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''Theory of Colours'' (original German title ''Zur Farbenlehre'') is a book by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe about the poet's views on the nature of colours and how these are perceived by humans. Published in 1810, it contains detailed descriptions of phenomena such as coloured shadows, refraction, and chromatic aberration. The work originated in Goethe's occupation with painting and mainly exerted an influence onto the arts (Philipp Otto Runge, J. M. W. Turner, the Pre-Raphaelites, Wassily Kandinsky). Although Goethe's work was rejected by physicists, a number of philosophers and physicists have concerned themselves with it, including Thomas Johann Seebeck, Arthur Schopenhauer (see: ''On Vision and Colors''), Hermann von Helmholtz, Rudolf Steiner, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Werner Heisenberg, Kurt Gödel, and Mitchell Feigenbaum. Goethe's book provides a catalogue of how colour is perceived in a wide variety of circumstances, and considers Isaac Newton's observations to be special cases.〔Neil Ribe, Friedrich Steinle: (Exploratory Experimentation: Goethe, Land, and Color Theory ). ''Physics Today'', July 2002, retrieved July 3, 2011〕 Unlike Newton, Goethe's concern was not so much with the analytic treatment of colour, as with the qualities of how phenomena are perceived. Philosophers have come to understand the distinction between the optical spectrum, as observed by Newton, and the phenomenon of human colour perception as presented by Goethe—a subject analyzed at length by Wittgenstein in his exegesis of Goethe in ''Remarks on Colour''. == Historical background == At Goethe's time, it was generally acknowledged that, as Isaac Newton had shown in his ''Opticks'' in 1704, colourless (white) light is split up into its component colours when directed through a prism.〔Karl Robert Mandelkow: Goethes Briefe (''Goethe's Letters''). 2. edition. Vol. 2: Briefe der Jahre 1786-1805 (''Letters of the years 1786-1805''). ''Christian Wegner'' publishers, Hamburg 1968, p. 528. "das zentrale Axiom von Newtons Farbentheorie, daß in dem weißen, farblosen Licht alle Farben enthalten seien" (''"the central axiom of Newton's colour theory that there were all colours in the white, colourless light"'')〕 Goethe's starting point was the supposed discovery of how Newton erred in the prismatic experiment,〔Matthaei, Rupprecht. Über die Anfänge von Goethes Farbenlehre (''On the beginnings of Goethe's Theory of Colours''). In: Jahrbuch der Goethe-Gesellschaft (''Yearbook of the Goethe Society'') 11, 1949, p. 259, cited in Karl Robert Mandelkow: Goethes Briefe (''Goethe's Letters''). 2. edition. Vol. 2: Briefe der Jahre 1786-1805 (''Letters of the years 1786-1805''). ''Christian Wegner'' publishers, Hamburg 1968, p. 553. "Goethes Ausgangspunkt, die Entdeckung des Newtonschen Irrtums, wie er es nannte, im prismatischen Versuch, schwand ihm aus dem Blickfeld in dem Maße, als er die Bedeutung der Physiologischen Farben zu ahnen begann." (''"Goethe's starting point, the discovery of the Newton error, as he called it, in the prismatic experiment, dwindled from his horizon according to how he began to sense the meaning of the Physiological Colours."'')〕 and by 1793 Goethe had formulated his arguments against Newton in the essay "Über Newtons Hypothese der diversen Refrangibilität" (''"On Newton's hypothesis of diverse refrangibility"'').〔Karl Robert Mandelkow: Goethes Briefe (''Goethe's Letters''). 2. edition. Vol. 2: Briefe der Jahre 1786-1805 (''Letters of the years 1786-1805''). ''Christian Wegner'' publishers, Hamburg 1968, p. 528. "Bereits 1793 hat Goethe seine Einwände gegen Newton formuliert in dem Aufsatz ''Über Newtons Hypothese der diversen Refrangibilität'' (...)." (''"Already in 1793, Goethe formulated his arguments against Newton in the essay ''Über Newtons Hypothese der diversen Refrangibilität'' ()."'')〕 Yet, by 1794, Goethe had begun to increasingly note the importance of the physiological aspect of colours.〔Karl Robert Mandelkow: Goethes Briefe (''Goethe's Letters''). 2. edition. Vol. 2: Briefe der Jahre 1786-1805 (''Letters of the years 1786-1805''). ''Christian Wegner'' publishers, Hamburg 1968, p. 553. "Diese Wendung ist bereits angedeutet in Goethes Briefentwurf an Sömmerring vom Januar/Februar 1794, der Antwort auf Sömmerrings Brief an Goethe vom 18. Januar 1794 (...): ''Es ist weit mehr Physiologisches bei den Farbenerscheinungen, als man denkt, nur ist hier die Schwierigkeit noch größer als in andern Fällen, das Objektive vom Subjektiven zu unterscheiden''." (Italics mark citations that may only slightly have been adapted to the descriptive sentence regarding the grammar.) Translation: ''"This change is already indicated in Goethe's draft for a letter to Sömmerring from January/February 1794, the answer to Sömmerring's letter from January 18, 1794 (...): There is much more physiological with the phenomena of colours than one would think, just that it is even more difficult, here, to distinguish between the objective and the subjective."'' The letter is cited by Mandelkow after: Goethe, Die Schriften zur Naturwissenschaft. Herausgegeben im Auftrage der Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher (Leopoldina) zu Halle von R. Matthaei, W. Troll und L. Wolf. Weimar 1949 ff (''Goethe, The writings on sciences. Edited on behalf of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina at Halle by R. Matthaei, W. Troll and L. Wolf. Weimar 1949 et seq.'') See: Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring〕 As Goethe notes in the historical section, Louis Bertrand Castel had already published a criticism of Newton's spectral description of prismatic colour in 1740 in which he observed that the sequence of colours split by a prism depended on the distance from the prism — and that Newton was looking at a special case. "Whereas Newton observed the colour spectrum cast on a wall at a fixed distance away from the prism, Goethe observed the cast spectrum on a white card which was progressively moved away from the prism... As the card was moved away, the projected image elongated, gradually assuming an elliptical shape, and the coloured images became larger, finally merging at the centre to produce green. Moving the card farther led to the increase in the size of the image, until finally the spectrum described by Newton in the Opticks was produced... The image cast by the refracted beam was not fixed, but rather developed with increasing distance from the prism. Consequently, Goethe saw the particular distance chosen by Newton to prove the second proposition of the Opticks as capriciously imposed." (Alex Kentsis, Between Light and Eye)〔http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0511130 | Alex Kentsis, Between Light and Eye〕 In the preface to the ''Theory of Colours'', Goethe explained that he tried to apply the principle of ''polarity'', in the work – a proposition that belonged to his earliest convictions and was constitutive of his entire study of nature.〔Karl Robert Mandelkow: Goethes Briefe (''Goethe's Letters''). 2. edition. Vol. 2: Briefe der Jahre 1786-1805 (''Letters of the years 1786-1805''). ''Christian Wegner'' publishers, Hamburg 1968, p. 530. "Das für Goethes gesamte Naturbetrachtung konstitutive Prinzip der Polarität gehört zu ''seinen frühesten Überzeugungen''..., ''an denen er niemals irre geworden sei'' (Brief an Schweigger, 25. April 1814). Im Vorwort zur ''Farbenlehre'' wird es als ''Hauptabsicht des gegenwärtigen Werkes'' bezeichnet, dieses universelle Prinzip auch ''auf die Farbenlehre anzuwenden''." (Italics mark citations that may only slightly have been adapted to the descriptive sentence regarding the grammar.) Translation: ''"The principle of polarity, that is constitutive for all of Goethe's study of nature, belongs to ''the earliest of his convictions''..., ''that he had never lost faith in'' (letter to Schweigger, April 25, 1814). In the preface to the ''Theory of Colours'', it is called ''the main intention of the work at hand to apply'' this universal principle also ''to the theory of colours''."'' See Johann Schweigger〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Theory of Colours」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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