 19th century in Germany, characterized by the active participation of prominent philosophers and thinkers. In this article, we first aim to explore this historical context to ascertain the tradition within which Fichte's work was written. Subsequently, we will critically evaluate both the English translations and, specifically, the sole Persian translation of this book from various perspectives, assessing their quality and examining their relationship with the genre of the vocational. Our findings indicate that Fichte's work is directly connected to the tradition through two currents: Popularphilosophie and the atheism debate. Furthermore, it becomes evident that most translations, both in English and Persian, have sacrificed the academic aspect of Fichte's book for its popular appeal. Thus, while they relate to the tradition of the vocational genre without necessarily referencing it explicitly, they do not adequately reflect its academic value.
 
 

Keywords

Main Subjects

Fichte, 1396, Maqsoode Ensaan, trans. By Ali Ferdowsi, Dibayeh Publication, Tehran, Iran[in Persian]
Fichte, 1395, Goftaarhaaei Darbaareye Resaalate Daaneshmand, trans. By Esma’eel Sa’aadat, Farhange Javid Publication, Tehran, Iran [in Persian]
Adler, Hans ( 1994), “Die Bestimmung des Menschen. Spaldings Schrift als Ausgangspunkt einer offenen Anthropologie,” in Das achtzehnte Jahrhundert. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für die Erforschung des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts, 18 ( 2 ): 125–37 .
Beiser , Frederick C. ( 2011), “Mendelssohn Versus Herder on the Human Vocation”, in Moses Mendelsohn’s Metaphysics and Aesthetics, Studies in German Idealism, Reiner Munk (ed.), Berlin : Springer , 235–44 .
Binkelmann , Christoph and Schneidereit , Nele (eds.) ( 2015 ), Denken fürs Volk? Popularphilosophie vor und nach Kant, Würzburg : Konigshausen & Neumann .
Brandt , Reinhard ( 2007 ), Die Bestimmung des Menschen bei Kant, Hamburg : Meiner Verlag .
Breazeale , Daniel ( 2013 ), “The Checkered Reception of Fichte’s Vocation of Man,” in Daniel Breazeale and Tom Rockmore (eds.), Fichte’s Vocation of Man. New Interpretive and Critical Essays, Albany : State University of New York Press , 1–17 .
Giuseppe, D’Alessandro ( 1999 ), “Die Wiederkehr eines Leitworts: ‘Die Bestimmung des Menschen’ als theologische, anthropologische und geschichtsphilosophische Frage der deutschen Spätaufklärung, “ Die Bestimmung des Menschen, Norbert Hinske (ed.), Hamburg: Felix Meiner , 21–47 .
Pascal, David ( 2014 ), “Schicksal/Verhängnis/Bestimmung ,” Dictionary of Untranslatables: A Philosophical Lexicon, Barbara Cassin (ed.), Princeton : Princeton University Press , 931–2 .
Estes, Yolanda and Curtis Bowman (trans.) ( 2010 ), J.G. Fichte and the Atheism Dispute (1798–1800), Burlington : Ashgate .
Fichte (1964), Gesamtausgabe der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, ed. Erich Fuchs, Reinhard Lauth,† and Hans Gliwitzky† (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, ff.)
Fichte, (1846) The Destination of Man, trans. Mrs. Percy Sinnett ,London: John Chapman.
Fichte,( 1848) The Vocation of Man, trans. William Smith (London: John Chapman, 265–554; 2nd., substantially rev. ed. in Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s Popular Works (London:  Trübner, 1873).
Fichte,( 1956) The Vocation of Man, with an introduction by E. Ritchie [LaSalle, IL: Open Court,]); 3rd. rev. ed. in The Popular Works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (London: Trübner, 1889), 319–478 (further rev. and with an introduction by Roderick Chisholm [Indianapolis: Library of Liberal Arts/ Bobbs-Merrill].
Fichte,( 1987) The Vocation of Man, trans. Peter Preuss(Indianapolis: Hackett).
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1996 ), “ Reclamation of the Freedom of Thought from the Princes of Europe, who have hitherto Suppressed it,” in What Is Enlightenment?: Eighteenth-Century Answers and Twentieth-Century Questions, James Schmidt (ed.), Berkeley: University of California Press .
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1965), Sämtliche Werke, first publication, in 6 Volumes, between 1845 to 1846, Berlin
Fuchs, Erich, Marco Ivaldo , Carla de Pascale , and Günter Zöller (eds.) ( 2005), Fichte und die Aufklärung, Hildesheim : Olms .
Gordon, Alexander (1898), Dictionary of National Biography, edited by. Sidney Lee, volume 53, Londen, Elder Smith & co.
Hegel, 1986, Hegel Scheriften, Werke 2, Jenaer Scheriften, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt Am Mein.
Heinz, Marion ( 1992 ), “Die Bestimmung des Menschen: Herder contra Mendelssohn ,” Philosophie der Endlichkeit, Beate Niemeyer and Dirk Schütze (eds.), Würzburg : Königshausen & Neumann , 263–85 .
Hellmuth, Eckhart (2002) Enlightenment and Freedom of the Press: The Debate in the Berlin Mittwochsgesellschaft, 1783–1784, History 83(271):420 - 444
Hinske, Norbert ( 1999 ), “ Introduction ,” in Die Bestimmung des Menschen, Hamburg: Meiner , 3–6 .
Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich ( 1789 ), Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn, Breslau : Löwe .
Jannidis , Fotis ( 2002 ), “ Die Bestimmung des Menschen: Kultursemiotische Beschreibung einer sprachlichen Formel ,” Aufklärung, 14 : 75–95 .
Jurewicz, Grazyna (2018) Moses Mendelssohn über die Bestimmung des Menschen: eine deutsch-jüdische Begriffsgeschichte, Hannover: Wehrhahn.
Lorenz , Stefan ( 1994 ), “ Skeptizismus und natürliche Religion. Thomas Abbt und Moses Mendelssohn in ihrer Debatte über Johann Joachim Spaldings Bestimmung des Menschen,” Moses Mendelssohn und die Kreise seiner Wirksamkeit, Wolfenbütteler Studien zur Aufklärung, vol. 19 , Michael Albrecht , Eva J. Engel , and Norbert Hinske (eds.), Tübingen : Max Niemeyer , 113–34 .
Michael Printy , “The Determination of Man: Johann Joachim Spalding and the Protestant Enlightenment” , Journal of the History of Ideas, Volume 74, Number 2, April 2013, pp. 189-212 (Article) Published by University of Pennsylvania Press.
Raatz, Georg ( 2014 ), Aufklärung als Selbstdeutung: Eine genetisch-systematische Rekonstruktion von Johann Joachim Spaldings ‘Bestimmung des Menschen’ (1748),” Tübingen : Mohr Siebeck .
Spalding, Johann Joachim ( 1776 ), Die Bestimmung des Menschen, 9th edition, Schaffhausen : Altdorfer .