The Rudolf Steiner Archive

6. Goethe's View of Nature in the Present Day

Article in the “Berliner Hochschul-Zeitung” dated June 25, 1901

[ 1 ] On Tuesday, the 18th, the Department of Natural Sciences hosted a meaningful evening. About a hundred people listened to Dr. Rudolf Steiner’s lecture on “Goethe’s View of Nature and the Present.” The lecture culminated in an answer to the question: To what extent was Goethe a precursor to the modern materialistic worldview? Goethe’s entire stance toward modern natural science, the speaker explained, is characterized by the poet’s own words: He would most like to undertake a journey around the world to India, not to discover something new, but to view what has already been discovered in his own way. It is said that Goethe was incapable of an objective view of nature. That is not true. Goethe proceeded methodically, just like any modern researcher. And his greatest achievement was that the scientific way of thinking first led him to view human beings themselves as creatures of nature. His goal was to understand the whole human being as a product of nature, and it is above all this that makes Goethe appear to us as thoroughly imbued with modern views of nature. He opposed the outdated theological concept of creation; he opposed Linnaeus’s system of classification. From a comprehensive perspective, he sought to understand nature as a whole. His well-known studies on the intermediate jaw reveal his tireless efforts to remove, even anatomically, the final barrier that was supposed to completely separate the highest link in the natural chain of development—human beings—from the rest of the animal world. Human beings do not differ from the rest of the organic world qualitatively, but only quantitatively; for they also build for themselves a moral world. “Let man be noble, helpful, and good,” but even he must bow to the “eternal, iron, great laws.” What Kant sought in the physical world, Goethe sought in the organic world: the inner connection, the natural lawfulness of all being and all phenomena. This is where Goethe was so infinitely ahead of his time, which makes him appear as the spirit of the new age. Had he lived to see Darwin and Haeckel, he would have enthusiastically agreed with their words. His studies of skulls show how he was the first to consciously tread the ground of modern comparative anatomy. As in all his endeavors, Goethe, even as a naturalist, consciously pursued a clear line of thought; his discoveries were not mere fortunate accidents, as so many today seek to accuse him of.

[ 2 ] Goethe was a naturalist through and through, and this is no less evident in his conception of art. That is why the works of Greek art seemed so sublime to him—because they were created according to the same laws as nature itself. In his view, every artist had to first feel the laws of nature before he could create organic forms himself.

[ 3 ] And what about Goethe’s God? His concept of God was the sense of a unified world order. Goethe also sought harmony between the inorganic and organic worlds. Kant had described this quest as an adventure of reason; Goethe dared to undertake it.

[ 4 ] Even if one does not wish to regard Goethe as a pivotal figure in the development of natural science, one thing is certain: he was the first to develop within himself the grand materialist-monist view of nature that would come to define the character of the 19th century. Modern science has confirmed what his genius had foreseen. He ushered in the great intellectual revolution destined to overthrow old prejudices and usher in a new spirit of the times. We must always look to him when we seek the connection between phenomena and the profound insights of the entire worldview.

[ 5 ] Thunderous applause followed the brilliant remarks of the seasoned orator. After a brief discussion, during which Mr. Rehe, cand. phil., took the floor, the evening concluded with the usual convivial gathering.