2. Second Lecture: Subjectivity As a Constant Process

In this lecture, we explore how Fichte describes subjectivity as a process of the "I" (or Ego) constantly positing itself from the moment self-consciousness emerges. This positing is not a linear action unfolding in time; rather, it happens all at once and continuously as an ongoing process. Fichte introduces a new way of conceptualizing subjectivity: the "I" does not exist as a finalized or fixed entity. Instead, it is perpetually creating itself by becoming aware of its own existence and its relationship to the "not-I" (the external world or otherness).
In this way, Fichte extends Kant’s ideas by integrating the world into the process of the "I" positing itself. This integration effectively eliminates Kant’s concept of "noumena" (things-in-themselves) since, for Fichte, the external world is no longer an independent, unknowable entity but a necessary part of the self-positing process.


The non-linearity of the process by which Fichte’s "I" posits itself prevents it from becoming dogmatic. Schelling, commenting on Fichte, pointed out the precise ways in which the system could collapse. He states: "The principle of dogmatism is a not-I posited as antecedent to any I" (this would mean setting up the material world as a thing in itself). Similarly, Schelling says, "the principle of criticism [is caused by] an I posited as antecedent to all [that is] not-I and as exclusive of any not-I." (In a similar way, positing a Not-I first would lead to the subject, without any object, being the ultimate supreme principle.) This means the only way to reach a functioning, unconditioned first principle was to meet "halfway."

Schelling adds: "Halfway between the two lies the principle of an I conditioned by a not-I or, what amounts to the same, of a not-I conditioned by an I."

Thus, it is a key factor that "the three acts are only one and the same act" (as Fichte said). Furthermore, the "I," as a self-conscious subject, can emerge as fact/act ("Tat-handlung") only because the process is facilitated and initiated by something unconditional—something that, in itself, is neither an object nor a subject and cannot be turned into either: the "Absolute I." As Schelling also admitted, for this one must "find something that cannot be thought of as a thing at all. /.../ If there is an absolute, it can lie only in the absolute I."

Therefore, Fichte attempts nothing less than a philosophical miracle that also seeks to answer Kant's question, "How are synthetic judgments a priori possible?"

Every self-conscious human being has the potential to posit the Ego and reflect upon the “I” (though not everyone does). Fichte’s absolute self (as the synthesis of positing the Ego and Not-Ego) is, in this sense, a theoretical construct that can be seen as the first principle — something that exists as the basis for everything. We cannot experience it directly (we can only experience the positing of the Ego); however, it explains how we experience and understand ourselves and the world (all within the “I”).

With this, Fichte also "solves" the question of the conceptualization of self-awareness, which remained a "noumenon" in Kant's approach. First, Fichte takes Kant's idea of transcendental apperception (that all experiences must be accompanied by "I think") and relates it to the Ego positing itself, thus making it an "intellectual intuition" accomplished within one's mind.

Additionally, Fichte "cancels" (rather radically) the concept of a "thing in itself" regarding self-consciousness. The sensations caused by "the thing-in-itself" (according to Kant), as "noumena," along with spatial and temporal relations, become the result of the Ego's action of positing the Non-Ego. This step can be argued as unconscious, yet it is performed by the Ego itself (within itself, without reference to any external thing-in-itself).

Thus, we can see a fascinating approach from Fichte in the sense of evolutionary truth. He positions the activity of the Ego as the prominent force behind the creation of consciousness and reality. The "absolute I," as a transcendental concept and synthesis of the process of positing, aligns with the perspective of "S0" and "S1" in the model of Evolutionary Truth. There is no way to "experience" this unity; we can only conceptualize it. The primordial part of the subject can be seen as an active and unconscious force at every stage of positing.

In simplest terms, there was no being of the "I" before the moment of self-consciousness. The "I" became self-conscious when it became aware of itself ("positing" itself). According to Fichte, the "I" is not a finalized creation but a constant process.