Idealism Vs Transcendentalism

Late nineteenth and early twentieth century German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte argued that the human conscious is grounded within itself. To him, the conscious is only aware of what it processes. Everything outside of this realm of awareness is not considered to be real. As a result, only that which the human mind perceives to be real is what in actuality, exists. Fichte believes “All that appears in our philosophy is a description and presentation of real thinking (Fichte: Early Philosophical Writings 434). Real thinking is imbedded within a person’s consciousness, making philosophy rooted within the world of the mind. This concept that Fichte introduced was different from previous common philosophical views of the time because it specified the soul existence of the
Transcendental idealism is the idea that objects in space and time are not grounded within themselves. Rather, an outer source must provide solidarity and meaning for the objects. The two realms that Kant introduced, one dependent on human sense and the other that is not, are able to help create definition and clarity for these objects. Fichte did not entirely agree with the definition of transcendental idealism introduced by Kant. Instead, Fichte believed that there was only one realm with the capacity to create meaning – the realm perceived by the human senses. His departure from Kant’s ideas created a new branch of transcendental idealism known as subjective or empirical idealism. According to this view, only the mind and the content it contains exists. Consequently, the existence of the consciousness as the sole basis of reality eliminates the need for an outer world not dependent on the human senses. Fichte believed that reality can only be known though human senses, making the second world that Kant introduced, the one independent of the senses, null and