Symbol and consciousness in phenomenology of J. W. Goethe

Abstract

This article is concerned with the prospects of philosophical knowledge in the 21st century against the background of “growing incompatibility of consciousness and culture” or “crisis of anthropos in the face of technos”. The article aims to clarify the contribution of J.W. Goethe in phenomenology of consciousness as an advanced field of the philosophical study. Novelty of the research methodology is achieved through the combination of the postmodern approach (“symbology”) developed by M.K. Mamardashvili and A.M. Pyatigoskiy and “philosophy of symbol” of “the first phenomenologist” J.W. Goethe. The author achieves her research objectives to conceptualize the Goethean phenomenological method and to determine future directions for its application by reviewing the research trends and findings of the current international studies conducted according to the “Goethean method”. This study focuses on the analysis of symbolism of intellectual perception represented in Goethe’s works. The phenomenological awareness of the process of thinking allows for “integrity” of human understanding, eliminates symbolization (superficiality), revitalizes creativity that can “connect all things in one”, distinguish “archetypes”, solve one task in different ways by moving beyond the subject-object relationship. Symbolically understood consciousness allows perceiving dialogic (subject-subjectivity) nature of thinking and constancy of co -existence of the “human-nature” and “human-culture” dimensions. Hence, this scientific method of the prominent German philosopher is otherwise named “eco-phenomenology”. Implications for future research the author of the article sees in a complete reinterpretation of the Goethean scientific and artistic heritage in the vein of his “philosophy of symbol”, which forecasted the advent of the Faustian era as well as suggested the ways to overcome the problem of postmodernist entropy.