ABSTRACT
Two forms of thought are equally fundamental for Johann Wolfgang Goethe the naturalist and Goethe the poet: morphology and symbolism. This chapter explores the relationship between these two fundamental forms of thought, their similarities and convergences as well as their differences and divergences. It outlines Goethe's morphological thinking as it presents itself in the mid-1790s, following a decade of intense study and practice on Goethe's part. The chapter focuses on a note made in 1796 in which he develops the methodological principle of his morphology. It looks at the epistemological 'primal scene' of Goethe's theory of the symbol. The chapter explains Schiller's critique of the Goethean conception of symbolic objects. It proposes to ask in which way the thought forms of morphology and symbolism can contribute to the cognizability and representation of totality and how they may become relevant for a reflection on the unity of historical events.
