Zwischen Realität und Utopie. Fichtes Sozialismus

The beginning of the 20th century saw a substantial revival of interest in the philoso- phy of Fichte. This paper concentrates on interpretations given by German readers with a socialist background. Three elements were crucial to their comprehension of Fichte as the “first German socialist”: the universal extension of reason, Fichte’s con- cept of property, and the connection between right and work (the work as right, the right of working). The investigation of the mutual connections between these ele- ments within the framework representing the reception of contemporary German speaking socialists (in particular Marianne Weber, Max Adler, Karl Vorländer, Gertrud Bäumler) also paves the way for a critical evaluation of Fichte’s Socialism with regard to the utopism in his idea of a rational State. At the centre of this discussion stands Fichte’s outline of a State as Closed Commercial State, which was largely considered as the first example of a socialistic State.