OF NATURE. 611 



desire to gain a deeper insight into the very essence 

 and meaning of the world which surrounds us, have 

 attached themselves to the views that have found 

 expression in the poetical and artistic representation 

 of nature ; nor is it merely accidental, it is, indeed, 

 highly significant, that the nineteenth century, which 

 has witnessed the ever louder proclamation of the 

 mechanical conception, has, on the other side, witnessed 

 the growth, in various forms, of naturalism in 

 poetry and art : it has developed not only the 

 mechanical, but also the poetical, interpretation of 

 Nature. 



This naturalistic tendency in poetry and fiction showed 

 itself already in the latter half of the previous century, 

 and this independently in the three countries which 

 specially interest us. The greatest influence, however, 

 which this movement has had upon philosophical thought 

 emanated from the personality and works of Goethe, to 

 whom we may trace back most of the attempts which 

 have been made abroad to supplement the purely mech- 

 anical (abstract) by a spiritual philosophy of nature, 

 which latter claims to approach nearer to her real essence 

 than the former does. It is also notable in Goethe's 

 conception of nature that, in spite of all the realism 

 which is characteristic of it, the one aspect towards 

 which it is absolutely blind is the mathematical aspect. 



Following up a suggestion to which the history of 45. 



G06tll6 £IS 



philosophical thought has already led us on sundry representa 

 occasions, we may say that the peculiar view of nature ^4°^^'"*^ 

 represented by Goethe, as well as by some of the fore- 



