The Vocation of Man

really know what I have experienced for myself,
then I cannot indeed say that I
know the slightest thing about my vocation vocation: Bestimmung, a central concept for Fichte referring to a person's ultimate purpose or "destination" in life;
I only know what others claim to know
about it; and the only thing I can
really affirm in this regard is this: that I have
heard this or that spoken about these subjects.

I have therefore until now, while I
investigated less important matters myself
with precise care, relied on the
faithfulness and the care of strangers in regard
to the most important things. I attributed to
others an interest original: Theilnahme—this implies a deep, active engagement or "taking part" in a subject, rather than mere curiosity. for the highest affairs of humanity,
a seriousness, an accuracy, which I had
by no means found in myself. I
esteemed them indescribably higher than
myself. —

Whatever truth they may know, where could
they know it from, except through their own
reflection? And why should I not find the same
truth through that same reflection,
since I am just as much as they are? How greatly have