Article ID: CBB107142269

Sexual Division and the New Mythology: Goethe and Schelling (2020)

unapi

The new mythology for which the German Romantic period called was not envisioned as antithetical to empiricism or experiential/experimental knowledge, but rather as emerging in dialogue with it to form a cultural foundation for such inquiry. Central to the mytho-scientific project were problematic theories of sexual division and generativity that established cultural baselines. This article examines the mythological investments of two influential thinkers of the period—Goethe and Schelling. It then analyzes Goethe’s unique merger of mythological approaches to sex and generation with empirical observation in The Metamorphosis of Plants. It next traces Schelling’s expansion of Goethe’s theories of nature beyond their empirical justifications to develop a metaphysics of sexual differentiation. Finally, the article illuminates Goethe’s final reply to the sexual dynamics of Naturphilosophie at the end of his life, through the analysis of a single poem, “Finding Again,” in the collection God and World. Ultimately and in spite of its empirical commitments, Goethe’s more flexible view of sexual correlations would lose ground to the powerful metaphysical mythology of sexual opposition as both scientific and cultural bedrock.

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Authors & Contributors
Goldstein, Amanda Jo
Furniss, Tom
Fletcher, Joseph
Balogh, Piroska
Verderame, Michael
Lettow, Susanne
Concepts
Romanticism
Science and literature
Poetry and poetics
Literary analysis
Philosophy
Nature and its relationship to culture; human-nature relationships
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
Enlightenment
20th century
Ancient
Places
Germany
Scotland
South America
United States
Hungary
Greece
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