"Nature" (german: Die Natur) is an essay by Georg Christoph Tobler which is often incorrectly attributed to
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
. It was first published in 1783 in the ''Tiefurt Journal''.
[Nicholas Boyle, Goethe: The Poet and The Age: The Poetry of Desire. p339 Oxford, 1992] Tobler wrote the essay after repeated conversations with Goethe.
The essay begins:
:Nature! We are surrounded and embraced by her—unable to step out of her and unable to penetrate her more deeply.
[ Walter Kaufmann, ''Discovering The Mind: Freud Versus Adler and Jung'' p33 McGraw-Hill, 1980]
In the first issue of
''Nature'' magazine, published on Nov 4, 1869,
T. H. Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The stor ...
submitted an English translation of the essay, titled "Nature: Aphorisms by Goethe".
nature.com
/ref>
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...
wrote that a public recitation of the essay, which Freud refers to as "the incomparably beautiful essay by Goethe", led him to study medicine.
Notes
External links
* Paul Carus
Paul Carus (; 18 July 1852 – 11 February 1919) was a German-American author, editor, a student of comparative religion
Goethe's Nature Philosophy
18th-century essays
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