In this way Fichte deduces five historical epochs: two in which progress is blind, two in which it is free, and an intermediate in which it is struggling to consciousness.
[Footnote: First Epoch: that of instinctive reason; the age of innocence.

Second: that of authoritarian reason.

Third: that of enfranchisement; the age of scepticism and unregulated liberty.

Fourth: that of conscious reason, as science.

Fifth: that of regnant reason, as art.] But there are no locked gates between these periods; they overlap and mingle; each may have some of the characteristics of another; and in each there is a vanguard leading the way and a rearguard lagging behind.
At present (1804) we are in the third age; we have broken with authority, but do not yet possess a clear and disciplined knowledge of reason.