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Some Speculations on Biological Evolution from Kant’sand Goethe’s Responses to Egyptian Philosophy
Ryan L. Vilbig

Abstract
Both Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) have been recognized for their scientific ideas that anticipated the later theory of biological evolution (Mayr 1959; Wells 1967). While Kant had referenced the evolutionary rebirth of the phoenix in 1755 and then quoted the inscription of the Egyptian goddess Isis’ Temple as early as 1763, he later questioned in 1796: “though unable to lift the veil of Isis, can [philosophers] yet make it so thin that one may divine the goddess beneath it”? (1796/2002: 439). Along similar lines of thought, Goethe had written of nature’s veil in his artistic and experimental portrayals of biological phenomena in 1808 as follows: “A weaving flowing, Life all-glowing, Thus at Time’s humming loom ’tis my hand prepares, The garment of Life which the Deity wears!” (Goethe1808/2018: 17). For both, their diverse and subtle references to Egyptian philosophical imagery helped frame their proposals of evolutionary concepts, and these together are demonstrable of characteristics, simultaneously, of a hesitancy to speculate beyond the bounds of their reason, as well as a willingness to allow their thoughts to emerge in new and unexplored contexts.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jpt.v12p1