Full Idea
Fichte said the self is not a natural 'thing' but is itself a normative status, and 'it' can obtain this status, so it seems, only by an act of attributing it to itself. ...He continually identified the 'I' with 'reason' itself.
Clarification
'Normative' means rule-giving
Gist of Idea
The self is not a 'thing', but what emerges from an assertion of normativity
Source
report of Johann Fichte (The Science of Knowing (Wissenschaftslehre) [1st ed] [1794]) by Terry Pinkard - German Philosophy 1760-1860 05
Book Reference
Pinkard,Terry: 'German Philosophy 1760-1860' [CUP 2002], p.114
A Reaction
Pinkard says Fichte gradually qualified this claim. Fichte struggled to state his view in a way that avoided obvious paradoxes. 'My mind produces decisions, so there must be someone in charge of them'? Is this transcendental?