F.H. Jacobi
modernGerman Idealism / Counter-Enlightenment1743 – 1819
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi was a German philosopher and key figure in the Counter-Enlightenment who critiqued rationalist metaphysics and argued that reason alone leads to nihilism and fatalism. He is best known for initiating the Pantheism Controversy (Pantheismusstreit) with Moses Mendelssohn over Lessing's alleged Spinozism, and for defending faith (Glaube) as the immediate foundation of knowledge of God, freedom, and the external world.
Notable Achievements
1
Initiated the Pantheism Controversy (Pantheismusstreit) of 1785
2
Coined the philosophical use of 'nihilism' to critique rationalist systems
3
Developed a philosophy of faith (Glaubensphilosophie) against Enlightenment rationalism
4
Critiqued Kant's thing-in-itself in his influential 'Jacobi's dilemma'
5
Defended immediate, non-inferential knowledge of God and the external world