Johann Gottlieb Fichte is considered the founder of German Idealism. His philosophy discusses what knowledge and consciousness are; therefore, he refers to it as the Science of Knowledge - the doctrine of knowledge in itself. Wilhelm G. Jacobs introduces this Science of Knowledge as well as the philosophical problems of the time around 1800. He draws on both the philosophical and the so-called popular writings of Fichte, as well as the often misunderstood and misused Addresses to the German Nation. His introduction thus provides a fundamental entry point for students of philosophy and for anyone interested in this revolutionary period.