Dear Marion,

Thank you for your letter and for your very lucid
and persuasive discussion of the distinction between facts 
and theories. I note with some embarrassment that so far as I
can tell, we're in agreement, in complete agreement on this
score.

As an example of the complexity of empirical observations, I 
contemplate the inexorable rise and fall of tides of the ocean
with a period accurately predictable by the oceanographer. Yet,
walking on the beach, when waves of differing, unpredictable
height temporarily mask the advance or regression of the tidal
movement, I am sometimes in doubt whether the tide is going out
or coming in.

=========================

Referring to Mephisto, Margarete says to Faust:

Man sieht, daß er an nichts keinen Anteil nimmt;

literally:
One sees, that he don't care about nothing.

The double negative, reminiscent of Eliza Doolittle,
if that was her name, in Shaw's Pygmalion, is emblematic
of Margarete's low social status and intellectual unpretentiousness,
inspite of which she is sensitive, and more sensitive than Faust,
to Mephisto's evil nature manifest in his lack of sympathy. 
The Devil has no love, no empathy.
He's your quintessential doctor without bedside manners.
The ultimate capitalist, his only concern is for the profit
for which he has bargained, in this case, the soul which Faust
has sold him.  The irony: that Margarete's love of Faust is
Faust's redemption.  At the end of Part II, it is the heavenly hosts
under Margarete's direction who snatch Faust's soul from the Devil
with the commentary:

Gerettet ist das edle Glied der Geisterwelt vom Boesen.
Wer immer strebend sich bemueht, den koennen wir erloesen.

(The noble member of the spirit-world is saved from evil.
whoever, striving, makes an effort, 'tis him we can redeem.)

======================================
Ihr wißt, auf unsern deutschen Bühnen
Probiert ein jeder, was er mag;
Drum schonet mir an diesem Tag
Prospekte nicht und nicht Maschinen.
Gebraucht das groß, und kleine Himmelslicht,
Die Sterne dürfet ihr verschwenden;
An Wasser, Feuer, Felsenwänden,
An Tier und Vögeln fehlt es nicht.
So schreitet in dem engen Bretterhaus
Den ganzen Kreis der Schöpfung aus,
Und wandelt mit bedächt'ger Schnelle
Vom Himmel durch die Welt zur Hölle.

Ihr wißt, auf unsern deutschen Bühnen
As you know, on our German stage

Probiert ein jeder, was er mag;
Everyone can experiment as he wishes;

Drum schonet mir an diesem Tag
Therefore this day, for all I care, don't spare

Prospekte nicht und nicht Maschinen.
Grand panoramic views nor machinations.

Gebraucht das groß, und kleine Himmelslicht,
Employ the greater and the lesser light of heaven,

Die Sterne dürfet ihr verschwenden;
Go waste the stars with my permission

An Wasser, Feuer, Felsenwänden,
Of water, fire, rocky cliffs,

An Tier und Vögeln fehlt es nicht.
Of animals and birds no shortage here.

So schreitet in dem engen Bretterhaus
Go pace within the narrow house of boards

Den ganzen Kreis der Schöpfung aus,
The total orbit of creation,

Und wandelt mit bedächt'ger Schnelle
And journey with deliberate speed

Vom Himmel durch die Welt zur Hölle.
From Heaven through the world to Hell.

As you know, on our German stage
Everyone can experiment as he wishes;
Therefore this day, for all I care, don't spare
Grand panoramic views nor machinations.
Employ the greater and the lesser light of heaven,
Go waste the stars with my permission
Of water, fire, rocky cliffs,
Of animals and birds no shortage here.
Go pace within the narrow house of boards
The total orbit of creation,
And journey with deliberate speed
From Heaven through the world to Hell.

I find this an extraordinarily sophisticated prologue.
The Direktor, as the Creator, the prime mover of the theatre
(cf. the preceding Prolog im Himmel)
instructs the poet with the parameters of his composition.
The poet then presumably complies and implements the Direktor's vision. 
With sublime irony, Goethe offers himself at once:
a) as the author of this prelude,
b) as the Director in this prelude,
c) as the Poet who carries out the Director's instructions
d) as the author of this "Tragoedie" ( - which is NOT a tragedy,)
whose characters, Faust, Mephisto, and Margarete do indeed
journey "Vom Himmel durch die Welt zur Hoelle" -
and back again.

I haven't looked up the word "Prospekte", the colloquial
meaning of which is "travel brochures".  In the Canadian Rockies
the term "Prospect" is used on occasion as a synonym for
"outlook" or "panorama".

================================

You may remember that in a recent letter I attributed to Lessing,
the prefatory sentences of Kierkegaard's Philosophische Brocken:

"Kann es einen geschichtlichen Ausgangspunkt geben
fuer ein ewiges Bewusstein; inwiefern vermag ein solcher
mehr als bloss geschichtlich zu interessieren;
kann man eine ewige Seligkeit gruenden
auf ein geschichtliches Wissen."

"Kann es einen geschichtlichen Ausgangspunkt geben
Is it possible to have an historical point of departure

fuer ein ewiges Bewusstein; inwiefern vermag ein solcher
for an eternal consciousness; to what degree might such
(an historical point of departure)

mehr als bloss geschichtlich zu interessieren;
be of more than historical interest.

kann man eine ewige Seligkeit gruenden
Can one found an eternal blessedness

auf ein geschichtliches Wissen."
on an historical fact."

For many miles on the drive north, I meditated on this attribution,
trying to reconcile the semi-orthodox pietism with Lessing's
deistic belief in natural religion. Back in Belmont, I discovered
to my chagrin and relief, that those sentiments are not Lessing's
but Kierkegaard's.

For years I have puzzled over the incongruous Lessing-Kierkegaard 
bed-fellowship, where Lessing is the "free-thinker" par excellence,
and Kierkegaard invariably appears dressed in the monkish vestments
of the Protestant pietist.  But Kierkegaard was a subtle and devious
thinker who reveled in pseudonymous publications and sported many
masks. Im reminded of Nietzsche, who, if I remember correctly,
pleaded for masks: "Masken her, wir brauchen mehr Masken," also
relevant is Rembrandt's costume collection.

As for myself, I was once again appalled by my ignorance, in this case,
ignorance of Lessing's theology. I had been aware of Lessing's famous
dispute with Hauptpastor Goeze in Hamburg. Goeze had excoriated Lessing
as an infidel, but I never knew why. It turns our that when Lessing
became librarian of the Ducal Library in Wolfenbuettel (10 miles south
of Braunschweig, on our way to the Harz) he discovered and published
a manuscript of a text by Bengarius Turonensis, an early Scholastic
philosopher, who was sceptical of what later came to be known as the
doctrine of transsubstantiation which taught that at each instance of
Christian "communion" (Abendmahl) the bread was physically transformed
into the body, and the wine was physically transformed into the blood
"of Christ". Goeze considered Lessing's publication of Bengarius Turonensis
and act of sedition.

Transsubstantiation as you may or may now know was the chief bone of
contention between the crude, earthy Dr. Martin Luther, who argued that
Jesus knew what he was talking about and meant what he said, and the
Zwingli-Calvin clan in Switzerland, (to which my mother and her
grandparents adhered) who deemed themselves more sensitive and enlightened,
and claimed that Christ's participation in the communion was spiritual
not physical. This was a dispute for which many men, women and children
gave their lives. Lessing couldn't have cared less, and interestingly,
I don't think Kierkegaard considered it worth discussing. Lessing was
drawn to Bengarius Turonensis as a martyr to free speech. Kierkegaard,
I suspect, was drawn to Lessing as an opponent of organized (objective)
religion. Kierkegaard's fame reflects the circumstance that his thought
was variegated and meant all things to all people; but not quite: Theodor
Adorno didn't buy it.

I'm getting tired; this is obviously the preface to a discussion
of Kierkegaards ploy with subjectivity. More about that later.
Jochen