Fichte's 'Shock': Contingency, Necessity, and the Birth of Freedom

The standard interpretation of Fichte's philosophy, which claims that he cannot deduce the necessity of the 'shock' - the encounter with the obstacle that triggers the subject's activity - misses his point entirely. Fichte argues that this 'shock' must arise 'out of nowhere' due to the subject's radical finitude. It represents the intervention of the radical Outside, which by definition cannot be deduced. If it were deducible, we would be back to the metaphysical subject/substance, which generates its entire content out of itself.

Fichte's stroke of genius lies in the fact that he makes the inevitable lack that pertains to his categorical deduction the supreme force of his system, not its weakness. The fact that necessity can only be deduced from the practical point of view is itself necessary, both theoretically and practically. This coincidence of contingency and necessity, of freedom and limitation, is where we encounter the 'acme of Fichte's edifice.'

In this 'shock,' the impact of the non-I on the I - described by Fichte as simultaneously 'impossible' and 'necessary' - finitude and freedom are no longer opposed. It is only through the shocking encounter with the obstacle that I become free.