January 25

Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819) was a German philosopher and writer who challenged the Enlightenment's rationalist currents. He is renowned for coining the term 'nihilism' in debates with Fichte and for defending faith and feeling against pure reason. In works such as 'Concerning the Doctrine of Spinoza', Jacobi argued that belief and immediate conviction are foundational to philosophy. His thought influenced figures like Goethe and Kierkegaard, bridging Enlightenment and Romantic thinking. Jacobi's emphasis on intuition and individual belief left a lasting mark on modern philosophy.