[5] Henrich studied philosophy, history and sociology between 1946 and 1950 at Marburg, Frankfurt and Heidelberg.

Since then his lectures have been published as Between Kant and Hegel, which show the continuity between German idealism and contemporary philosophical attitudes.

[7] Henrich introduced the idea that I-thoughts (what he also called "the epistemic self-relation" [Das wissende Selbstverhältnis]) imply a belief in the existence of a world of objects.

Henrich noted that Fichte saw the transcendental subject as a primordial selfhood[9] and identified its activity as prior to self-reflection.

He pointed out that the evidence of self-consciousness was not really self-evident, but rather obscure, possibly the manifestation of a reason concealed in the clarity of self-consciousness and eluding thought ("die offenkundige Manifestation eines Grundes, der sich in der Klarheit des Selbstbewußtseins gleichsam verbirgt und dem Denken entzieht").