Goethe, Galton, and Wittgenstein Syllabus

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Philosophy 21810 / 31810 / Art History 27302 / 37302 Professors: James Conant and Joel Snyder

Resemblance and Family Resemblance: Goethe, Galton, and Wittgenstein

Syllabus Fall, 2006

Course Description

This course will critically examine and explore the possibility of forms of unity and their representation that do not fit into the main categories of representation traditionally allowed for by philosophers – such as the category of singular representation (such as intuitions or definite descriptions) or general representation (such as concepts or diagrams). The course will fall into four parts: (1) a setting of the stage with a discussion of some traditional philosophical views on the topic of the nature and formation of ideas and the sort of unity that supposedly characterizes them, focusing especially on the opposing theories of Locke and Kant; we will then turn to an examination of the writings and central ideas of the three main authors who will be concerned with in this course—first of all, (2) those of the German poet, philosopher and scientist, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and his conception of archetypical phenomena and their representation, then (3) those of the British psychologist, naturalist and inventor, Francis Galton, his remarkable method of composite photography, and his various reflections on the nature and significance of such representations, and, finally, (4) those of the Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein and his reasons for being interested in the ideas of both Goethe and Galton in the context of his own quest for forms of perspicuous representation.

Prerequisites & Course Requirements

The only formal prerequisite for this course is at least one previous course in either philosophy or art history (or the equivalent thereof in the Committee on Visual Arts). The course will be open to both undergraduate and graduate students. The course requirements for undergraduates and graduate students will be a final paper (10-15 pages) and a take-home final exam—each worth 50% of your final grade.

1 Readings

The following three books are required for the course and can be purchased at the Seminary Co- Op Bookstore:

1. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Theory of Colours, M.I.T. Press

2. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Blackwell

Most of the readings for the course, however, will not be from the above books. There will also be assigned reading excerpts for each week that the class meets. Most of these will be available on e-reserve/Chalk. Additional readings will be posted on Chalk. If you miss any classes, you are responsible for getting in touch with one of the professors and keeping yourself informed with regard to any additional readings that may have been assigned.

Schedule of Course Meetings

I. Philosophical Background

Sept. 25 Introductory remarks.

Sept. 27 Locke abstractionist theory of ideas

Oct. 2 Problems with abstractionism as a theory of ideas

Oct. 4 Kant on intuitions, concepts, and judgment

Oct. 9 Kant on intellectual intuition and intuitive understanding

II. Goethe’s Quest for Archetypical Phenomena

Oct. 11 Goethe’s reaction to Kant

Oct. 16 Goethe’s original conception of archetypal phenomena

Oct. 18 Goethe’s theory scientific method

Oct. 23 Goethe’s theory of biology

Oct. 25 Goethe’s theory of color

III. Galton’s Quest for Generic Images

Oct. 30 Galton on composite portraiture I

Nov. 1 Galton on composite portraiture II

Nov. 6 Galton on generic images

Nov. 8 Galton on the measurement of resemblance & personal identification and description

Nov. 13 Ginzburg, Daston & Galison on Goethe and Galton

IV. Wittgenstein’s Quest for that form of Understanding which Consists in Seeing Connections

Nov. 15 Wittgenstein on Galton, Hookway on Peirce

Nov. 20 Wittgenstein on family resemblance

Nov. 22 Wittgenstein & Goethe

Nov. 27 Wittgenstein on rule-following

Nov. 29 Wittgenstein on aspect-perception

Schedule of Reading Assignments

In the schedule of readings below, readings that are on electronic reserve are marked with a single asterisk; readings that are on Chalk are marked with a double asterisk. All other reading assignments are from the required texts for the course.

Sept. 25 Introductory meeting: no assigned reading.

Sept. 27 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book III, chapter 3

Oct. 2 Peter Geach, Mental Acts, Chaps. 5-11

3 Oct. 4 Immanuel Kant, Logic, selections Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, selections

Oct. 9 Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, further selections Kant, Critique of Judgment, §§76 & 77. Eckart Förster, “The Significance of §§76 and 77 of the Critique of Judgment for the Development of Post-Kantian Philosophy”

Oct. 11 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Scientific Studies, selections Eckart Förster, “Hegel’s Debt to Goethe”

Oct. 16 Goethe, Scientific Studies, further selections Goethe, Italian Journey, selection Ernst Cassirer, “The Idea of Metamorphosis and Idealistic Morphology”

Oct. 18 Goethe, Theory of Colours, selections Goethe, Scientific Studies, further selections Robert C. Richards, The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe, selection

Oct. 23 Goethe, Scientific Studies, further selections

Oct. 25 Goethe, Theory of Colours, further selections Dennis Sepper, Goethe contra Newton, selection

Oct. 30 Francis Galton, “Composite Portraits made by combining those of many different persons into a single resultant figure” Galton, Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development, selection

Nov. 1 Galton, “Combined Portraits and the Combination of Sense Impressions Generally” Galton, “Composite Portraiture”

Nov. 6 Galton, “Generic Images” Galton, “Mental Imagery”

Nov. 8 Galton “The Measurement of Resemblance” Galton, “Personal Identification and Description” Galton, “Thought Without Words”

Nov. 13 Carlo Ginzburg, “Family Resemblances and Family Trees” Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison, “The Image of Objectivity”

Nov. 15 Wittgenstein, “Lecture on Ethics”, Philosophical Occasions, pp. 37-38

4 Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, I, §§90-92, 122, 126, 133, 185-201, 415, 654; II, §12 (p. 230) Wittgenstein, “Remarks on Frazer’s Golden Bough”, Philosophical Occasions, pp. 121-133 (especially pp. 131, 133) Wittgenstein, Blue and Brown Books, pp. 17-18 Christopher Hookway, “ ‘… a sort of composite photograph’: Pragmatism, Ideas, and Schematism”

Nov. 20 Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, I, §§66-77 Renford Bambrough, “Universals and Family Resemblances” Warren Goldfarb, “Wittgenstein on Fixity of Meaning”

Nov. 22 Wittgenstein, Remarks on Color, I §§1–17, 56, 71-73, II §16, III §§57, 125–131, 206, 251 Wittgenstein, Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology, Vol. 1, §§889, 949-950 Ray Monk, Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, selection Mark Rowe, “Goethe and Wittgenstein” Joachim Schulte, “Goethe and Wittgenstein on Morphology”

Also recommended:

Baker and Hacker, “Übersicht” from Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning Mark Rowe, “Wittgenstein’s Romantic Inheritance” Alfred Nordman, “‘I have changed his way of seeing’: Goethe, Lichtenberg, and Wittgenstein”

Nov. 27 Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Pt. I, §§185-201 Saul Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language, selection John McDowell, “Wittgenstein on Following a Rule”

Nov. 29 Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Pt. II, §11 (especially pp. 193-200, 212-213) Stephen Mulhall, On Being in the World, selection Stephen Mulhall, “Seeing Aspects” Avner Baz, “What’s the Point of Seeing Aspects?”