Everything about Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe totally explained
, (in English generally ;
28 August 1749 –
22 March 1832) was a
German writer.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters… and the last true
polymath to walk the earth." Goethe's works span the fields of
poetry,
drama,
literature,
theology,
humanism, and
science. Goethe's
magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama
Faust. Goethe's other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the
Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the
epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.
Goethe was one of the key figures of
German literature and the movement of
Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; this movement coincides with
Enlightenment,
Sentimentality,
Sturm und Drang, and
Romanticism. The author of the scientific text
Theory of Colours, he influenced
Darwin with his focus on plant
morphology. He also long served as the Privy Councilor ("
Geheimrat") of the
duchy of
Weimar.
Goethe is the originator of the concept of
Weltliteratur ("
world literature"), having taken great interest in the literatures of
England,
France,
Italy,
classical Greece,
Persia,
Arabic literature, amongst others. His influence on
German philosophy is virtually immeasurable, having major impact especially on the generation of
Hegel and
Schelling, although Goethe himself expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing
philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Goethe's influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a major source of inspiration in
music,
drama,
poetry and
philosophy. Goethe is considered by many to be the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in
Western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered whether painting might not be his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that he'd ultimately be remembered above all for his work in
optics.
Biography
Early life
Goethe's father, Johann Caspar Goethe (
Frankfurt-am-Main,
Hessen,
29 July 1710 –
Frankfurt-am-Main,
Hessen,
25 May 1782), lived with his family in a large house in
Frankfurt am Main, then an
Imperial Free City of the
Holy Roman Empire. Goethe's mother, Catharina Elisabeth Textor (
Frankfurt-am-Main,
Hessen,
19 February 1731 –
Frankfurt-am-Main,
Hessen,
15 September 1808), the daughter of the Mayor of Frankfurt Johann Wolfgang Textor (
Frankfurt-am-Main,
Hessen,
11 December 1693 –
Frankfurt-am-Main,
Hessen,
6 February 1771) and wife (married at
Wetzlar,
2 February 1726) Anna Margaretha Lindheimer (
Wetzlar,
23 July 1711 –
Frankfurt-am-Main,
Hessen,
18 April 1783, a descendant of
Lucas Cranach the Elder and Henry III, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg), married 38-year-old Johann Caspar when she was only 17 at
Frankfurt am Main on
20 August 1748. All their children, except for Goethe and his sister, Cornelia Friederike Christiana, who was born in 1750, died at an early age.
Johann Caspar and private tutors gave Goethe lessons in all the common subjects of that time, especially languages (
Latin,
Greek,
French and
English). Goethe also received lessons in
dancing,
riding and
fencing. Johann Caspar was the type of father who, feeling frustrated in his own ambitions by what he saw as a deficiency of educational advantages, was determined that his children would have all those advantages which he hadn't had.
Goethe had a persistent dislike of the
church, characterizing its history as a "hotchpotch of mistakes and violence" (
Mischmasch von Irrtum und Gewalt). His great passion was
drawing. Goethe quickly became interested in
literature;
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and
Homer were among his early favourites. He had a lively devotion to
theatre as well and was greatly fascinated by
puppet shows that were annually arranged in his home; a familiar theme in
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.
Legal career
Goethe studied
law in
Leipzig from 1765 to 1768. Learning age-old judicial rules by heart was something he strongly detested. He preferred to attend the poetry lessons of
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert. In Leipzig, Goethe fell in love with Käthchen Schönkopf and wrote cheerful verses about her in the
Rococo genre. In 1770, he anonymously released
Annette, his first collection of poems. His uncritical admiration for many contemporary poets vanished as he became interested in
Lessing and
Wieland. Already at this time, Goethe wrote a good deal, but he threw away nearly all of these works, except for the comedy
Die Mitschuldigen. The restaurant
Auerbachs Keller and its legend of
Faust's 1525 barrel ride impressed him so much that Auerbachs Keller became the only real place in his
closet drama Faust Part One. Because his studies didn't progress, Goethe was forced to return to Frankfurt at the close of August 1768.
In Frankfurt, Goethe became severely ill. During the next year and a half which followed, because of several relapses, the relationship with his father worsened. During convalescence, Goethe was nursed by his mother and sister. Bored in bed, he wrote an impudent crime comedy. In April 1770, his father lost his patience; Goethe left Frankfurt in order to finish his studies in
Strasbourg.
In
Alsace, Goethe blossomed. No other landscape has he described as affectionately as the warm, wide Rhine area. In Strasbourg, Goethe met
Johann Gottfried Herder, who happened to be in town on the occasion of an eye operation. The two became close friends, and crucially to Goethe's intellectual development, it was Herder who kindled his interest in Shakespeare,
Ossian and in the notion of Volkspoesie (folk poetry). On a trip to the village Sesenheim, Goethe fell in love with Friederike Brion, but, after a couple of weeks, terminated the relationship. Several of his poems, like, and, originate from this time.
Despite being based on his own ideas, his legal
thesis was published uncensored. Shortly after, he was offered a career in the
French government. Goethe rejected it; he didn't want to commit himself, but to instead remain an "original genius".
At the end of August 1771, Goethe was certified as a
licensee in Frankfurt. He wanted to make the
jurisdiction progressively more humane. In his first cases, he proceeded too vigorously, was reprimanded and lost the position. This prematurely terminated his career as a lawyer after only a few months. At this time, Goethe was acquainted with the
court of
Darmstadt, where his inventiveness was praised. From this milieu came Johann Georg Schlosser (who was later to become his
brother-in-law) and
Johann Heinrich Merck. Goethe also pursued literary plans again; this time, his father didn't have anything against it, and even helped. Goethe obtained a copy of the
biography of a
noble highwayman from the
Peasants' War. In a couple of weeks the biography was reworked into a colourful
drama. Entitled
Götz von Berlichingen, the work went directly to the heart of Goethe's contemporaries.
Goethe couldn't subsist on being one of the editors of a literary periodical (published by Schlosser and Merck). In May 1772 he once more began the practice of law at
Wetzlar. In 1774 Goethe wrote the book which would bring him world-wide fame,
The Sorrows of Young Werther. Despite the immense success of
Werther, it didn't bring Goethe much financial gain — copyright law at the time being essentially nonexistent. (In later years Goethe would bypass this problem by periodically authorizing "new, revised" editions of his
Complete Works.)
Early years in Weimar
In 1775 Goethe was invited, on the strength of his fame as the author of
The Sorrows of Young Werther, to the court of
Carl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. (The Duke at the time was 18 years of age, to Goethe's 26.) Goethe thus went to live in
Weimar where he remained throughout the rest of his life, and where, over the course of many years, he held a succession of offices; becoming the Duke's chief adviser.
Goethe, aside from official duties, was also a friend and confidant to the Duke, and participated fully in the activities of the court. For Goethe, his first ten years at Weimar could well be described as a garnering of a degree and range of experience which perhaps could be achieved in no other way. Goethe was
ennobled in 1782 (this being indicated by the "von" in his name).
Italy
Goethe's journey to the
Italian peninsula from 1786 to 1788 was of great significance in his æsthetical and philosophical development. His father had made a similar journey during his own youth, and his example was a major motivating factor for Goethe to make the trip. More importantly, however, the work of
Johann Joachim Winckelmann had provoked a general renewed interest in the classical art of ancient
Greece and
Rome. Thus Goethe's journey had something of the nature of a pilgrimage to it. During the course of his trip Goethe met and befriended the artists
Angelica Kauffmann and
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, as well as encountering such notable characters as
Lady Hamilton and
Alessandro Cagliostro (see
Affair of the Diamond Necklace).
He also journeyed to Sicily during this time, and wrote intriguingly that "To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything." While in Sicily, Goethe encountered, for the first time genuine Greek (as opposed to Roman) architecture, and was quite startled by its relative simplicity. Winckelmann hadn't recognized the distinctness of the two styles.
Goethe's diaries of this period form the basis of the non-fiction
Italian Journey.
Italian Journey only covers the first year of Goethe's visit. The remaining year is largely undocumented, aside from the fact that he spent much of it in
Venice. This "gap in the record" has been the source of much speculation over the years.
In the decades which immediately followed its publication in 1816
Italian Journey inspired countless German youths to follow Goethe's example. This is pictured, somewhat satirically, in
George Elliot's
Middlemarch.
Weimar
In late 1792, Goethe took part in the
battle of Valmy against
revolutionary France, assisting Duke
Carl August of
Saxe-Weimar during the failed invasion of France. Again during the
Siege of Mainz he assisted Carl August as a military observer. His written account of these events can be found within his
Complete Works.
In 1794
Friedrich Schiller wrote to Goethe offering friendship; they'd previously had only a mutually wary relationship ever since first becoming acquainted in 1788. This collaborative friendship lasted until Schiller's death in 1805.
In 1806, Goethe was living in Weimar with his mistress
Christiane Vulpius, the sister of
Christian A. Vulpius, and their son Karl August. On
October 13,
Napoleon's army invaded the town. The
French "spoon guards", the least-disciplined soldiers, occupied Goethe's house.
The 'spoon guards' had broken in, they'd drunk wine, made a great uproar and called for the master of the house. Goethe's secretary Riemer reports: 'Although already undressed and wearing only his wide nightgown … he descended the stairs towards them and inquired what they wanted from him … . His dignified figure, commanding respect, and his spiritual mien seemed to impress even them.' But it wasn't to last long. Late at night they burst into his bedroom with drawn bayonets. Goethe was petrified, Christiane raised a lot of noise and even tangled with them, other people who had taken refuge in Goethe's house rushed in, and so the marauders eventually withdrew again. It was Christiane who commanded and organized the defense of the house on the Frauenplan. The barricading of the kitchen and the cellar against the wild pillaging soldiery was her work. Goethe noted in his diary: "Fires, rapine, a frightful night … Preservation of the house through steadfastness and luck." The luck was Goethe's, the steadfastness was displayed by Christiane. |
The next day, Goethe legitimized their relationship by marrying Christiane in a quiet marriage service at the court chapel. Christiane Vulpius and Goethe produced a son, Karl August von Goethe (
25 December 1789 –
28 October 1830), whose wife, Ottilie von Pogwisch (
31 October 1796 –
26 October 1872), cared for the elder Goethe until his death in 1832. They had three children: Walther, Freiherr von Goethe (
9 April 1818 –
15 April 1885), Wolfgang, Freiherr von Goethe (
18 September 1820 –
20 January 1883) and Alma von Goethe (
29 October 1827 –
29 September 1844).
Christiane Vulpius died in 1816.
Later life
By 1820, he was on amiable terms with
Kaspar Maria von Sternberg. Post-1793, Goethe devoted his endeavour principally to literature.
In 1832, after a life of vast productivity, Goethe died in
Weimar. He is buried in the Ducal Vault at Weimar's Historical Cemetery.
Eckermann closes his famous work,
Conversations with Goethe, with this passage:
The morning after Goethe's death, a deep desire seized me to look once again upon his earthly garment. His faithful servant, Frederick, opened for me the chamber in which he was laid out. Stretched upon his back, he reposed as if asleep; profound peace and security reigned in the features of his sublimely noble countenance. The mighty brow seemed yet to harbour thoughts. I wished for a lock of his hair; but reverence prevented me from cutting it off. The body lay naked, only wrapped in a white sheet; large pieces of ice had been placed near it, to keep it fresh as long as possible. Frederick drew aside the sheet, and I was astonished at the divine magnificence of the limbs. The breast was powerful, broad, and arched; the arms and thighs were elegant, and of the most perfect shape; nowhere, on the whole body, was there a trace of either fat or of leanness and decay. A perfect man lay in great beauty before me; and the rapture the sight caused me made me forget for a moment that the immortal spirit had left such an abode. I laid my hand on his heart - there was a deep silence - and I turned away to give free vent to my suppressed tears. |
Works
Literary work
The most important of Goethe's works produced before he went to Weimar were his tragedy
Götz von Berlichingen (1773), which was the first work to bring him recognition, and the novel
The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), which gained him enormous fame as a writer in the
Sturm und Drang period which marked the early phase of
Romanticism - indeed the book is often considered to be the "spark" which ignited the movement, and can arguably be called the world's first "best-seller". (For the entirety of his life this was the work with which the vast majority of Goethe's contemporaries associated him). During the years at Weimar before he met
Schiller he began
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, wrote the dramas
Iphigenie auf Tauris (
Iphigenia in Tauris),
Egmont,
Torquato Tasso, and the fable
Reineke Fuchs.
To the period of his friendship with Schiller belong
Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years (the continuation of
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship), the
idyll of
Hermann and Dorothea, and the
Roman Elegies. In the last period, between Schiller's death, in 1805, and his own, appeared
Faust Part One,
Elective Affinities, the
West-Eastern Divan (a collection of poems in the Persian style, influenced by the work of
Hafez), his autobiographical
Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit (
From My Life: Poetry and Truth) which covers his early life and ends with his departure for Weimar, his
Italian Journey, and a series of treatises on art. His writings were immediately influential in literary and artistic circles.
Faust Part Two was only finished in the year of his death, and was published posthumously.
Scientific work
As to what I've done as a poet,… I take no pride in it… But that in my century I'm the only person who knows the truth in the difficult science of colours - of that, I say, I'm not a little proud, and here I've a consciousness of a superiority to many. |
Although his literary work has attracted the greatest amount of interest, Goethe was also keenly involved in studies of natural science. He wrote several works on plant
morphology, and colour theory.
With his focus on
morphology he influenced
Darwin. His studies led him to independently discover the human
intermaxillary bone in 1784, which
Broussonet (1779) and
Vicq d'Azyr (1780) had (using different methods) identified several years earlier. While not the only one in his time to question the prevailing view that this bone didn't exist in humans, Goethe, who believed ancient anatomists had known about this bone, was the first to prove its peculiarity to all mammals.
During his Italian journey, Goethe formulated a theory of plant metamorphosis in which the archetypal form of the plant is to be found in the
leaf - he writes, "from top to bottom a plant is all leaf, united so inseparably with the future bud that one can't be imagined without the other." .
In 1810, Goethe published his
Theory of Colours, which he considered his most important work. In it, he (contentiously) characterized colour as arising from the dynamic interplay of darkness and light. After being translated into English by
Charles Eastlake in 1840, this theory became widely adopted by the art world, most notably
J. M. W. Turner (Bockemuhl, 1991). It also inspired the philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein, to write his
Remarks on Colour. Goethe was vehemently opposed to
Newton's analytic treatment of colour, engaging instead in compiling a comprehensive description of a wide variety of colour phenomena. Although Goethe can't necessarily be criticized for the accuracy and extent of his observations, scientists in general have found little use for his theory because not much can be predicted by means of it. Goethe was, however, the first to systematically study the physiological effects of colour, and his observations on the effect of opposed colors led him to a symmetric arrangement of his colour wheel, 'for the colours diametrically opposed to each other… are those which reciprocally evoke each other in the eye. (Goethe,
Theory of Colours, 1810 ). In this, he anticipated
Ewald Hering's
opponent color theory (1872) .
Goethe outlines his method in the essay,
The experiment as mediator between subject and object (1772). In the Kurschner edition of Goethe's works, the science editor,
Rudolf Steiner, presents Goethe's approach to science as
phenomenological. Steiner elaborated on this in the books
The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World-Conception and
Goethe's World View, in which he emphasizes the need of the perceiving organ of intuition in order to grasp Goethe's biological archetype (for example
The Typus).
Key works
The short
epistolary novel,
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, or
The Sorrows of Young Werther, published in 1774, recounts an unhappy romantic infatuation that ends in suicide. Goethe admitted that he "shot his hero to save himself": a reference to Goethe's own near-suicidal obsession with a young woman during this period, an obsession he quelled through the writing process. The novel remains in print in dozens of languages and its influence is undeniable; its central hero, an obsessive figure driven to despair and destruction by his unrequited love for the young Lotte, has become a pervasive literary
archetype. The fact that
Werther ends with the protagonist's suicide and funeral — a funeral which "no clergyman attended" — made the book deeply controversial upon its (anonymous) publication, for on the face of it, it appeared to condone and glorify suicide. Suicide was considered sinful by
Christian doctrine: suicides were denied
Christian burial with the bodies often mistreated and dishonoured in various ways; in corollary, the deceased's property and possessions were often confiscated by the Church. Epistolary novels were common during this time, letter-writing being a primary mode of communication. What set Goethe's book apart from other such novels was its expression of unbridled longing for a joy beyond possibility, its sense of defiant rebellion against authority, and of principal importance, its total subjectivity: qualities that trailblazed the Romantic movement.
The next work, his epic
closet drama Faust, was to be completed in stages, and only published in its entirety after his death. The first part was published in 1808 and created a sensation. The first operatic version, by
Spohr, appeared in 1814, and was subsequently the inspiration for operas and oratorios by
Schumann,
Gounod,
Boito,
Busoni, and
Schnittke as well as symphonic works by
Liszt,
Wagner, and
Mahler. Faust became the
ur-myth of many figures in the 19th century. Later, a facet of its plot, for example, of selling one's soul to the devil for power over the physical world, took on increasing literary importance and became a view of the victory of technology and of industrialism, along with its dubious human expenses. In 1919, the
Goetheanum staged the world
premiere of a complete production of Faust. On occasion, the play is still staged in
Germany and other parts around the world.
Goethe's poetic work served as a model for an entire movement in German poetry termed
Innerlichkeit ("introversion") and represented by, for example,
Heine. Goethe's words inspired a number of compositions by, among others,
Mozart,
Beethoven,
Schubert,
Berlioz and
Wolf. Perhaps the single most influential piece is "Mignon's Song" which opens with one of the most famous lines in German poetry, an allusion to
Italy: "?" ("Do you know the land where the lemons bloom?").
He is also widely quoted. Epigrams such as "Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it'll gradually yield to him", "Divide and rule, a sound motto; unite and lead, a better one", and "Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must", are still in usage or are often paraphrased. Lines from
Faust, such as "", "", or "" have entered everyday German usage. Although a success of less tasteful appeal, the famous line from the drama
Götz von Berlichingen ("": "He can lick my arse") has become a vulgar idiom in many languages, and shows Goethe's deep cultural impact extending across social, national, and linguistic borders.
It may be taken as another measure of Goethe's fame that other well-known quotations are often incorrectly attributed to him, such as
Hippocrates' "Art is long, life is short", which is found in Goethe's
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.
Eroticism
Many of Goethe's works, especially
Faust, the
Roman Elegies, and the
Venetian Epigrams, depict hetero- and homosexual erotic passions and acts. In Faust, having signed (the Devil insists on his signature in an actual contract) his deal with the devil, the very first use of his new power thus gained sees Faust raping a young teenage girl. In fact, some of the
Venetian Epigrams were held back from publication due to their sexual content. However, Karl Hugo Pruys caused national controversy in Germany when his 1999 book
The Tiger's Tender Touch: The Erotic Life of Goethe tentatively deduced from Goethe's writings the possibility of Goethe's
homosexuality. The sexual portraitures and allusions in his work may stem from one of the many effects of Goethe's eye-opening sojourn in
Italy, where men, who shunned the prevalence of women's
venereal diseases and unconscionable conditions, embraced homosexuality as a solution that wasn't widely imitated outside of Italy. Whatever the case, Goethe clearly saw
sexuality in general as a topic that merited poetic and artistic depiction. This went against the thought of his time, when the very private nature of sexuality was rigorously normative, and makes him appear more modern than he's typically thought to be.
Religion
Born into a Protestant (Lutheran) family, Goethe's early faith was shaken by news of such events as the 1755
Lisbon earthquake and the
Seven Years' War. His later spiritual perspective evolved among
pantheism,
humanism, and various elements of Western
esotericism, as seen most vividly in Part II of
Faust.
A year before his death he expressed an identification with the
Hypsistarians, an ancient Jewish-pagan sect of the
Black Sea region. After describing his difficulties with mainstream religion,
Goethe laments:
…I have found no confession of faith to which I could ally myself without reservation. Now in my old age, however, I've learned of a sect, the Hypsistarians, who, hemmed in between heathens, Jews and Christians, declared that they'd treasure, admire, and honour the best, the most perfect that might come to their knowledge, and inasmuch as it must have a close connection to the Godhead, pay it reverence. A joyous light thus beamed at me suddenly out of a dark age, for I'd the feeling that all my life I'd been aspiring to qualify as a Hypsistarian. That, however, is no small task, for how does one, in the limitations of one's individuality, come to know what is most excellent? |
Historical importance
optics and early work on
evolution and
linguistics. He was fascinated by
mineralogy, and the mineral
goethite is named after him. His non-fiction writings, most of which are philosophic and aphoristic in nature, spurred the development of many philosophers, including
G.W.F. Hegel,
Schopenhauer,
Friedrich Nietzsche,
Ernst Cassirer,
Carl Jung, and
Ludwig Wittgenstein. Along with
Schiller, he was one of the leading figures of
Weimar Classicism. Goethe is remembered with special fondness by followers of 20th century esoteric figure
Rudolf Steiner - who named the
Goetheanum after him, where festival performances of
Faust are still performed today. In contemporary culture, he stands in the background as the author of the story upon which Disney's
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is based.
Goethe embodied many of the contending strands in art over the next century: his work could be lushly emotional, and rigorously formal, brief and epigrammatic, and epic. He would argue that
classicism was the means of controlling art, and that
romanticism was a sickness, even as he penned poetry rich in memorable images, and rewrote the formal rules of German poetry.
His poetry was set to music by almost every major Austrian and German composer from
Mozart to
Mahler, and his influence would spread to French drama and opera as well. Beethoven declared that a "Faust" Symphony would be the greatest thing for Art. Liszt and Mahler both created symphonies in whole or in large part inspired by this seminal work, which would give the 19th century one of its most paradigmatic figures:
Doctor Faustus. The Faust tragedy/drama, often called "" (
the drama of the Germans), written in two parts published decades apart, would stand as his most characteristic and famous artistic creation.
Goethe was also a cultural force, and by researching folk traditions, he created many of the norms for celebrating
Christmas, and argued that the organic nature of the land moulded the people and their customs—an argument that has recurred ever since, including recently in the work of
Jared Diamond. He argued that laws couldn't be created by pure rationalism, since geography and history shaped habits and patterns. This stood in sharp contrast to the prevailing
Enlightenment view that reason was sufficient to create well-ordered societies and good laws.
Influence
Goethe's influence was dramatic because he understood that there was a transition in European sensibilities, an increasing focus on sense, the indescribable, and the emotional. This isn't to say that he was emotionalistic or excessive; on the contrary, he lauded personal restraint and felt that excess was a disease: "There is nothing worse than imagination without taste". He argued in his scientific works that a "formative impulse", which he said is operative in every organism, causes an organism to form itself according to its own distinct laws, and therefore rational laws or fiats couldn't be imposed at all from a higher, transcendent sphere; this placed him in direct opposition to those who attempted to form "enlightened" monarchies based on "rational" laws by, for example,
Joseph II of Austria or, the subsequent Emperor of the French,
Napoleon I. A quotation from his
Scientific Studies will suffice:
We conceive of the individual animal as a small world, existing for its own sake, by its own means. Every creature is its own reason to be. All its parts have a direct effect on one another, a relationship to one another, thereby constantly renewing the circle of life; thus we're justified in considering every animal physiologically perfect. Viewed from within, no part of the animal is a useless or arbitrary product of the formative impulse (as so often thought). Externally, some parts may seem useless because the inner coherence of the animal nature has given them this form without regard to outer circumstance. Thus…[not] the question, What are they for? but rather, Where do they come from? |
This change later became the basis for 19th century thought; organic rather than geometrical, evolving rather than created, and based on sensibility and intuition, rather than on imposed order, culminating in, as he said, a "living quality" wherein the subject and object are dissolved together in a poise of inquiry. Consequently, he embraced neither
teleological nor
deterministic views of growth within every organism. Instead, the world as a whole grows through continual, external, and internal strife. Moreover, he didn't embrace the
mechanistic views that contemporaneous science subsumed during his time, and therewith he denied rationality's superiority as the sole interpretation of reality. Furthermore, he declared that all knowledge is related to humanity through its functional value alone and that knowledge presupposes a
perspectival quality. He also stated that the fundamental nature of the world is
aesthetic.
His views make him, along with
Adam Smith,
Thomas Jefferson, and
Ludwig van Beethoven, a figure in two worlds: on the one hand, devoted to the sense of taste, order, and finely crafted detail, which is the hallmark of the artistic sense of the
Age of Reason and the
neo-classicistic period of architecture; on the other, seeking a personal, intuitive, and personalized form of expression and society, firmly supporting the idea of self-regulating and organic systems. Thinkers such as
Ralph Waldo Emerson would take up many similar ideas in the 1800s. His ideas on evolution would frame the question which
Darwin and
Wallace would approach within the scientific paradigm.
Bibliography
- Goethe: The History of a Man by Emil Ludwig
- Goethe by Georg Brandes
- Goethe: his life and times by Richard Friedenthal
- by Thomas Mann
- Conversations with Goethe by Johann Peter Eckermann
- Goethe's World: as seen in letters and memoirs ed. by Berthold Biermann
- Goethe: Four Studies by Albert Schweitzer
- Goethe and his Publishers by Siegfied Unseld
- Goethe: The Poet and the Age (2 Vols.), by Nicholas Boyle
- Goethe's Concept of the Daemonic: After the Ancients, by Angus Nicholls
- Goethe and Rousseau: Resonances of ther Mind, by Carl Hammer, Jr.
Further Information
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