WISDOM AND KNOWING HOW TO LIVE: F.H. JACOBI AND PHILOSOPHY AS A “WISE NON-KNOWLEDGE”

Abstract

The German philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743-1819) was one of the great representatives in the post-Kantian period of a conception of philosophy as harmony between philosophical discourse and way of life, actions and words. This work intends to show how he approaches the original meaning of philosophy (love of wisdom) and resembles the one who was considered the first true philosopher: Socrates. The Socratic ignorance (non-knowledge) appears as a privileged answer because it is a wise ignorance, that is, it recognizes the limitation of human knowledge and seeks wisdom and virtue in personal conduct and in the practice of life. Jacobi points to the conflict of modern philosophy with itself, that is, of a philosophy that seeks unity and full logical coherence and therefore distances itself from its most proper meaning.