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Full Idea
We must be rid of the thing-in-itself; for whatever we may think, we are that which thinks therein, and hence nothing could ever come to exist independently of us, for everything is necessarily related to our thinking.
Gist of Idea
Abandon the thing-in-itself; things only exist in relation to our thinking
Source
Johann Fichte (works [1798], I:501), quoted by A.W. Moore - The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics 06.3
Book Ref
Moore,A.W.: 'The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics' [CUP 2013], p.154
A Reaction
Some statements of idealism are understandable, or even quite plausible, but this one sounds ridiculous. The idea that if human beings die out then reality ceases to exist is absurd humanistic vanity.
Related Idea
Idea 21973 Fichte believed in things-in-themselves [Fichte, by Moore,AW]
| 6912 | For Fichte there is no God outside the ego, and 'our religion is reason' [Fichte, by Feuerbach] |
| 21973 | Fichte believed in things-in-themselves [Fichte, by Moore,AW] |
| 20951 | The absolute I divides into consciousness, and a world which is not-I [Fichte, by Bowie] |
| 21914 | We can deduce experience from self-consciousness, without the thing-in-itself [Fichte] |
| 21964 | Reason arises from freedom, so philosophy starts from the self, and not from the laws of nature [Fichte] |
| 21968 | Abandon the thing-in-itself; things only exist in relation to our thinking [Fichte] |
| 21970 | Philosophy attains its goal if one person feels perfect accord between their system and experience [Fichte] |
| 21965 | Spinoza could not actually believe his determinism, because living requires free will [Fichte] |