43. Ernst Melzer - Goethe's Philosophical Development

A contribution to the history of the philosophy of our poet heroes Neisse 1884

It is no coincidence that at the end of the last century and the beginning of this one, philosophy and poetry experienced a tremendous upswing in Germany at the same time. There was a deepening of the whole essence of the nation, and it was one and the same message that was proclaimed by both philosophers and poets. German philosophy and German poetry of the classical period flowed from one spiritual direction. This explains why our greatest poets: Lessing, Herder, Schiller, Goethe, also felt the urge to deal with the deepest questions of science. They are not merely accomplished artists, they are perfect human beings in the highest sense of the word. This explains why, in addition to the writings devoted to the contemplation of the artistic creations of our classics, the writings devoted to their philosophical thoughts are constantly increasing. The above-mentioned book deals with Goethe's philosophical development.

The spirit in whose work the various forms of the German national spirit have united to form the most beautiful harmony is Goethe. Artistic creative power and scientific insight into the driving forces of nature and the human spirit are the elements that have flowed into the essence of this spirit, but in such a way that they have given up their separate existence and become a unified whole, an individuality that both broadens and deepens our world view. Only when viewed in this way does the role that philosophy plays in the organism of Goethe's spirit become clear. A treatise on Goethe's philosophical development would have to show the extent to which philosophy is, firstly, an active force in his artistic work and, secondly, a foundation supporting his scientific experiments. From the aphoristic statements about his world view alone we cannot gain a picture of it, even if they are often clarifying and complementary to it. If we apply what has been said to Melzer's book, we must admit that the author has not recognized the crucial points of the matter. We do not want to overlook some of the good points of his book. These include, above all, the basic tendency of the book to recognize Goethe not from individual statements but from the course of his development (8.3). But if, despite this tendency (p. 36), the author finds, for example, that Goethe's philosophical-religious view at the end of his youthful period was a kind of middle ground between rationalism and orthodoxy, this shows how little he sees what is actually important. Buzzwords such as naturalism, rationalism and pantheism do not lead us into Goethe's mind; they only obstruct our access to the depths of his being. For Melzer, this is why the fully determined, individual aspect of Goethe's world view is lost. Thus he sees the quintessence of the essay "Nature" (p.24) in the sentence: "it (nature) is everything" and consequently defines Goethe's view as naturalism. But while naturalism sees nature only in its finished products, as dead, self-contained, and in this form identifies the spirit with it, Goethe goes back to it as producer, as creative, and thus advances beyond contingency to necessity. He thus reaches that source from which spirit and nature flow simultaneously and can truly say of it: "it is everything." Goethe had something to proclaim to the world that could not be encompassed by any traditional system of thought, still less expressed in traditional philosophical terms. There was in him a world of original ideas, and when one speaks of the influence of older or newer philosophers on him, this cannot be done in the sense - as Melzer does - as if he had formed his views on the basis of their teachings. He was looking for formulas, a scientific language to express the spiritual wealth that lay within him. He found these in the philosophers, above all in Spinoza. Melzer shares the mistake of wanting to portray Goethe's world of ideas as the result of various teachings he had absorbed with many others who have studied the philosophy underlying Goethe's work. This overlooks the fact that anyone who wants to portray Goethe's philosophical development must have gained a belief in the originality of his mission and the genius of his being primarily from his work.