Maimon and Fichte on the Impossibility of Philosophical Atheism

Abstract

This article investigates the shared position of Salomon Maimon and Johann Gottlieb Fichte on the impossibility of philosophical atheism, despite the historical accusations of atheism directed at both thinkers. The method employed is a close comparative reading of Maimon’s Philosophisches Wörterbuch (1791) and Fichte’s On the Basis of Our Belief in a Divine Governance of the World (1799), contextualized within their biographical and cultural backgrounds. The analysis shows that while both thinkers reject traditional proofs for God’s existence, they affirm the concept of God as either a logically necessary idea (Maimon) or a moral necessity grounded in practical reason (Fichte). The article concludes that for both philosophers, atheism is not merely false but conceptually self-contradictory, and that this shared stance reflects a post-Kantian transformation of theology from theoretical metaphysics to practical reason.