Foundations of Natural Right

by J. G. Fichte , Edited by Frederick Neuhouser , Translated by Michael Baur

• ISBN13: 9780521575911
• ISBN10: 0521575915
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-18
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In the history of philosophy, Fichte’s thought marks a crucial transitional stage between Kant and post-Kantian philosophy. Fichte radicalized Kant’s thought by arguing that human freedom, not external reality, must be the starting point of all systematic philosophy, and in Foundations of Natural Right, thought by many to be his most important work of political philosophy, he applies his ideas to fundamental issues in political and legal philosophy, covering such topics as civic freedom, rights, private property, contracts, family relations, and the foundations of modern political organization. This volume offers a complete translation of the work into English, by Michael Baur, together with an introduction by Frederick Neuhouser that sets it in its philosophical and historical context.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Chronology	xxix
Further reading	xxxi
Translator's note	xxxiv
Foundations of Natural Right, according to the Principles of the Wissenschaftslehre	1	(164)
Introduction	3	(15)
First main division: deduction of the concept of right	18	(35)
Second main division: deduction of the applicability of the concept of right	53	(32)
Third main division: systematic application of the concept of right: or the doctrine of right	85	(80)
First chapter of the doctrine of right: deduction of original right	101	(22)
Second chapter of the doctrine of right; on the right of coercion	123	(10)
Third chapter of the doctrine of right: on political right, or right within a commonwealth	133	(32)
Part II, or applied natural right	165	(99)
First section of the doctrine of political right: concerning the civil contract	165	(18)
Second section of the doctrine of political right: on civil legislation	183	(66)
Third section of the doctrine of political right: on the constitution	249	(15)
Outline of family right (first appendix to the doctrine of natural right)	264	(56)
Outline of the right of nations and cosmopolitan right (second appendix to the doctrine of natural right)	320	(15)
Index	335