On the Philosophical View of Things in Connection with the Teachings of F.H. Jacobi

The article discusses F. Jacobi’s concept, which has features of non-doctrinal philosophy. The aim of philosophizing is not the creation of a doctrine but the attainment of one’s own being-in-the-world. Philosophical ideas are not derived from the content of speculative thinking; rather, they represent a response to an external demand. From the outside comes “sense” (Sinn), in which the philosopher, the world, and philosophy (“reason”, Sinn as rational) are already interconnected. A hypothesis is proposed that Jacobi is one of the modern thinkers who embodied the function of an intellectual (in Jürgen Habermas’s understanding) in relation to his own philosophical tradition. The article characterizes Jacobi’s concept of Salto mortale, the “leap” that opens up Sinn as a possibility for a philosophical view of things. Interpretations of the “leap” offered by Hegel and Kierkegaard are examined, and a comparison is drawn with Husserl’s phenomenological reduction. The conclusion is made that Jacobi sought to identify himself not with a specific philosophical concept but with “sense” (Sinn), which opens up the possibility of experiencing philosophy as being-in-the-world. This identification was recognized by Jacobi as the Salto mortale. Jacobi proceeds from the identification of “sense” (Sinn), philosophy, and the world. In the binding sense (Sinn), the world, as it were, converses with itself, while the philosopher merely records what is happening. Philosophy is not confined to texts and the doctrines contained within them.