Very interesting interview here with Terry Pinkard, an expert in German Idealism. Fichte, it seems, took himself very seriously –
According to Ziolkowski, when Fichte was the Rector of the Berlin university, he would sign off on edicts by saying “It is not I as an individual who says and wills this, but the Idea, which speaks and acts through me.” (If you were the head of your department, wouldn’t it be nice to sign all the departmental directives with Fichte’s phrase? It’s catchy, you have to admit.)
USUPhilosophy 