Active reading of this book can heal the mind/body split that has tormented thinking people for centuries. It shows that my ideas belong not only to me but also to the world I perceive with my physical senses. “Whoever lives the true life in the world of ideas, feels working in himself the being of the world in a warmth that cannot be compared to anything else (p. 163).”
Preface to the New Edition, 1918 ................. ... ......... .... ........ ...... ...... 1
Preface to the First Edition, 1897 .............. ................ ....... ................ 2
Introduction .............. .................................. ...... .. ........ ...................... 7
I. Goethe's Place in the Development of Western Thought
Goethe and Schiller .......... .......................... .......... ................ ... ....... 1 0
The Platonic World View .......... .............. ........... .... .. .. ..... .. ............. 14
The Consequences of the Platonic World View .......... ................... 21
Goethe and the Platonic World View ........... .. .. .... .......... ................ 31
Personality and World View .. .......... ...... ............ .... .......... ... ....... ... .45
The Metamorphosis of World Phenomena .......... .... .. ...... ... .. .......... 57
II. Goethe's View on the Nature and Development of Living Beings
Metamorphosis .. ....... .. ... ................................ ................ .. ............... 74
III. The Contemplation of the World of Colors
The Phenomena of the World of Colors ............... .. .......... ... ..... .... 11 7
IV. Thoughts about the Developmental History of the Phenomena of Earth and Air
Thoughts about the Developmental History of the Earth ..... ........ 142
Observations about Atmospheric Phenomena .... ...... ............ .... .... 148
V. Goethe and Hegel ................................. .................................. 151
Epilogue to the New Edition of 1918 .... ..... .. ......... .... ........... ... 155