ABSTRACT
In this passage Goethe draws our attention to a problematic phenomenon, widely recognized in world literature, philosophy, and psychology; not to mention in everyday experience. Or as Goethe put it elsewhere more trenchantly: ‘The empirical-ethical world consists for the most part only of bad will and’ – here comes the key word – ‘envy [Neid]’ (Goethe 1960 [1907]: 520).
