44. On the Benefits of Goethe Studies through the Weimar Edition in Scientific Terms

"Goethe - and still no end! Kritische Würdigung der Lehre Goethes von der Metamorphose der Pflanzen" is the title of a recently published work by K. Fr. Jordan (Hamburg 1888, Verlagsanstalt und Druckerei AG), which once again attempts to prove that Goethe's world view lacked any scientific value, that the great poet lacked the "right scientific sense" in general. The reason given by the author for this assertion is that Goethe took a completely different intellectual direction from the mechanical view of nature. For Jordan, however, science ends where the mechanical view ends; "science must be mechanical, because mechanical processes are the most comprehensible to the human mind", he claims. It is of course impossible to rise to Goethe's intellectual level with such intellectual presuppositions. It should not be denied: Goethe was an opponent of the way of thinking advocated by Jordan. But he was so because it was clear to his mind, which penetrated deep into the essence of things, that this way of thinking was only sufficient for recognizing the lower levels of natural existence and that we would be denied an insight into the actual laws of organic life if we could not rise above the thinking of mechanical lawfulness. Goethe's idea of plant metamorphosis is proof that our cognitive faculty does not fail us even when we approach life, the essence of which will never be grasped by mechanics. This idea has opened up new paths for organic science, just as Galileo's fundamental laws of mechanics did. Those who ignore this fact will not only never come to a just appreciation of Goethe's scientific position, but will also cause considerable damage to science itself, for they will deprive it of a field of fruitful ideas that has already been opened up.

For a number of years now, the writer of these lines has been trying to represent a point of view towards Goethe, the researcher, that does justice to his quite unique position within the history of science. history of science. Given the often aphoristic, often fragmentary way in which Goethe's scientific ideas are presented to us in his works, it was often necessary to go beyond the mere study and interpretation of the existing material and to search for the connecting thoughts that lay in Goethe's mind and which perhaps had not been recorded at all, perhaps for some reason had been left behind in the desk. In this way a whole of Goethe's world view emerged, which admittedly differed greatly from the usual views. The insight I recently gained into the papers left behind by the poet filled me with the deepest satisfaction. - Entrusted with the publication of a part of Goethe's scientific writings for the Weimar Goethe Edition, I was allowed to examine the rich, unprinted material. This examination resulted throughout in a complete confirmation of what one must have recognized from a thorough, loving immersion in the poet's scholarly works, but with which one nevertheless had to be prepared for such contradictions as those of Jordan, because those unifying thoughts of which we spoke above bore too much of the character of the hypothetical for many people. We do not mean that the whole of Goethe's conception did not have full scholarly value for us, but this is a conviction that can ultimately only be won by those who have the will to delve into Goethe's spirit with such affection - and that is not everyone's cup of tea, at least it seems so. - The new Weimar edition will now provide a twofold benefit: firstly, any doubt as to how Goethe thought about certain points in natural science will have to be silenced, because his own explanations clearly and unambiguously determine his point of view; secondly, the high scientific seriousness that speaks from these explanations will finally make the judgment that would portray the poet as a scientific dilettante simply appear superficial. Goethe a dilettante! He, who had direct relations with the majority of Germany's intellectual aspirants in his time and who personally contributed to so many world-shaking ideas! We see the greatest scholars of his time exchanging thoughts with him about their discoveries, we see his supportive participation in the entire development of his time.

An attempt has been made to portray Goethe as a forerunner of Darwin. This was the benevolent conviction of those who saw Darwinism as the "be-all and end-all" of the science of living beings and who wanted to "save" Goethe's scientific explanations. This view provoked objections from natural scientists who were more inclined towards the Du Bois-Reymond school, because countless passages in Goethe's writings could not be reconciled with today's conventional view of Darwin's teachings. It could not be denied that these two parties were able to come up with seemingly weighty reasons for their assertions. It was, of course, clear to those who looked deeper that Goethe could never be a Darwinian in the common sense. It did not escape his gaze that all natural beings are intimately connected with one another, that there is nothing unmediated in nature, but that transitions between the different living beings in their formation must make the whole of nature appear as a continuous sequence of stages. But he looked deeper than the Darwinism of today. While Darwinism only examines the relationships between organic beings and their environment in order to obtain as complete a family tree of all life on earth as possible, Goethe focused on the idea of the organic, on its inner nature. He wanted to investigate what an organic being is in order to see how it can appear in so many different forms. Today's Darwinism seeks the various forms of eternal change. Goethe sought the permanent in this change. The naturalist of the present day asks: what influence of the climate, of the way of life, has taken place so that this living being has developed from that one? Goethe asked: what inner organic laws of formation are at work in this development? Goethe relates to the modern natural scientist as the astronomer, who explains the phenomena in the sky by summarizing cosmic laws, relates to the observer who determines the various positions of the stars through the telescope according to experience. Goethe's scientific explanations are not only a prophetic anticipation of Darwinism, but they are the ideal prerequisite for it. Modern natural science will have to be supplemented by them, otherwise it will not rise from mere experience to theory. The Weimar Edition, however, will provide irrefutable proof of this assertion through the publication of Goethe's estate. It will show us those mediating thoughts through which Goethe's position on Darwinism will become clear in the sense indicated. The views that have been greatly shaken by this will be considerably strengthened. Goethe's idealism in science will be just as unquestionable as the significance and depth of his scientific ideas. If one can convince oneself of the struggle for true knowledge, for scientific thoroughness, which his thoughts bear witness to right from their inception, then one will no longer be able to claim that the "great poet" had no scientific sense.

In the introduction to the second volume of my edition of Goethe's scientific writings (Kürschner's "Deutsche National-Literatur", Goethes Werke, Vol. XXXIV, p.XXXVIIL£.) I have already pointed out that Goethe wrote an essay on scientific method, which he sent to Schiller on January 17, 1798, but which is unfortunately not included in the works. At that time I tried to reconstruct the views on scientific research contained in the essay. The essay seemed to me to contain Goethe's most important scientific arguments. - It has now been preserved! - It follows on from the one on the "Experiment as Mediator of Object and Subject" (see above, Goethe's Works, Volume XXXIV, pp. 10f.), but is the incomparably more important of the two. It contains a program for all scientific research; it shows how it must develop if it is to do justice to the demands of our reason as well as to the objective course of nature. All this in ingenious strokes, which at once raise us to that spiritual height where our gaze penetrates unwaveringly into the secrets of nature. In this essay we have the most direct expression of Goethe's scientific spirit. Anyone who wants to argue against this spirit in the future may first try his hand at this essay. From there, light will shine on all of Goethe's other writings, insofar as they concern science.

From all this one can see that the new edition will gain one thing above all others: We will be in a better position than was previously possible to view each individual intellectual act of Goethe in the context of his nature. And it will be the task of the edition in this respect to facilitate this as much as possible by arranging and selecting what is to be included. It is precisely in scholarly terms that Goethe research, which the Grand Duchess of Weimar has taken into her protection with loving devotion that cannot be praised enough, will gain from the publications of the Goethe Archive.

There is no doubt that some fragments will also have to be published, that many an essay that has been started and then left lying around will come before the eyes of the reader. But this stylistic completeness is not the point. The main thing is that we have all of Goethe's intellectual products before our eyes in such a form that we are able to form an intellectual picture of his world view. And in this respect Riemer and Eckermann cannot be absolved of some of the mistakes they made in editing the works they left behind. They have omitted some things that are necessary for understanding and have not followed the only correct principle in the arrangement, which brings the individual writings in such a sequence that they serve each other as a commentary.

But the realization of the sketchy, fragmentary has yet another advantage. By often seeing the thought shoot up in Goethe's mind, we will recognize its actual scope and meaning precisely from this first form, and we will experience the whole tendency of Goethe's striving from this. We will wrestle with him by looking into how his mind, which always goes into the depths, gradually rises to clarity. It will be possible for us to follow him on his paths and thus to become more and more familiar with his way of thinking.

We will see how Goethe was clearly aware that, wherever we enter the world of experience, we must finally encounter the idea through constant, unrelenting willing. He never sets out for an idea. He naively seeks only to grasp the phenomena, but he always finds the idea in the end. Every line of his work is full proof of this.

In summary, we would like to say that Goethe's scientific individuality will soon emerge in its full significance so clearly before our eyes that a writing like the one by Jordan mentioned at the beginning will be regarded by the educated world of Germany as a lamentable but essentially harmless aberration.