Gotthard Günthers Fichte-Interpretation

The essay reconstructs Gotthard Günther’s interpretation of Fichte’s philosophy. The starting point of this reconstruction are Günther’s investigations into a formal logic of reflection and their approaches in German idealism. Particular attention is given to the volitional aspect of Günther’s logic. According to Günther, Fichte is the first philosopher clearly to see and to explain the duality of reflection posed by Kant as a problem. According to Günther, the second important contribution of Fichte is the insight that thinking in the double reflection is no longer a passive reflection but an action. Despite these two starting points, Fichte does not transcend the framework of classical thought. This is because of his identification of thinking and acting or willing. Their separation is finally accomplished only in Schelling’s late philosophy, in which a change of theme from being to action takes place. This allows the separation of form and content in the double reflection as well. Günther’s introduction of the will into logic is based on the distinction between logical value and ontological location. The latter is, as a floating exchange relation, an indeterminate vacancy which can be occupied by logical values. This assignment is accomplished, which represents Günther’s transference of the Fichtean theory of positing to the theory of trans-classical technique, no longer by thinking, but by way of technical construction.