Facts as theory

aspects of Goethe's philosophy of science

Arthur G. Zajonc

pp. 219-245

in: Frederick Amrine, Francis J. Zucker, Harvey Wheeler (eds), Goethe and the sciences, Berlin, Springer, 1987

Abstract

For many, the business of science is to search for causes. So when the would-be scientist Goethe declares to Schiller that ". . . we are not seeking causes but the circumstances under which the phenomenon occurs' ("Erfahrung und Wissenschaft": HA 13, p. 25; Goethe, 1952, p. 228), he seems to be missing the point of the scientific enterprise. He only makes matters worse by maintaining that, "Man in thinking errs particularly when inquiring after cause and effect; the two together constitute the indissoluble phenomenon . . . ["Maximen und Reflexionen", 591: HA 12, p. 446]. "It is rightly said that the phenomenon is a consequence without a ground, an effect without a cause [Goethe, Maximen . . ., 590: HA 12, p. 446].

Cited authors

Goethe Johann Wolfgang