more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 23229

[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 1. Nature ]

Full Idea

Nature is an interconnected whole; …you could shift no grain of sand from its spot without thereby, perhaps invisibly to your eyes, changing something in all parts of the immeasurable whole.

Gist of Idea

Nature is wholly interconnected, and the tiniest change affects everything

Source

Johann Fichte (The Vocation of Man [1800], 1)

Book Ref

Fichte,Johann G.: 'The Vocation of Man', ed/tr. Preuss,Peter [Hackett 1987], p.10


A Reaction

Sounds like idealist daydreaming, but might it actually be true with respect to gravity?


The 24 ideas from 'The Vocation of Man'

Sufficient reason makes the transition from the particular to the general [Fichte]
Each object has a precise number of properties, each to a precise degree [Fichte]
The principle of activity and generation is found in a self-moving basic force [Fichte]
The will is awareness of one of our inner natural forces [Fichte]
The capacity for freedom is above the laws of nature, with its own power of purpose and will [Fichte]
I want independent control of the fundamental cause of my decisions [Fichte]
Nature contains a fundamental force of thought [Fichte]
I cannot change the nature which has been determined for me [Fichte]
The self is, apart from outward behaviour, a drive in your nature [Fichte]
If life lacks love it becomes destruction [Fichte]
Freedom means making yourself become true to your essential nature [Fichte]
Nature is wholly interconnected, and the tiniest change affects everything [Fichte]
I immediately know myself, and anything beyond that is an inference [Fichte]
Consciousness has two parts, passively receiving sensation, and actively causing productions [Fichte]
Consciousness of external things is always accompanied by an unnoticed consciousness of self [Fichte]
I am myself, but not the external object; so I only sense myself, and not the object [Fichte]
We can't know by sight or hearing without realising that we are doing so [Fichte]
Faith is not knowledge; it is a decision of the will [Fichte]
Forming purposes is absolutely free, and produces something from nothing [Fichte]
Knowledge can't be its own foundation; there has to be regress of higher and higher authorities [Fichte]
The need to act produces consciousness, and practical reason is the root of all reason [Fichte]
Self-consciousness is the basis of knowledge, and knowing something is knowing myself [Fichte]
There is nothing to say about anything which is outside my consciousness [Fichte]
Awareness of reality comes from the free activity of consciousness [Fichte]