What the Lake Said. Amiel’s New Phenomenology and Nature

Abstract

What message had this lake for me, with its sad serenity, its soft and even tranquility, in which was mirrored the cold monotonous pallor of mountains and clouds? – in his diary Henri-Frederic Amiel is struggling with himself as well as with the world around him. “Being” for Amiel is equivalent to “being in the world”. Anthropocentric world view is replaced by “Amiel-centric” world view – in this model there is inseparable, spiritual, personal bond between Amiel and the world. It’s romantic legacy and Amiel is the legal heir of Faust, Manfred and so on. Amiel’s new phenomenology describes world as a effect of human’s mind activity: nature and objects are being re-interpreted. The border between “objectivity” and “subjectivity” is no longer so visible, and every object is emotionally marked. “Intimate Diary” is a record of a human experience: his life in culture and nature, position in universe. In Amiel’s thought nature is treated like a piece of art: every tree has its own history, every rock is significant.