Goethe: Science

Goethe produced a number of scientific works, most notably on colour theory. The abbreviation HA refers to the fourteen volume edition of Goethe’s works (Hamburger Ausgabe), which is widely available.

Der Mensch an sich selbst, insofern er sich seiner gesunden Sinne bedient, ist der größte und genaueste physikalische Apparat, den es geben kann. (HA 12, 458)

A human being, in so far as a person makes use of his or her own healthy senses, is the greatest and most precise scientific apparatus that can ever exist.

Goethe’s scientific studies include:

Dem Menschen wie den Tieren ist ein Zwischenknochen der obern Kinnlade zuzuschreiben; An intermaxilliary bone in the upper jaw can be ascribed to humans as well as animals (written 1784, published 1820)

In this essay Goethe puts forward the hypothesis that the bones of the skull are metamorphosed vertebrae.

Die Urpflanze; the primordial plant (written 1787)

Goethe first mentions his notion of the Urpflanze (the primordial plant) whilst on his Italian Journey in a letter to Herder of 17 May 1787. This is the postulate of a basic organic form from which different forms of plant life have developed.

Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären; An attempt to explain the metamorphosis of plants (1790)

In this essay Goethe observes the many connections between different parts of a plant; for example, the calyx is formed from different leaves. Goethe suggests that plants develop from the simplest organs, which become subject to different modifications. The idea of the primordial plant is a hypothesis which can be used to organise empirical observations of plants.

Der Versuch als Vermittler von Objekt und Subjekt; The Experiment as Mediator between Object and Subject (written 1792, published 1823)

This essay reflects on scientific methodology. In line with Francis Bacon, Goethe recommends serial observations based on experiments.

Erster Entwurf einer allgemeinen Einleitung in die vergleichende Anatomie; First Draft of a General Introduction to Comparative Anatomy (written 1795, published 1820)

Erfahrung und Wissenschaft; Experience and Science (written 1798)

In this essay Goethe says that the ‘pure phenomenon’ (that is, the essential form of the organism or phenomenon) is an assumption that is derived from empirical observation:

‘Das reine Phänomen steht nun zuletzt als Resultat aller Erfahrungen und Versuche da’ (HA 13, 25); ‘The pure phenomenon is the final result of all experiences and experiments’.

Zur Farbenlehre; Theory of Colour (1810)

This book comprises two parts. The first part or ‘didactic part’ presents Goethe’s own observations and findings on colour. The introduction stresses the importance of the observer (HA 13, 324). Goethe begins his classification of colour with the basic polarity of yellow and blue. This is based on observation of the atmosphere, since yellow is the colour closest to the sun, and blue is the colour closest to the night sky (HA 13, 362). Red, for Goethe, represents an intensification (Steigerung) (HA 13, 443-45, 478-79). In one sense he has been proved right because red is closest on the electromagnetic spectrum to infra-red, associated with heat. The wavelength of red is greater than the wavelength of blue. Goethe also considers synaesthesia, a sense experience which combines different sensory modalities (HA 13, 463-64). Goethe’s theory of coloured shadows (farbige Schatten, HA 13, 345-49) influenced the painters W. M. Turner and Claude Monet.

The second or ‘historical part’ gives a summary of the entire history of colour theory, starting with Pythagoras and going through to Kepler (1571-1630) and Newton (1642-1727). Goethe criticises Newton’s Opticks (1704). Newton’s theory stated that white light is the result of a combination of the other colours, but Goethe thinks that colours arise through the creative interaction of light and darkness. Goethe also criticises Newton’s methodology: Newton relied on a single decisive experiment, whereas Goethe investigated a whole series of phenomena. Newton’s basic hypothesis is the existence of discrete particles called ‘rays’; Goethe’s basic conception is ‘das Bild’ (image/field); a circumscribed area or boundary necessary to produce colours.

Principes de Philosophie Zoologique; Principles of Zoological Philosophy (1831)

In this essay Goethe argues that we should regard organisms as organic, holistic unities. Each part of the organism must be considered in relation to the organic whole of which it is a part.

English Translation

Goethe’s Collected Works, vol. XII: Scientific Studies, ed. and trans. by Douglas Miller (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995)

Further Reading in English

Frederick Amrine, ‘The Metamorphosis of the Scientist’, Goethe Yearbook 5 (1990), 187-212

Henri Bortoft, The Wholeness of Nature: Goethe’s Way Toward a Science of Conscious Participation in Nature (New York: Lindisfarne, 1996)

Frederick Burwick, The Damnation of Newton: Goethe’s Color Theory and Romantic Perception (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1986)

Pamela Currie, Goethe’s Visual World (London: Legenda, 2013)

Karl J. Fink, Goethe’s History of Science (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)

Erich Heller, ‘Goethe and the Idea of Scientific Truth’, in Heller, The Disinherited Mind (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1961), pp. 1-29

Nigel Hoffman, Goethe’s Science of Living Form: The Artistic Stages (Hillsdale, NY: Adonis Press, 2007)

Jocelyn Holland, German Romanticism and Science: The Procreative Poetics of Goethe, Novalis, and Ritter (Rochester, NY: Routledge, 2009)

David Lowe and Simon Sharp, Goethe and Palladio: Goethe’s study of the relationship between art and nature, leading through architecture to the discovery of the metamorphosis of plants (New York: Lindisfarne, 2006)

Jeremy Naydler (ed.), Goethe on Science: An Anthology of Goethe’s Scientific Writings (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 1996)

H. B. Nisbet, Goethe and the Scientific Tradition (London: Institute of Germanic Studies, 1972)

Peter A. Obuchowski, Emerson and Science: Goethe, Monism and the Search for Unity (New York: Lindisfarne, 2006)

Elizabeth Powers, ‘The Sublime, “Über den Granit,” and the Prehistory of Goethe’s Science’, Goethe Yearbook 15 (2008), 35-56

Regina Sachers, Goethe’s Poetry and the Philosophy of Nature: Gott und Welt 1798-1827 (Oxford: Legenda, 2013)

Dennis L. Sepper, Goethe contra Newton: Polemics and the New Project for a Science of Colour (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988)

Peter D. Smith, Metaphor and Materiality: German Literature and the World-View of Science 1780-1955 (Oxford: Legenda, 2000)

Rudolf Steiner, Nature’s Open Secret: Introductions to Goethe’s Scientific Writings, trans. by John Barnes (Herndon, VA: Anthroposophic Press, 2000)

Roger Stephenson, Goethe’s Conception of Knowledge and Science (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995)

Daniel Steuer, ‘Goethe and Wittgenstein on the Limits of Science: Towards a Critique of Abstraction’, Publications of the English Goethe Society 71 (2001), 50-61

Daniel Steuer, ‘In Defence of Experience: Goethe’s Natural Investigations and Scientific Culture’, in The Cambridge Companion to Goethe, ed. by Lesley Sharpe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 160-78

Heather I. Sullivan, ‘Seeing the Light: Goethe’s Märchen as Science – Newton’s Science as Fairy Tale’, Goethe Yearbook 14 (2006), 103-28

Further Reading in French

Émile Callot, La philosophie biologique de Goethe (Paris: M. Rivière, 1971)

Further Reading in German

Daniel Steuer, Die stillen Grenzen der Theorie. Übergänge zwischen Sprache und Erfahrung bei Goethe und Wittgenstein (Cologne: Böhlau, 1999)