Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Philosophical Writings

195 Pages·2012·0.96 MB·English

by  Lichtenberg

SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy
Dennis J. Schmidt, editor
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Philosophical Writings
Translated, Edited, and with an Introduction by Steven Tester
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2012 State University of New York
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Production by Eileen Meehan
Marketing by Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph, 1742–1799.
[Sudelb¸cher. English. Selections]
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg : philosophical writings, selected from the Waste books /
translated, edited, and with an introduction by Steven Tester.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in contemporary Continental philosophy) Includes bibliographical
references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4197-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Philosophy. I. Tester, Steven. II. Title. III.
Title: Philosophical writings, selected from the Waste books.
B2681.L43S83213 2012
193—dc23 2011021679
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
We can use Lichtenberg's writings as the most wonderful divining rod: where he
makes a joke, there a problem lies hidden.
—Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Acknowledgments
I am very grateful for the advice and assistance of my professors at
Northwestern University: Peter Fenves, for his mentorship and insightful
comments on the translations and introduction; Rachel Zuckert, for her
excellent comments on various drafts of the introduction; and Samuel
Weber, for his thoughtful reflections on the very notion of translation. The
comments of Rolf-Peter Horstmann and the participants in his weekly
colloquium at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have also been invaluable
for my understanding of Lichtenberg's place within eighteenth-century
German philosophy. The translations and introduction have also
benefited from my discussions with Alfred Nordmann and other members
of the Lichtenberg-Gesellschaft and from an anonymous referee's helpful
comments. For his assistance with proofreading and translating a few
difficult passages, I am also indebted to Karsten Schoellner. For any
errors or omissions in the text, I am of course solely responsible. The
Niedersächsische Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen and Dr.
Helmut Rohlfing have also been kind enough to grant permission to use
an image from Lichtenberg's notebooks, containing remark A 136, for the
cover of this edition. The editorial staff at State University of New York
Press has also been a pleasure to work with and a great help in
preparing this edition for publication. This translation and related
research would not have been possible without the generous support of
the Fulbright program, Northwestern University, the Rolf und Ursula
Schneider-Stiftung of the Herzog August Bibliothek, and the Steuben-
Schurz-Gesellschaft during the academic year 2008–09. I would also like
to thank my parents and brother for their support, my wife, Karen, for her
encouragement, and my daughter, Vivian, for her smiles.
Chronology
1742 Georg Christoph Lichtenberg born July 1 in Ober-Ramstadt
to Johann Conrad Lichtenberg and Henriette Katharina
(Eckhardt) as the youngest of seventeen children.
1752– Attended Därmstadter Pädigogium.
61
1763 Matriculation at Georg-August University in Göttingen,
where he studied mathematics and physics under Abraham
Gotthelf Kästner until 1767.
1764 Earliest preserved entries in his Waste Books.
1766 Astronomical work at the Göttingen observatorium under
Kästner. Publishes “Attempt at a Natural History of Bad
Poets, Particularly the Germans” and “On the Uses
Mathematics Can Provide for a Bel Esprit.”
1767 Finishes studies at Georg-August University.
1768 Begins Waste Book B (1768–1771).
1770 March–May, first trip to England. Appointed professor
extraordinarius. Inaugural paper entitled “Examination of
Some Methods for Resolving a Certain Difficulty in the
Calculation of Probability in Games of Chance,” on the
Petersburg Problem.
1773 Timorus, “Some Experiments with Polyps,” “On Comets.”
1774– Elected to Royal Society of Sciences in Göttingen. Second
75 visit to England. Edits and annotates Tobias Meyer's Opera
Inedita containing papers on astronomy, color theory, and
magnetism.
1776 Begins Waste Book F. “Observationes astronomicae per
1776 Begins Waste Book F. “Observationes astronomicae per
annum 1772 et 1773 ad situm Hannoverae, Osnabrugi et
Stadae determinandum institutae.”
1777 Discovers Lichtenberg Figures. Designates electricity with
the mathematical symbols + and −. Becomes editor of the
Göttingen Pocket Almanac.
1778 Begins his renowned lectures on experimental physics at
Georg-August University. “On Physiognomy; Against the
Physiognomists.”
1779 Begins editing Göttingen Magazine for Science and
Literature with Georg Forster. Continues research on
electricity.
1780 Address to Academy of Sciences entitled “Observationes
super dubiis quibusdam circa aptitudinem vulgatae
mensurae sortis.” Publishes “Orbis Pictus” and “A Most
Gracious Epistle from the Earth to the Moon.”
1781 “On the Pronunciation of the Sheep of Ancient Greece in
Comparison with Their Newer Brothers on the Elbe: Or, on
Beh Beh and Bäh Bäh.”
1782 Elected to Society of Natural Scientists in Halle. “On
Attempts Recently Undertaken in France to Cause Hollow
Bodies to Rise in the Air,” “Miscellaneous Thoughts on
Aerostatic Machines.” Review of Joseph Priestley's
Experiments and Observations Relating to Various
Branches of Natural Philosophy with a Continuation of the
Observations on Air (1781).
1783 Research on aerostatic machines, balloons, and gases.
Visit from Goethe. “Fragment on Tails,” “A Contribution to
Physiognomical Fragments,” “Orbis Pictus.”
1784 Edits third edition of Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben's
Foundations of the Natural Sciences. Three subsequent
editions appear in 1787, 1791, and 1794. Most likely begins
Waste Book H. “On Hogarth's Engravings.”
1787 “Continuation of Observations on the Cosmos,” “On
Comets.”
1791 “Amintor's Morning-Prayer.”
1793 Begins Waste Book K (1793–1796). Correspondence with
Goethe on the color theory (1792–1796). Elected to Royal
Society in London.
1794 Beginning of the appearance of “Commentaries on
Hogarth's Engravings.” Elected to Royal Academy of
Sciences St. Petersburg.
1795 “Geological Fantasies” and “Franklin's Geogony.”
1796 Waste Book L (1796–1799). Elected member of the Society
of Natural Scientists in Jena. “Does the Moon Rotate on Its
Axis?”
1798 Elected to Scientific Society of Holland. “I Wish You Were
on the Blocksberg,” “A Dream Like Many Dreams.”
1799 Lichtenberg dies on February 24 and is buried on February
28.
Note on the Edition, Text, and Translation
The texts that have come to be known as the Sudelbücher (Waste
Books) consist of fifteen notebooks kept by Lichtenberg from 1765 until
his death in 1799. Beginning with A, which consists of five notebooks,
each volume was designated by Lichtenberg himself with a letter of the
alphabet up to L. Notebooks G and H were lost in the nineteenth century;
notebook K was for the most part destroyed; and L is incomplete. The
remarks in this State University of New York Press edition were selected
from volumes 1 and 2 of the most recent edition of Lichtenberg's works,
Schriften und Briefe, edited by Wolfgang Promies (München: Carl Hanser
Verlag, 1968–), and follow the numbering of the Promies edition. The
Albert Leitzmann edition of the Waste Books, Georg Christoph
Lichtenbergs Aphorismen: Nach den Handschriften (Berlin: Behr, 1902–
1908) follows a different numbering scheme. Readers who wish to
research older secondary sources that follow the numbering of the
Leitzmann edition will find the concordance in the Promies edition helpful.
Portions of notebooks G, H, and K were reconstructed by Promies from
texts published in the first (1800–1806) and second (1844–1853) editions
of Lichtenberg's Vermischte Schriften. The “Golden Notebook,” refers to
a notebook designated by Promies as the Goldpapierheft (GH) because
of its gold-colored binding. Lichtenberg also kept a notebook of excerpts
and commentaries on his readings, to which he gave the title Κέρας
Ἀμαλθείας, meaning “horn of Amaltheia” or “cornucopia”; this notebook
has since been designated by Promies as KA.
In this edition, I have focused on presenting the reader with a selection of
Lichtenberg's writings that will expand our understanding of Lichtenberg's
philosophical thinking and his relation to the history of philosophy. Many
of Lichtenberg's remarks appear here in English for the first time. In my
translations, I have consulted a number of previous translations: R. J.
Hollingdale, The Waste Books (New York: NYRB Classics, 2000); F.
Mautner and H. Hatfield, The Lichtenberg Reader (Boston: Beacon,
1959); J. P. Stern, Lichtenberg: A Doctrine of Scattered Occasions;
Reconstructed from his Aphorisms and Reflections (Bloomington: Indiana