Goethe's World View
GA 6
Observations about Atmospheric Phenomena
[ 1 ] In 1815, Goethe became acquainted with Luke Howard's "Attempt at a Natural History and Physics of Clouds". This inspired him to think more deeply about cloud formations and weather conditions. He had already made and recorded a number of observations about these phenomena. However, he lacked "prudence and scientific connections" when it came to compiling his experiences. In Howard's essay, the manifold cloud formations are traced back to certain basic forms. Goethe now finds his way into meteorology, which had previously remained foreign to him, because it was impossible for him to gain anything from the way this branch of knowledge was treated in his time. "To grasp the whole complex of meteorology as it is tabulated by numbers and symbols ... was impossible to my nature; I was pleased to find an integrating part of it appropriate to my inclination and way of life, and because in this infinite universe everything stands in eternal, certain relationship, one producing the other or being produced alternately, I sharpened my gaze to that which can be grasped by the sense of sight and accustomed myself to harmonize the relationships of atmospheric and earthly phenomena with barometer and thermometer..."
[ 2 ] Since the position of the barometer is precisely related to all weather conditions, it soon became the focus of Goethe's observations of atmospheric conditions. The longer he continued these observations, the more he believed to recognize that the rise and fall of the mercury in the barometer at various "nearer and more distant, no less at different longitudes, latitudes and altitudes" occurs in such a way that a rise or fall at one place corresponds to an almost equal rise or fall at all other places at the same times. From this regularity of barometric changes Goethe draws the conclusion that no extraterrestrial influences can have an effect on them. If one ascribes such an influence to the moon, the planets, the seasons, if one speaks of ebb and flow in the atmosphere, then the regularity is not explained. All these influences would have to assert themselves at the same time in the most diverse ways in different places. Only if the cause of these changes lies within the earth itself can they be explained, says Goethe. Since the level of mercury depends on the pressure of the air, Goethe imagines that the earth alternately compresses and expands the entire atmosphere. If the air is compressed, its pressure increases and the mercury rises; the reverse takes place when it expands. Goethe attributes this alternating contraction and expansion of the entire air mass to a variability to which the gravitational pull of the earth is subject. He sees the increase and decrease of this force as being due to a certain life of the earth itself and compares it to the inhalation and exhalation of an organism.
[ 3 ] Accordingly, Goethe does not think of the earth as merely mechanically effective. Just as he does not explain geological processes in purely mechanical and physical terms, neither does he do so with barometric fluctuations. His view of nature is in sharp contrast to the modern view. The latter, according to its general principles, seeks to understand atmospheric processes physically. Temperature differences in the atmosphere cause differences in air pressure in different places, generate air currents from warmer to colder areas, increase or decrease the moisture content, and produce cloud formation and precipitation. These and similar factors explain the fluctuations in air pressure and thus the rise and fall of the barometer. Goethe's idea of an increase and decrease in the force of attraction also contradicts modern mechanical concepts. According to these, the strength of the force of attraction is always the same in one place.
[ 4 ] Goethe only applies mechanical concepts to the extent that it appears to him to be required by observation.