The philosophy of Goethe's Faust

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1906. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... IV IN QUEST OF THE "HIGHEST EXISTENCE 3Ber fiefeblen foil, SBiujj tm SBefe&len ©eUgteit empfmben. 2Sa3 er ben Sieuften in bag D&r geraunt, ©3 ift getan, unb aHe SQJelt erftaunt. ©o roirb er ftets ber 2lUerf)5(ffte fein, 2)er SEBurbigfte! ©emefjen madjt getnetn.1 These words, uttered by Faust when he is about to reach the true, Aristotelian moral insight that man reaches his highest bliss not through enjoyment but by the exercise of his active energies, enable us to divide cultivated mankind into two pretty well defined classes. The first consists of those whose life is guided by a perfectly clear aim, to which every action and event, every good and every evil is strictly subordinate, and who lend themselves to enjoyment only that they may be the better able to struggle toward the end they have in view. The second class consists of those who have just aim enough to keep them out of the grave, but who 1 He who would command, His highest bliss must in commanding find. To trusty ear he whispers his intent, 'T is realized,--all feel astonishment: So holds he still the most exalted place, The worthiest. Enjoyment doth debase I are continually losing sight of that aim in transient, momentary, sporadic interests; who, instead of going straight on life's journey, sleeping and resting only where they must, loiter all the way, plucking flowers by the wayside, making little excursions into fields and woods, and dallying wherever opportunity offers. To the first of these classes belong all great men, to the second all dilettanti, using that word in its etymological signification. The former tendency, moreover, produces classic art, in which everything is perfectly subordinate to a single purpose and there are no little prettinesses having an independent w...