The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe

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"All art should become science and all science art; poetry and philosophy should be made one." Friedrich Schlegel's words perfectly capture the project of the German Romantics, who believed that the aesthetic approaches of art and literature could reveal patterns and meaning in nature that couldn't be uncovered through rationalistic philosophy and science alone. In this wide-ranging work, Robert J. Richards shows how the Romantic conception of the world influenced (and was influenced by) both the lives of the people who held it and the development of nineteenth-century science. Integrating Romantic literature, science, and philosophy with an intimate knowledge of the individuals involved—from Goethe and the brothers Schlegel to Humboldt and Friedrich and Caroline Schelling—Richards demonstrates how their tempestuous lives shaped their ideas as profoundly as their intellectual and cultural heritage. He focuses especially on how Romantic concepts of the self, as well as aesthetic and moral considerations—all tempered by personal relationships—altered scientific representations of nature. Although historians have long considered Romanticism at best a minor tributary to scientific thought, Richards moves it to the center of the main currents of nineteenth-century biology, culminating in the conception of nature that underlies Darwin's evolutionary theory. Uniting the personal and poetic aspects of philosophy and science in a way that the German Romantics themselves would have honored,The Romantic Conception of Lifealters how we look at Romanticism and nineteenth-century biology. Contents......Page 10 Illustrations......Page 14 Frontispiece, Flora, goddess of flowers......Page 3 1.1. The vertebrate archetype, from Carl Gustav Carus, Von den Ur-Theilen des Knochen und Schalengerustes......Page 30 2.1. Friedrich Schlegel......Page 45 2.2. Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis)......Page 48 2.3. Sophie von Kühn......Page 50 2.4. The freedom tree......Page 62 2.5. Caroline Michaelis Böhmer Schlegel Schelling......Page 65 2.6. August Wilhelm Schlegel......Page 69 2.7 Johann Gottlieb Fichte......Page 94 2.8. Friedrich Schlegel......Page 110 2.9. Friedrich Daniel Schleiermacher......Page 119 3.1. Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling......Page 136 3.2. Friedrich Hölderlin......Page 139 3.3. Auguste Böhmer......Page 188 The Meaning of Romanticism......Page 220 5.1. Frontispiece to the publication of Goethe’s Faust, Ein Fragment......Page 230 5.2. Albrecht von Haller......Page 235 5.3. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach......Page 238 5.4. Johann Gottfried Herder......Page 245 5.5. Immanuel Kant......Page 251 7.1. Johann Christian Reil......Page 277 7.2. Katzenclavier, or cat-piano......Page 293 7.3. Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland......Page 304 8.1. Erasmus Darwin......Page 321 A.1. Plate from Luigi Galvani, De viribus electricitatis......Page 339 A.2. Plate from Alexander von Humboldt, Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser......Page 341 10.1. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe......Page 345 10.2. Carl August, duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach......Page 377 10.3. Charlotte von Stein......Page 379 10.4. Apartments of Charlotte von Stein......Page 381 10.5. The river Ilm......Page 385 10.6. Justus Christian Loder......Page 389 10.7. Anatomieturm in Jena......Page 391 10.8. Illustration of the human intermaxillary bone......Page 392 10.9. Goethe in apartment in Rome......Page 407 10.10. Emma Lyon......Page 409 10.11. Anatomy sketch by Goethe......Page 413 11.1. Christiane Vulpius......Page 433 11.2. Goethe’s house on Der Frauenplan......Page 435 11.3. Gardens at the rear of Goethe’s house on Der Frauenplan......Page 436 11.4. Megatherium drawn by D’Alton......Page 505 11.5. Lorenz Oken......Page 515 11.6. Bust of Oken in Jena......Page 523 12.1. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe......Page 526 12.2. Dedication page to Goethe by Alexander von Humboldt......Page 529 14.1. Charles Darwin......Page 548 14.2. Richard Owen......Page 550 14.3. Richard Owen’s illustration of the vertebrate archetype......Page 551 14.4. Charles Darwin......Page 569 14.5. Charles Darwin......Page 574 Plate 5. Alexander von Humboldt......Page 15 Acknowledgments......Page 16 Prologue......Page 18 1 Introduction: A Most Happy Encounter......Page 22 The Historical Meaning of Naturphilosophie and Romantic Biology......Page 27 Part One: The Early Romantic Movement in Literature, Philosophy, and Science......Page 36 2 The Early Romantic Movement......Page 38 Wilhelm and Friedrich Schlegel......Page 44 Novalis: The Romantic Personality......Page 46 Caroline Böhmer and the Mainz Revolution......Page 57 The Schlegels in Jena: The Break with Schiller and the Politics of Romanticism......Page 66 Fichte, the Philosopher of Freedom......Page 80 The Salons of Berlin......Page 112 Friedrich Schleiermacher: The Poetics and Erotics of Religion......Page 115 Friedrich Schlegel’s Aesthetic Theory......Page 126 3 Schelling: The Poetry of Nature......Page 135 Schelling’s Early Life......Page 137 Naturphilosophie......Page 149 Schelling in Jena......Page 168 Transcendental Idealism and Poetic Construction......Page 172 Schelling’s Affair with Caroline and the Tragedy of Auguste......Page 187 Schelling’s Identity Philosophy......Page 197 4 Denouement: Farewell to Jena......Page 214 Part Two: Scientific Foundations of the Romantic Conception of Life......Page 226 5 Early Theories of Development: Blumenbach and Kant......Page 228 Embryology and Theories of Descent in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries......Page 232 Blumenbach’s Theory of the Bildungstrieb......Page 237 Kant’s Theory of Biological Explanation......Page 250 6 Kielmeyer and the Organic Powers of Nature......Page 259 Lecture on Organic Forces......Page 262 Theory of Species Origin and Transformation......Page 267 Critique of Kant and the Idealists......Page 269 7 Johann Christian Reil’s Romantic Theories of Life and Mind, or Rhapsodies on a Cat-Piano......Page 273 Early Training and Practice......Page 274 Lebenskraft......Page 276 Studies of Mental Illness......Page 282 The Romantic Movement in Halle......Page 294 The Romantic Naturphilosoph......Page 299 Final Years: War and Romance......Page 303 8 Schelling’s Dynamic Evolutionism......Page 310 Biological Treatises......Page 312 Critical Analysis of the Biological Theories of Contemporaries......Page 313 Nature as a Dynamically Shifting Balance of Forces......Page 315 Theory of Dynamic Evolution......Page 319 9 Conclusion: Mechanism, Teleology, and Evolution......Page 328 Appendix: Theories of Irritability, Sensibility, and Vital Force from Haller to Humboldt......Page 334 Part Three: Goethe, a Genius for Poetry, Morphology, and Women......Page 344 10 The Erotic Authority of Nature......Page 346 Growing Up in Frankfurt......Page 351 University Education......Page 355 The Law, Herder, and Lotte......Page 360 The Weimar Councillor and the Frustrated Lover......Page 376 The Science of Goethe’s First Weimar Period......Page 386 The Unity of Biological Nature: Goethe’s Discovery of the Zwischenkiefer in Human Beings......Page 388 The Impact of Spinoza......Page 397 Goethe’s Italian Journey: Art, Nature, and the Female......Page 403 Conclusion......Page 425 11 Goethe’s Scienti.c Revolution......Page 428 Homecoming......Page 430 The Foundations of Morphology......Page 434 Friendship with Schiller and Induction into the Kantian Philosophy......Page 442 The Science of Morphology......Page 455 The Romantic Circle and Schelling......Page 478 Zur Morphologie......Page 492 The Vertebral Theory of the Skull: Goethe’s Dispute with Oken and the Truth of Memory......Page 512 12 Conclusion: The History of a Life in Art and Science......Page 524 Part Four: Epilogue......Page 530 13 The Romantic Conception of Life......Page 532 14 Darwin’s Romantic Biology......Page 535 The Romantic Movement......Page 537 Darwin’s Romantic Conception of Nature......Page 543 Romantic Nature in the Origin of Species......Page 547 Darwin’s Theory of Morals......Page 561 Conclusion......Page 573 Bibliography......Page 576 Index......Page 594