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 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu 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