Goethe, at the limits of language: Historia de los problemas, lenguaje, paisaje y símbolo

Abstract

This article analyzes the conception of historical time in light of Walter Benjamin's method of "history of problems." This particular procedure for contrasting worldviews is applied to analyze Goethe's thought, and specifically certain passages from his masterpiece, Faust. The analysis clarifies the concepts of language, landscape, and the function of the symbol as constitutive elements of Goethe's worldview, in contrast to the conception of Herder and Early German Romanticism (Frühromantik).