Cosmos Volume I.
The Cosmos Volume I is the 1845 published first volume of Alexander von Humboldt's work " Cosmos. Draft of a physical description of the world ”. Humboldt began working on “Kosmos” in 1834 . The overall concept for a representation of nature should first be based on the objectivity of the external appearance and then on the inside of the human being. The system is laid out in such a way that the representation leads from a uranological part (the theory of the stars), based on the stars and nebulae, to a telluric part (the theory of the shape and life of the earth) or, as Humboldt puts it: them begins with "the stars that glow between nebulae in the most distant parts of space and descends through our planetary system to the terrestrial vegetation and to the smallest, often airborne, organisms hidden from the naked eye."
The introductory preface
In his preface (Potsdam, Nov. 1844) to the first volume of the Kosmos, Humboldt describes the genesis of the entire work. He explains the tenor of the cosmos, namely not to present nature broken down into countless special disciplines, but rather to visualize “nature as a whole that is moved and animated by inner forces”. In his opinion it is the details of the observations of nature that complement each other to form a whole.
Humboldt describes it as his particular luck that he not only saw the usual coastal countries while sailing around the world, but also penetrated far into the interior of the country. He states that it is possible to treat the current knowledge of the sidereal (i.e. the astronomical, later he uses the term uranological) and the telluric (earthly) phenomena in one work, as this is the only way to understand the overall context . In this way, the term “physical description of the earth” that he initially chose soon becomes a “physical description of the world”.
In the following, Humboldt goes into his previous Kosmos lectures and emphasizes that these have nothing more in common with the later printed work of “Kosmos” than the order in which the objects are viewed. However, he makes an exception and points out to the reader that the “introductory considerations” dealt with in the following section are written down in the form of a speech that is closely based on the lectures. Humboldt then guides the reader through the contents of the volume, starting at
- "Introductory considerations about the diversity of enjoying nature and the exploration of the laws of the world" about the
- "Limitation and scientific treatment of the physical description of the world" towards one
- "General nature paintings as an overview of the phenomena in the cosmos."
In conclusion, Humboldt expresses his regret that some people can be discouraged by the rapid change and expansion of knowledge in all areas and that earlier findings are out of date. Rather, according to Humboldt, the knowledge that has already been created should be captured as a solid and difficult-to-shake foundation. A fundamental attempt to explain nature could not be completely insignificant even in later times.
content
Introductory considerations about the diversity of enjoying nature
Only this section of the cosmos is directly related to a lecture at the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin on December 6, 1827.
In his first words, Humboldt asks his listeners for indulgence that, due to the limited time available, he may not always be able to portray the nature of phenomena on earth and in space to the correct extent. Due to his frequent travels, he is not so used to public lectures and may not always be able to express himself with the necessary clarity.
Since the concept of “enjoyment of nature” is a central one for Humboldt, which is intended to distinguish its type of presentation from the type of other, scientific presentations, he goes on to go into detail about the different types of this enjoyment in his opinion.
For once, according to Humboldt, man could develop a simple joy in the phenomena of nature, just as a member of a primitive people might do at an early stage of development. Unlike the enjoyment of nature of the educated man of the modern age, who perceives nature with his senses and at the same time seeks explanations with his mind. However, these two forms are not mutually exclusive. Humboldt grades the observation in detail and shows the different depths of the sensual perception of nature using examples and anecdotes he has experienced. He attributes special importance to the individual perception of the overall picture of a landscape or the forces of nature.
The mental connection of large periods of time gives Humboldt the opportunity to draw attention to the danger of clinging to physical dogmas and false observations. This behavior not only prevents progress, but also hampers a "great view of the world structure."
Despite all sensitive considerations about enjoying nature, Humboldt remains a close observer who also attaches particular importance to scientific and mathematical methods. He expressly emphasizes that the advancing knowledge and deeper insights into the essence of nature do not stand in the way of a sensual perception of nature and that, for example, the scientific astronomer (he mentions his friend Arago as an example ), in addition to his observations on the double slit, enjoy the glow of the stars could feel. One notices that, for Humboldt, scientific knowledge does not allow feelings to cool down, but rather enables the pleasures of a higher intelligence that dissolves diversity into unity.
Limitation and scientific treatment of a physical description of the world
In this section, Humboldt explains his approach to the subject of a physical description of the world . It justifies the demarcation into a telluric and a uranological part. He unfolds these two terms by naming the respective scientific disciplines and placing them in the context of his description of the world. He notes that the terms and scope definitions of the individual sub-areas have changed and changed over the centuries or in the context of different national considerations. In the English language, for example, the term physics can hardly be separated from that of pharmacology . Thus, an extensive and precisely defined nomenclature is of particular importance to him.
Another important term, explained in detail by Humboldt, is that of abstraction . He names two basic forms, namely the quantitative determination of proportions and the qualitative, material description. Here, too, it becomes clear that Humboldt valued the language of mathematics very highly. As an example of the subject of qualitative descriptions, he cites examples from the field of chemistry , which was of great importance as a science in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Finally, he goes into the importance of history for the knowledge of nature. He also tolerates erroneous thoughts on subjects of nature that have been published in the past and present as a "rich treasure trove of empirical views". In this context, he goes into what, in his opinion, only appears to be the contradiction between philosophy and empirical view, emphasizing that only the combination of these two disciplines promotes the noble disposition of man and enables him to recognize the causal connection of the whole.
Nature paintings
This main section of the first volume of Kosmos, which is around 300 pages long, is structured according to Humboldt's system, starting with descriptions of the outermost spaces of the world down to details of the earthly flora and fauna . The main sections follow the division into a uranological and a telluric part and should be reproduced here without further interpretations according to Humboldt's structure:
Uranological part of the cosmos
Contents of the world spaces: - Multi-shaped nebulae, planetary nebulae and nebulae stars, assumptions about the spatial arrangement of the world structure, double stars , our solar system , comets, circling aëroliths ( meteor stones , fireballs, falling stars). - Milky Way of the Stars. - events in space; New stars blaze up. - propagation of light.
Telluric part of the cosmos
Shape of the earth: - Life activities of the earth's body outward. Earthquake . - Salsen and mud volcanoes. - Fire-breathing mountains. Elevation crater. Distribution of volcanoes on earth. –Geognostic classification of the mountain masses into four groups. - Prehistoric fauna and flora. - Spatial distribution of continents and seas determined. - sea. Ebb and flow . Currents and their consequences. - The atmosphere. Chemical composition. Fluctuations in tightness. - Law of wind direction. Medium warmth. List of temperature-increasing and temperature-reducing causes. Continental and island climate . East and West coasts. - Cause of the curvature of the isotherms . - the limit of eternal snow. - Electricity of the air circuit. Cloud shape. - Separation of the inorganic earthly life from the geography of the organically living. - Physical gradations of the human race.
literature
- Petra Gentz-Werner: Heaven and Earth. Alexander von Humboldt and his cosmos, Berlin 2004.
- Alexander von Humboldt: Cosmos. Draft of a physical description of the world, vol. 1, Stuttgart / Tübingen 1845. Digitized and full text in the German text archive
- Fritz Kraus (ed.): Cosmos and Humanity. Selection of Alexander von Humboldt's work, Bielefeld 1960.