Abstract

In "The Metamorphosis of Plants" (1790) and the related didactic poem (1798) Goethe describes the generation and development of plants as six metamorphoses of the primal plant and its organ, the leaf. In a first step, I will try to analyze the nature of the primal plant and its organ, the leaf. Is the primal plant and its organ, the leaf, an idea or does it consist in matter? If it is an idea, is it the idea of all plants (the plant), the idea of a particular species of plants, or the idea of the individual plant? If it is matter – which kind of matter? In a second step, I will analyze the generic nature of the primal plant and its organ, the leaf. How does the metamorphosis of plants proceed? Suppose the leaf is A and the parts of the plants are B, C and D. Does A transform into B, C, D by a process from A to B to A, from A to C to A, and from A to D to A; or does A transform into B, proceed from B as B to C, and proceed from C as C to D; or does A transform into B, while remaining at the same time A, and proceed from B as A to C, while remaining at the same time A, and proceed from C as A to D, while remaining at the same time A? Which of these models explains our experience of plant generation and growth and allows a meaningful interpretation of Goethe's mysterious claim that 'All is leaf'?