The Chemical Age: Presenting history with metaphors∗

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Asko Nivalarelation between cause and effect. On the other hand, Kant describedgenius to be natural human ability to give rules to art. He required ingeniousartwork to appear as spontaneously created as if it were a biologicalorganism, which can explain why Schlegel is referring to genius as anorganic talent. 14According to Schlegel, there was however a third human ability. Witsought metaphorical similarities between different objects or differencesbetween two things that seemed similar. Romantics called this kind ofmetaphoric knowledge Witz in order to distinguish it from ordinary Wissen.15 Moreover, Schlegel connected the chemical wit with the literaryform of ‘fragment’, which was supposed to express the fragmentary characterof modern culture. 16 According to Frank, wit was a fragmentary flashthat exposed essential connections and differences between concepts. Theromantic fragment was a literary genre that mediated those inventions tothe reading public. 17The fragmentary method of writing deployed wit in order to find definitionsfor various phenomena. The fragment is not simply a form of literaryfiction, but it is a liminal and in a sense transgressive genre between poeticaland philosophical discourse. 18 Fragment as a genre is based on wit.Both wit and metaphor are constantly seeking similarities between things.14 Kant, KrV, A67–70 = B93–95; Kant, KU, A177–178 = B179–180, §45–46.15 On wit see especially Eichner 1967, pp. xxxvi–xxxvii; Lacoue-Labarthe & Nancy[1978] 1988, pp. 52–53; Best 1989, passim; Albert 1995, pp. 7–12; Saarinen 2007,p. 170.16 KFSA II, p. 148. No. 9.17 Frank 1989, pp. 295–296.18 It should be remembered that Plato inaugurated philosophy using the literary genre ofdialogue. On the way Schlegel questioned the demarcation line between philosophyand literature as two distinct genres see Lacoue-Labarthe & Nancy [1978] 1988, pp.40, 53, 65, 85, 87, 90–91, 114. Cf. Chaouli 2002, p. 111. This issue is related tochemical metaphors, for a genre (from Latin genus) is something that belongs underthe biological derived metaphor of literary genus. German Art or Gattung can referboth to zoological (or botanic) breed and a literary genre. The comparison betweena poem and a living creature (ζῷον) is already made by Aristotle who inauguratedthe occidental classification of literary genres. Aristotle, Poet. 1447a, 1450b30. Cf.Derrida [1972] 2004, pp. 84–85. Instead of this arbitrary organic classification,Schlegel favoured in his literary experiments the chemical mixture between differentgenres. A fragment is this kind of chemical mixture between philosophy and poetry.86Asko Nivala: The Chemical Age: Presenting History with Metaphors. In: Bruce Johnson & Harri Kiiskinen (eds.): They DoThings Differently There. Essays on Cultural History. Cultural History – Kulttuurihistoria 9. k&h, Turku, 2011. Pp. 81–108.
The Chemical AgeTherefore the genre of fragment is comparable to metaphorical poetic logicin general. If fragments are metaphorical definitions or characterizationsof things, it is necessary to consider how Schlegel conceived the act ofdefining. 19 Moreover, this will clarify the sense in which the conceptualand metaphorical languages are interdependent. As Werner Stegmaierhas noted, Kant already observed that philosophy is unable to enforceprescriptive definitions to its concepts. Philosophy can only extrapolatefrom existing and spontaneous linguistic usage. Only mathematics cantruly construct concepts, for it is completely independent of experience.Moreover, only mathematical concepts can be defined unambiguously. Bycontrast, philosophy can only clarify its concepts with other concepts borrowedfrom a natural language. Stegmaier explains the Hegelian conceptof animate spirit from this theory of processual philosophical concepts. 20However, it is equally possible to connect this notion with Schlegel’s definitionof Romantic poetry that is perpetually becoming and never perfectedas a completed system. 21The metaphors included in Romantic fragments are temporary andsketchy definitions that are applied to reality. They can be constantlyextended. Schlegel was sceptical of the possibility that philosophy couldproceed according to binding and rigid definitions. He tried to introducethe concept of characterization instead of definition:(Character is something other than a definition. definitio specifies the genus,and the differentiam specificam. But in philosophy we neither want nor arewe able to do this since the differentia specifica would be infinite.) If weset ourselves the task of determining the character of philosophy, this doesnot mean determining it exactly, for this would be defining; rather, onlyinasmuch as it is possible for our purpose. 22Schlegel distanced himself from the Aristotelian logic and its tendencyto consider knowledge as a hierarchical system. According to this view,knowledge would consist of propositions that give genus and differentia19 Cf. Chaouli 2002, p. 113.20 See Stegmaier 1997.21 See KFSA II, p. 183. No. 116; KFSA II, p. 265. No. 95. Cf. Blumenberg [1960]1998, pp. 84–86.22 Schlegel 1997 (1800-1801), p. 242; KFSA XII, p. 4.Asko Nivala: The Chemical Age: Presenting History with Metaphors. In: Bruce Johnson & Harri Kiiskinen (eds.): They DoThings Differently There. Essays on Cultural History. Cultural History – Kulttuurihistoria 9. k&h, Turku, 2011. Pp. 81–108.87
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