 Initially impressed with the brilliance Fichte displayed in his early writings on revelation and the French Revolution, Reinhold called Fichte the “new star on the horizon of philosophy” (Fichte im Gespräch 1, p. 62) and “one of the greatest minds and noblest human beings of our time” (Fichte im Gespräch 1, p. 66). However, these rosy beginnings would give way to rocky times. Reinhold and Fichte’s storied friendship was mired with recurrent estrangement and reconciliation, until they parted ways—both professionally and personally—over Reinhold’s defection from the Wissenschaftslehre to the standpoint of rational realism (for details, see Breazeale 2020).