Goethe is among the figures of modern enlightenment who represent the phrase renaissance man in all its truth and glory — an epithet which mindless use has since cliched.
Although Goethe’s contribution to poetry and drama shine as brightly as they should, they have largely overshadowed his commitment to scientific endeavor. His interest and enterprise in natural science, which occupied him for decades, places him almost on the same level as Linneas. The extent of Goethe’s involvement with the sciences has even led critics to suggest an interference with his literary pursuits; he should have written more poetry instead is a complaint often heard.Goethe’s interests in science extended to mathematics — a subject he approached with a deep insight but without notable appreciation of the techniques. His statements reveal the colors of his understanding of the scheme and schema, “Mathematics is entirely false in the claim that it provides infallible conclusions. Its entire certainty consists of nothing but identities. Two times two is not four, it is still two times two and, for short, we call it four. Four however is nothing new.
Thus does it persist in its development, except that in advanced formulas, the identity is lost from sight.” Or the more grandiose pronouncement, “The Pythagoreans and the Platonists thought that all consists of number, even religion, but God must be sought elsewhere.” Even as we wonder at the great depths these words seem so easily to plumb, we are also aware of the prisms Goethe’s mathematical vistas passed through. Ideas such as G.H.Hardy’s mathematical reality would most likely have found little favor with him.
However, Goethe’s notable absorption in scientific queries vis-a-vis his native literary instincts, points to an enigmatic duality that sometimes affects creators of art.
by Nandan Datta
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts-Enter Hypertextopia-PHONEREADER Library -- Jean-Philippe Pastor
métabole
hypertexte
Bookmark this on Delicious
Although Goethe’s contribution to poetry and drama shine as brightly as they should, they have largely overshadowed his commitment to scientific endeavor. His interest and enterprise in natural science, which occupied him for decades, places him almost on the same level as Linneas. The extent of Goethe’s involvement with the sciences has even led critics to suggest an interference with his literary pursuits; he should have written more poetry instead is a complaint often heard.Goethe’s interests in science extended to mathematics — a subject he approached with a deep insight but without notable appreciation of the techniques. His statements reveal the colors of his understanding of the scheme and schema, “Mathematics is entirely false in the claim that it provides infallible conclusions. Its entire certainty consists of nothing but identities. Two times two is not four, it is still two times two and, for short, we call it four. Four however is nothing new.
Thus does it persist in its development, except that in advanced formulas, the identity is lost from sight.” Or the more grandiose pronouncement, “The Pythagoreans and the Platonists thought that all consists of number, even religion, but God must be sought elsewhere.” Even as we wonder at the great depths these words seem so easily to plumb, we are also aware of the prisms Goethe’s mathematical vistas passed through. Ideas such as G.H.Hardy’s mathematical reality would most likely have found little favor with him.
However, Goethe’s notable absorption in scientific queries vis-a-vis his native literary instincts, points to an enigmatic duality that sometimes affects creators of art.
by Nandan Datta
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts-Enter Hypertextopia-PHONEREADER Library -- Jean-Philippe Pastor
métabolehypertexte Bookmark this on Delicious
No comments:
Post a Comment