Goethe as Natural Philosopher

Abstract

GOETHE, the greatest poet that Germany has produced, was a dominating intelligence who must claim a prominent place in any history of the human mind, and he devoted a considerable part of his effort to scientific studies. Further, he attached the greatest importance to this part of his achievement : he said to Eckermann—who played to him the part of Boswell to Johnson—"I do not attach importance to my work as a poet, but I do claim to be alone in in my time in apprehending the truth about colour". It is not suggested that this represented his balanced judgment—passages can, of course, be quoted to show that he attached the greatest value to his poetry, as when he spoke of it to Eckermann as Mein Eigentliches Gliick and regretted the' time spent on anything else—but, even if an exaggeration, it is one of many instances showing that for him his science was vastly significant. Yet we must face the fact that while there is in this scientific work of his much that is of the greatest interest, for the light that it throws on a superlative and complex character, there is not much—except, some would contend, in his botanical studies—that is important for the history of science. Further, it is, alas, precisely where he thought his scientific work most significant, namely, in his attacks on Newton and in his theory of colour, that he most completely fails. Goethe's scientific work may, perhaps, almost stand with Newton's work on theology and chronology—excellent, in many ways, if judged by the standards of the times, very important in the eyes of its producer, but not likely to have been remembered to-day had it been produced by a lesser man.