Unendlichkeit (Infinity)

Abstract

This entry argues that, in his poetic as well as theoretical and scientific writings, Goethe adopts a dialectical position vis-à-vis one of the dominant philosophical concepts of the modern age: infinity (Unendlichkeit). While the concept of infinity came to be embraced by the end of the eighteenth century in literature and philosophy, as well as in the powerful tool of infinitesimal calculus, Goethe consistently emphasized the need for a dialectic between the finite and the infinite in which the internal force driving humans and nature beyond all limits must be balanced or counteracted by an equal force drawing them back towards the world of finitude. Goethe depicts this dialectic as both an inherent law of nature and an ethical and existential feature of humanity.