r0b’s Reviews > The Disinherited Mind: Essays in Modern German Literature and Thought > Status Update
r0b
is on page 14 of 306
On Goethe’s concept of the Urpflanze (archetypal plant)...’Everything is leaf’ is Goethe’s final finding, but he is perfectly aware of that verbal embarrassments and misunderstandings that such a theory must needs produce; he himself anticipated the objections which Helmholtz was later to raise to this monistic simplification, showing the tautological character of Goethe’s theory...
— Jul 05, 2020 01:35PM
1 like · Like flag
r0b’s Previous Updates
r0b
is on page 268 of 306
'Experience is to the empiricist what the sand is to the ostrich's head...Uncertainty alone is ineluctably real.'
— Jun 29, 2021 10:24AM
r0b
is on page 260 of 306
Nicht Gott, nur alles leugn' ich, was ihn leugnet, Und wenn er will, ist alles wunderbar.
The satirist Karl Kraus brought to life a world whose every breath was a denial of God's designs, and was the chaos that decided that His will should not be done.
— Jun 29, 2021 10:05AM
The satirist Karl Kraus brought to life a world whose every breath was a denial of God's designs, and was the chaos that decided that His will should not be done.
r0b
is on page 241 of 306
On Karl Kraus:
'His work is untranslatable....
This rare fusion of spontaneity and subtlety, of ethical integrity and intellectual complexity, he [Karl Kraus] shares...with Kierkegaard and, in modern German literature, only with Franz Kafka.'
I love Karl Kraus.
— Jun 28, 2021 12:30PM
'His work is untranslatable....
This rare fusion of spontaneity and subtlety, of ethical integrity and intellectual complexity, he [Karl Kraus] shares...with Kierkegaard and, in modern German literature, only with Franz Kafka.'
I love Karl Kraus.
r0b
is on page 241 of 306
On Karl Kraus:
'His work is untranslatable....
This rare fusion of spontaneity and subtlety, of ethical integrity and intellectual complexity, he [Karl Kraus] shares...with Kierkegaard and, in modern German literature, only with Franz Kafka.'
— Jun 28, 2021 12:29PM
'His work is untranslatable....
This rare fusion of spontaneity and subtlety, of ethical integrity and intellectual complexity, he [Karl Kraus] shares...with Kierkegaard and, in modern German literature, only with Franz Kafka.'
r0b
is on page 200 of 306
'Oswald Spengler believed that he had found the new centre of gravity for history...
The problem was present right at the beginning of modern historical thought. Vico knew it, and, of course, Herder...For the purely empiricist concept of history is hopelessly spoilt as soon as the question of meaning or pattern is raised.'
— Jun 15, 2021 09:57PM
The problem was present right at the beginning of modern historical thought. Vico knew it, and, of course, Herder...For the purely empiricist concept of history is hopelessly spoilt as soon as the question of meaning or pattern is raised.'
r0b
is on page 168 of 306
‘Heidegger...is said to have remarked that his philosophy is merely the unfolding in thought of what Rilke has expressed poetically...’
— Jun 06, 2021 01:11PM
r0b
is on page 157 of 306
‘It [writing poetry] is the difficulty of translating spiritual convictions into living convictions.’
— Jun 05, 2021 11:27AM
r0b
is on page 135 of 306
‘...the denial of pain means the denial of existence. Existence is pain, and joy lies not in non-existence, as Schopenhauer would have it, but in its tragic transfiguration.’
— Jun 01, 2021 11:50PM
r0b
is on page 135 of 306
‘We shall come to see Rilke as the St. Francis of the Will to Power.‘
— May 31, 2021 10:19PM
Comments Showing 1-7 of 7 (7 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Mesoscope
(new)
Jul 06, 2020 12:20AM
It's worth emphasizing that Goethe was very clear in stating that the Urpflanze was a mental abstraction, not an actual thing.
reply
|
flag
Yes, just reading now about his Urphänomen, which makes me think of Meister Eckhart...
It ultimately all goes back to the Neoplatonists, I daresay. I've never seen the Christian mystic who didn't essentially recapitulate Plotinus and Proclus. If Goethe's biographer Rüdiger Safranski is to be believed, the status of this Urphänomen was the essence of Goethe's disagreement Schiller, and the fulcrum of their productive antagonism: Schiller thought the idea was primary and the actual thing derivative, and Goethe held the reverse conviction. They both worked toward the same center from opposite sides, and thus had a kind of creative complementarity. That does seem right to me.
Barnaby wrote: "It ultimately all goes back to the Neoplatonists, I daresay. I've never seen the Christian mystic who didn't essentially recapitulate Plotinus and Proclus. If Goethe's biographer Rüdiger Safransk..."
Ah, the Neoplatonists! Of course, thanks for reminding me about them...it’s been almost 30 years since I read Plotinus, I really should get back to it soon...
And your comment on the ‘productive antagonism’ between Goethe and Schiller is very interesting. I am a little tempted to get sidetracked with Goethe for awhile but I am going to resist as I really want to get to Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty (after I finish Kant’s CPR, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel...so if I’m lucky maybe I can start focusing on Goethe before I turn 70! ;)
I think it's fair to hold off on Goethe, especially if you plan to study German - the more you know when you take him on, the more likely you are to have a good experience, I think.FWIW I'd suggest focusing on Heidegger's Being and Time. It was a key book in my personal development, and for me, it contains most of what I've found useful in his philosophy.
Barnaby wrote: "I think it's fair to hold off on Goethe, especially if you plan to study German - the more you know when you take him on, the more likely you are to have a good experience, I think.FWIW I'd sugge..."
Yes, perhaps I’ll slowly work on my German and gradually, occasionally sneak a bit of Goethe in along the way...that’s my plan also for reading Proust and learning French :)
Barnaby wrote: “I'd suggest focusing on Heidegger's Being and Time. ..."
That’s the one I’m going to start with! :)