German philosopher and educator who founded neo-Kantian thought with his System der Logik und Metaphysik (1852; “A System of Logic and Metaphysics”).

With other writings on Gotthold Lessing, Friedrich Schiller, and J.W. von Goethe, Fischer contributed to the philosophy of aesthetics. Eventually he subscribed to Hegelian thought and in his Geschichte der neueren Philosophie, 10 vol. (1852–93; “History of Recent Philosophy”), offered new interpretations of thought from René Descartes (17th century) to Arthur Schopenhauer (19th century).