The development of the Neurath principle: unearthing the Romantic link

Otto Neurath’s thoroughgoing anti-foundationalism is connected to the recognition that protocol sentences are not inviolable, that is they are fallible and their choice cannot be determined: ‘Poincaré, Duhem and others have adequately shown that even if we have agreed on the protocol statements, there is a not limited number of equally applicable, possible systems of hypotheses. We have extended this tenet of the uncertainty of systems of hypotheses to all statements, including protocol statements that are alterable in principle’ (Neurath, 1983, p. 105). Later historiography has called Neurath’s extension of Duhemian holism the Neurath principle. Based on a study of Neurath’s early works on the history of optics, the paper investigates a previously unnoticed influence on the development of this principle, Neurath’s reading of Goethe’s Theory of colours. The historical and polemical parts of Goethe’s tripartite book provided Neurath with ideal examples for the vertical extension of Duhem’s thesis to observation statements. Moreover, Goethe’s critique of the language of science and his views on the theory-ladenness of observation, as well as on the history of science show strong parallels to many of Neurath’s ideas. These demonstrate the existence of surprisingly direct textual links between Romantic views on science and the development of twentieth-century philosophy of science. Neurath’s usage of Goethe’s examples also indicates that the birth of the Neurath principle is more tightly connected to actual scientific practice than to theory-testing, and that by admitting the theory-ladenness of observation reports and fallibility of protocol statements Neurath does not throw empiricism overboard.     

颜色理论之争的背后--从"原型"视角看歌德的自然哲学

歌德的颜色学实际上是关于颜色的"形态学",它与亚里士多德以降的传统颜色理论是高度一致的.作为歌德自然哲学的核心概念,"原型"成为指导其科学研究的重要原则,并且是颜色理论之争的关键所在.而争论的背后,实质上是两种自然观的深刻分歧.     

歌德的《颜色论》及其文化背景

歌德反对牛顿（派）的光和颜色理论，试图用自己的理论取而代之。首先，他认为牛顿（派）解释自然的方式是内在封闭及贵族精英式的，方法论是人工的而非自然的；其次，牛顿（派）靠社会力量而非学术因素建立了自己在光学领域里的权威地位，他们采取专横的方式对待不同意见；第三，牛顿著名的光谱实验，只是他的颜色游戏当中的一个变种，因而不具有普遍真理。与他所认为的牛顿（派）的贵族专横做法相反，歌德试图在光学领域里发动一场路德式的“革命”，推翻牛顿（派）独揽光学解释大权的局面，建立颜色研究领域的“共和国”。本文最后对这桩公案作了简短的评论。     

马克思恩格斯论歌德和席勒

歌德和席勒同是18世纪德国狂飙运动的主将和启蒙主义文学的代表，被公认为德国文学史上的双子星座。马克思、恩格斯在他们的有关文章和书信中谈论过这两位伟大的作家，其主要内容：一是用美学的和历史的观点精辟地论述了歌德世界观和创作的两重性；二是明确肯定席勒的早期创作《强盗》和《阴谋与爱情》的意义和价值，指出前者“歌颂一个向全社会公开宣战的豪侠青年”，后者是“德国第一部有政治倾向的戏剧”。同时对“席勒式”的唯心主义的观念化的创作倾向进行了批评，提出了要“莎士比亚化”不要“席勒式”两种不同的美学范式。