Abstract

This dissertation is a discussion of Jean Paul's opposition to German idealism. Jean Paul's place in the literary pantheon is secure, but his contribution to the issues that stand at the center of German idealism has never been adequately recognized. The thesis of the dissertation is twofold: Jean Paul's critique of Fichte's idealism is highly precise, and on the basis of it he succeeds in providing an alternative to idealistic philosophy in general. ;With his Wissenschaftslehre Fichte undertook to provide a reflexive, monistic, transcendental theory which has its highest point in a self-validating absolute principle. After interpreting Fichte's theory in Chapter One, in Chapter Two the dissertation shows that Jean Paul's critique of Fichte as stated in his Clavis Fichtiana Seu Leibgeberiana, in spite of its "humoristic" and, in traditional terms, decidedly non-philosophical style, demonstrates conclusively that Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre fails. It is a particular merit of Jean Paul's critique that its standards are those of the Wissenschaftslehre itself. The attack is thus fatal for Fichte's theory. ;Chapter Three raises the question whether Jean Paul is able to offer an alternative to idealism in general. It is argued that the issue at stake is the problem of a concrete absolute, a problem the dissertation sees as being of equal interest to both Jean Paul and his idealistic opponents. From a Jean Paulian perspective, idealism is in principle unable to successfully account for an absolute. Any idealistic absolute whatsoever is always a transcendental entity which as such is a function or product of the understanding and thus finite. Jean Paul's absolute, by contrast, is a transcendent entity, God. As such Jean Paul's absolute escapes finitude. But now the problem is how, after having disposed of the understanding, the transcendent absolute can be rendered concrete. It is shown that Jean Paul attempts to solve this problem by arguing that we can have access to the realm of the transcendent via phantasy and that this yields the required concreteness. As is indicated in an Epilogue, by providing a concrete absolute Jean Paul's philosophy can be seen as an alternative to the Hegelian position