Page "Johann Gottlieb Fichte" Paragraph 3

Fichte was placed in the family of Pastor Krebel at Niederau near Meissen and there received thorough grounding in the classics.

From this time onward, Fichte saw little of his parents.

In October 1774, he was attending the celebrated foundation-school at Pforta near Naumburg.

This school is associated with the names of Novalis, August Wilhelm Schlegel, Friedrich Schlegel and Nietzsche.

The spirit of the institution was semi-monastic and, while the education given was excellent in its way, it is doubtful whether there was enough social life and contact with the world for a pupil of Fichte's temperament and antecedents.

Perhaps his education strengthened a tendency toward introspection and independence, characteristics which appear strongly in his doctrines and writings.