Abide water, you are beautiful! Thales of Miletus and the Neptunians in Goethe’s Faust

Tales

In the scientific world of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, during the time of Johann Wolfgang Goethe, author of Faust, the question of the origin of rocks was hotly debated. Supporters of the hypothesis of their formation in an aquatic environment clashed with proponents of the volcanic theory. The German writer included this theme in his literary work and seemed to have settled the dispute. However, time has shown that he was wrong.

Thales – the sage from Miletus

Not a single word written down by Thales of Miletus has survived to this day. Admittedly, the authorship of the nautical star chart is attributed to him, but it is not certain. References to the works of the famous philosopher come from the works of later authors: Aristophanes and Aristotle. Undoubtedly, he was widely regarded as a man with a reputation as a sage, as evidenced by one of the ancient sayings: He is a veritable Tales!

It is known that he was a Greek who lived in the late 7th and early 6th centuries. B.C. and came from a wealthy family from Miletus, an Ionian city that today lies within Turkey. He distinguished himself by working for the development of mathematics and astronomy, was involved in social life and politics, and reportedly loved sports. Today he is among the canon of the seven most important sages of the ancient world.

Among his most important achievements is measuring the height of the Egyptian pyramids, as well as accurately determining the date of the solar eclipse in 585 BC. From today’s perspective, this is all the more amazing because Tales didn’t even know the Earth was spherical. He was of the opinion that it was a flat disk, surrounded by water on all sides. His philosophical conviction, according to which everything is made of water, was made of water and is composed of water, has its origin in this assumption. Aristotle wrote of him thus:

He claimed that water is a principle (which is why he argued that the earth floats on water). Probably he came to this conclusion by way of observation that food is moist and that heat itself is formed from moisture and lives by it (and that from what something is formed is the principle of all things). Based on this fact that the seeds of all things have a moist nature, he conceived the idea that water is the natural origin of all moist things. (U. Maroon)

It is puzzling that Tales made a correct conclusion from an incorrect assumption (the earth is a circle floating on water): water is necessary for the origin of life. In antiquity, this was one of the many ideas about the basis of the functioning of the universe, firmly anchored in the cosmological myths of the time. The idea of recognizing water as a life-giving quality is still present in European culture today. He also appears in the masterpiece of German literature, Faust.

How to become human?

Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) spent 50 years creating his masterpiece. It was not published in full until after his death, in 1833. The second part of this drama is largely set in an aquatic setting. Together with the main character we move to Greek Thessaly, and the background of the events is the area around Olympus and the Penejos (Pinios) river, which winds between the mountain ranges and flows into the Aegean Sea. Today, its mouth is located at the height of the town of Nea Mesangala and opens up the tourist land known as the Olympic Riviera.

In the book, the reader follows Faust along with Faust upstream of the Penejos River, from its mouth to its source. The guide is Mephistopheles, who, although he has the powers of hell, is not a classic negative hero. This is evidenced, for example, by the plot of the Homunculus character created in Faust’s alchemical laboratory. A slightly glowing, animated miniature of a hermaphrodite man housed in a small glass vial was named after him. It is a symbol of the essence of human potential, élan vital, which is yet to become human. However, in order for this to happen, an activator is needed – in modern language. And here the question arises: in what environment should the dwarf break the limiting glass to activate his sparkling potential to become human?

Mephistopheles twice advises him: look for the way yourself!, but Homunculus will not look for answers on his own. He decides to ask for support from those he considers wiser than himself: the philosophers of the two scientific factions “who know the essence of being.” The sympathetic and almost benevolent towards human nature Mephisto already only good-naturedly points out the decision of the dwarf: You, my dear, / if you do not stray, you will not get wiser!

Neptunians vs Plutonians

Homunculus will be persuaded by two pre-Socratic philosophers: the aforementioned Tales of Miletus (7th/Vth century BC) and Anaxagoras (6th/Vth century BC). The memory of the former survives through the aforementioned thesis that the main principle of life(arche) is water and it is the source of life. For the other, on the other hand, the basis was volcanic fire. So the dwarf was choosing between beating the limiting vial in an aquatic environment or a chthonic one. The creative activator was to be water or fire.

In this way, Goethe brought into the pages of his drama a contemporary discussion of geology, then called mineralogy, and included in natural history. The crux of this discussion was a non-trivial problem: the question of the origin of the rocks. Both of the ancient philosophers Goethe evoked had their counterparts in the scientific world of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Tales symbolized the faction of Neptunists, which was represented by German geologist and mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817). They argued that the rocks were formed by the crystallization of minerals in the aquatic environment, especially in the oceans of the young Earth. Anaxagoras, on the other hand, became an exponent of Platonist views being of the opinion that rocks were formed as a result of the Earth’s geological activity and are the result of volcanic processes, among other things. magma solidification. One of the leading proponents of this hypothesis was the discoverer of cyclic geological processes, Scottish geologist James Hutton (1726-1797).

Over time, the history of science has conceded the Platonists’ point. Nevertheless, Goethe sided with the Neptunists and it was their theories that he favored in Faust. Why was the aquatic hypothesis more attractive to him? The key to answering this question is the figure of the aforementioned Thales of Miletus. The belief that rocks are formed in an aquatic environment was to be an extension of his hypothesis that all life comes from water. Along with Goethe, Tales was trusted by his hero Homunculus.

Abide water, you are beautiful!

The further course of events in Faust took a mythological form. Dwarf, along with Thales, traveled across the Aegean Sea until they reached Proteus, the shape-shifting deity. He declared that it is not possible to become human suddenly, because it is a gradual process of growth, from simpler to more complex forms. He added that this transformation is served by a specific environment: Nothing will change you here, / you need to start trials in the maritime space. He then transformed himself into a dolphin and took Homunculus to the depths of the sea, as only there could he experience the gradual transformation. So it was the water environment that was to contribute to his transformation into a human being.

In the sea depths, the flame of the Dwarf, enclosed in a glass vial, was more visible, but unexpectedly it began to drift in the path of the watery retinue of Galatea, daughter of the god of the seas, personifying the sea Aphrodite, who was passing that way. The vial of Homunculus crashed into her throne, which resulted in the fusion of the inner spark of the Dwarf with the symbol of female love. The activator of human potential became not only the water environment, but the momentary fusion of the element of fire and water in the female form. The result was an explosion of gilded, rainbow colors spilling into the rippling watery space. This life-giving act gave Homunculus humanity.

Then, under the pen of Goethe, the awe-inspiring Tales delivered praise of water as the eternal principle that creates life and the beauty of our world:

Joy blossoms in me, a joy that is overflowing,
– I shout my desire and cry out: – glory! glory! glory!
What a great beauty of true beauty,
is born and arises from almost pure water
and in the water the entity has everything! – Holy Ocean,
in thee is the grace of life and existence’s rulership!
If you didn’t send clouds,
Had you not developed the rivers,
If you didn’t drink the rains,
if you didn’t pass the land –
What would be mountains, valleys and worlds?
you breathe eternal new life aromas into them!

It is worth remembering that although these words are spoken in Faust by an ancient sage, they are an expression of the aquatic fascination that Goethe himself displayed. His confidence in Thales’ thought was downright idealistic. He could certainly say, paraphrasing the words of the main character: last water, you are beautiful!


In the article, I used, among others. From the works:

Gadamska-Serafin R., Abysses, gorges, volcanoes, and treasures of the fossil world in the writings of Polish Caucasians, in: Literary Journeys to the Interior of the Earth. Study, ed. Science. J. Ławski and M. Burzka-Janik. Bialystok 2020, pp. 259-324.
Goethe J.W., Faust, Part 2. , translated by. E. Zegadłowicz, Warsaw 1953.
Maron U., Tales of Miletus,in: The New Acropolis.
Tales, in: Collins. Philosophy. Encyclopedic dictionary, ed. G. Vesey, P. Foulkes, collective translation, Warsaw 1997, pp. 316-317.

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