Fichte's Metaphilosophy

The article explores different ways in which the term ‘metaphilosophy’ or ‘philosophy of philosophy’ can be applied in the context of Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre. It is argued that despite the terminological differences partially caused by Fichte’s renaming of philosophy and the unclear meaning of ‘metaphilosophy,’ several options are available. The article suggests considering metaphilosophy as one of the many ‘meta-constructions’—such as the thinking of thinking, philosophizing about the philosophizing, and the metaphysics of metaphysics—that can be found throughout the history of philosophy and in Fichte’s thought. They follow the figure of self-application, which is compatible with historical and contemporary translations of ‘meta’ as after, beyond, and about. The available options are the Wissenschaftslehre of philosophy, understood as the revision of philosophy and thematization of deficient or incomplete conceptions of philosophy from the standpoint of the Wissenschaftslehre; the Wissenschaftslehre of the Wissenschaftslehre as the propaedeutic self-reflection, successive reformulation, and picture that emerges with the completion of the system; and philosophy of the Wissenschaftslehre. The latter, the external view of Wissenschaftslehre as one philosophy among others, is almost not present in Fichte. However, it connects Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre with contemporary metaphilosophy, as demonstrated by Rescher’s topics, benefiting both Fichte scholars and contemporary metaphilosophers.