Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) was a German philosopher and founder of German idealism, born at Rammenau. The son of a ribbon weaver, he studied theology and immersed himself in Kant's writings.

He visited Kant at Königsberg in 1791 and won fame with Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation (1792), first mistaken for Kant's own work. He took a chair at Jena in 1794, but was dismissed over atheism in 1799 and moved to Berlin.

In occupied Berlin he delivered the Addresses to the German Nation (1807–1808), and in 1810 became the first rector of Berlin's new university. He died in 1814.