Abstract

Polemizing with the views of Kant and Hegel, Goethe created his own philosophy of nature and a philosophy of man. In his opinion, people are a part of the natural world. Therefore they are able to explore themselves in the same extent as they learn about the nature. The humanistic ideology of Goethe is difficult to reconcile with the Christian doctrine, as it opposed to the duality of body (matter) and spirit (idea) and presupposes the existence of full freedom, substantial for an autonomus development of men’s environment of life. Certainly Goethe did not close his mind to particular religious mysticism and benefit from a rich Christian symbolism. Only man however was for Goethe the sole master of the Earth and only on man would depend how the worldly development processes would progress. The protagonist of the work Faust embodies a vital necessity for active cognition and action and metaphysical need for enternity (enternal love), respectful of the requirements of a passing and ending existence. In Lowith’s eyes, Goethe is an always modern thinker, because his views are in line with the spirit of each time. Although Goethe introduced the deepest truth about man and the world, he was- unfortunately – largely unrecognized and unaccepted by intellectuals and socio-political activists of his time.