Abstract
The lexeme Materie (matter) and related terms occur hundreds of times across Goethe’s oeuvre. Goethe’s concept of matter sits within the philosophical tradition of hylomorphism, as illustrated by his geological work on the subject, which foregrounds the extent to which he was influenced by earlier thinkers in that field. Nevertheless, his understanding of matter as a vibrant, vital entity is also strikingly modern, and in this respect it evinces parallels to contemporary ecocriticism and New Materialist thought.
Publisher
University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
Reference22 articles.
1. Adams, Frank Dawson. The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences. London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 1938.
2. Bennett, Jane. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2010.
3. Caygill, Howard. “Life and Energy.” Theory, Culture & Society 24, no. 6 (2007):19–27.
4. Crutzen, Paul J. “The ‘Anthropocene.’” In Earth System Science in the Anthropocene, edited by Eckart Ehlers and Thomas Krafft, 13¬–18. Berlin: Springer, 2006.
5. Damm, Sigrid and Hamster Damm. ‘Geheimnissvoll Offenbar’: Goethe im Berg. Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 2009.