Introductions to Goethe's Scientific Writings
GA 1
Translated by Steiner Online Library
7. On the Organization of Goethe’s Scientific Writings
[ 1 ] In editing Goethe’s scientific writings, a task I was entrusted with, I was guided by the idea of bringing the study of their details to life by presenting the magnificent world of ideas that underlies them. It is my conviction that every single one of Goethe’s assertions takes on a completely new—and indeed the correct meaning—when approached with a full understanding of his profound and comprehensive worldview. After all, it cannot be denied: Some of Goethe’s statements in the natural sciences seem quite meaningless when viewed from the standpoint of science, which has since advanced so far. But that is of no consequence. The point is: what they signify within Goethe’s worldview. At the intellectual height on which the poet stands, the need for science is also heightened. But without a scientific need, there is no science. What kinds of questions did Goethe pose to nature? That is what matters. Whether and how he answered them is only of secondary importance. If we have more adequate means and richer experience today—well then, we will succeed in finding more satisfactory solutions to the problems he posed. But my arguments are intended to show that we are capable of nothing more than this: to follow the paths he laid out using our greater resources. What we should learn from him, therefore, is above all how to ask questions of nature.
[ 2 ] One overlooks the main point if one grants Goethe nothing more than that he made certain observations which were later confirmed by research and now form an important part of our worldview. For him, it is not the established conclusion that matters at all, but rather the way in which he arrives at it. He himself aptly says: “Opinions that one dares to voice are like stones moved forward on a board; they may be struck, but they have initiated a game that will be won.” [“Sayings in Prose”; Natw. Schr., Vol. 4, Part 2, p. 362.] He arrived at a method that was entirely in keeping with nature. He sought to introduce this method into science using the tools at his disposal. It may well be that the individual results obtained in this way have been modified by advancing science; but the scientific process that was thereby initiated is a lasting gain for science.
[ 3 ] These considerations could not help but influence the organization of the material to be published. One might reasonably ask why, since I have already departed from the customary classification of the writings, I did not immediately adopt the approach that seems most advisable: placing the general scientific writings in Volume 1, the organic, mineralogical, and meteorological writings in Volume 2, and the physical writings in Volume 3. Volume 1 would then contain the general perspectives, and the subsequent volumes the specific elaborations of the fundamental ideas. As tempting as that may be, it would never have occurred to me to adopt this arrangement. I would not have been able—to return once more to Goethe’s analogy—to achieve what I wanted: to make the plan of the game recognizable through the pieces that are boldly placed at the front of the board.
[ 4 ] Nothing was further from Goethe’s mind than to deliberately start from general concepts. He always begins with concrete facts , compares them, and organizes them. Through this process, the underlying ideas behind them become clear to him. It is a great mistake to claim that ideas are not the driving principle in Goethe’s work simply because he made that well-known remark about the idea of Faust. In his contemplation of things, after stripping away everything accidental and inessential, something remains that is idea in his sense. The method that Goethe employs remains one based on pure experience even when he rises to the idea. For nowhere does he allow a subjective element to enter into his inquiry. He merely frees phenomena from the contingent in order to penetrate to their deeper foundation. His subject has no other task than to arrange the object in such a way that it reveals its innermost essence. “The True is godlike; it does not appear immediately; we must deduce it from its manifestations.” [“Sayings in Prose”; Natural Scientific Writings, Vol. 4, Part 2, p. 378.] The key lies in placing these manifestations in such a context that the “True” becomes apparent. The “True”—the idea—is already present in the fact we observe; we need only remove the veil that conceals it from us. The true scientific method consists in removing this veil. Goethe embarked on this path. And we must follow him along the same path if we wish to penetrate fully into his thought. In other words: We must begin with Goethe’s studies on organic nature, because that is where he began. It was here that a rich body of ideas first revealed itself to him, ideas that we then find as components in his general and methodological essays. If we wish to understand the latter, we must already have imbued ourselves with that wealth of ideas. The essays on method are mere webs of thought for those who do not make the effort to follow the path that Goethe took. As for the studies on physical phenomena, they arose in Goethe only as a consequence of his view of nature.