Nature (Tobler essay)
"Nature" (German: "Die Natur") is an essay by Georg Christoph Tobler which is often incorrectly attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was first published in 1783 in the Tiefurt Journal.[1] Tobler wrote the essay after repeated conversations with Goethe.[1]
![](../I/m/Nature_cover%2C_November_4%2C_1869.jpg)
The first issue of Nature, in which the essay is incorrectly attributed to 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.[2]
In the first issue of Nature magazine, published on Nov 4, 1869, T. H. Huxley submitted an English translation of the essay, titled "Nature: Aphorisms by Goethe".[3]
Sigmund Freud wrote that a public recitation of the essay, which Freud refers to as "the incomparably beautiful essay by Goethe", led him to study medicine.[2]
Notes
- Nicholas Boyle, Goethe: The Poet and The Age: The Poetry of Desire. p339 Oxford, 1992
- Walter Kaufmann, Discovering The Mind: Freud Versus Adler and Jung p33 McGraw-Hill, 1980
- nature.com
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