ABSTRACT
At the time of the Erfurt Congress Goethe was putting the finishing touches to the main section of his Farbenlehre, dealing with the conflict of light with darkness. Colours he calls ‘exploits and sufferings of light’. Since the catastrophe of 1806 he has been working feverishly on it, sending everything to the printer as soon as it is ready, in constant fear that the times may put an end to his life’s work. For it is as a basis of his existence that he regards his doctrine and not merely as a modest contribution to scientific research. Only in this light can the book be understood. It is not science but a doctrine of life, based on his highly personal fundamental viewpoints. These he formulated more specifically, in a conversation with Schiller, as the polarity of all things and the principle of enhancement. Goethe’s own nature is composed of polar opposites; his own enhancement, his own constant development, is his aim. His problem is to find examples and proofs of this in the world of natural phenomena.
