Adamson's work constituted the earliest substantial study of Fichte in English. The first half of his book covers Fichte's biography, and the second, his philosophies. The chapter excerpted below offers an explanation of the Wissenschaftslehre as it appears in Fichte's earlier writings. Beginning with Fichte's influences, Adamson describes Fichte as "Spinoza in terms of Kant."

In the excerpt that follows, Rockmore reviews Fichte's philosophy as it defined his notion of human activity. Rockmore concludes that "in Fichte's position the attempted solution to the problem of consciousness requires a view of man as an active being."

In the following essay, Gardiner considers Fichte's claim that his works are arguments for human freedom. This purpose might be difficult to believe, Gardiner contends, until one puts Fichte's writings into historical and cultural context.

In the excerpt that follows, Kroner recounts the history of German Idealism, focusing "on the year 1800 in which the period of Kant and Fichte waned and the period of Schelling and Hegel began."

In the following essay, which was presented in 1993 and first published in 1996, Morrison sets forth the apparent contradiction in Fichte's treatment of women—they both have rights and do not have rights—and then demonstrates how Fichte's assumptions allowed for this apparent paradox.

In his A History of Philosophy, Copleston devotes three chapters to explicating Fichte's philosophy. The excerpt that follows includes Copleston's review of Fichte's life and some of the fundamental tenets in his philosophy.

Although Dewey's German Philosophy and Politics appeared in a revised edition in 1942, the chapters were revised as little as possible in order to retain their World War I perspective. In a view characteristic of the years spanning both world wars, Dewey presents Fichte as "the beginning" of modern German nationalism.

In the two chapters below, Santayana addresses the irony that "Fichte, a prophet sprung from the people, a theoretical republican who quarrelled with his students for forming clubs and fighting duels, a fierce idealist full of contempt for worldlings, should have so perfectly supplied the Junkers and bankers with their philosophy. " He illustrates how Fichte's transcendental idealism, translated by the philosopher into nationalism, could become the nationalism of German fascism.