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Work #1066 · Last

Faust II

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1825-31 (completed shortly before Goethe's 1832 death; published posthumously 1832) · German
Verse drama in five acts · German Romanticism / late classical modernism

Goethe's 1832 posthumous Faust II — Faust's journey through history, the salvation of his striving soul

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Faust II (Last)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Curved
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Multiple
Observer · Space Instance Multiple
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Both
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Cosmic-ordering
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Faust II

The long historical time across which Faust passes — Holy Roman Empire, classical Greece, modern land reclamation.

Space

Faust II

The imperial court, Greece, the Aegean, the coast Faust drains.

Matter

Faust II

The embodied Faust; the material engineering and political projects of Act V.

Observer

Faust II

Faust as questing-modernising consciousness.

Energy

Faust II

The energies of striving, of historical-political transformation.

Information

Faust II

The symbolic-allegorical content of each act.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Faust II

The "eternal-feminine" closing has been variously read — gendered religious-philosophical position, Marian-Catholic reference, idealist symbol. The Philemon and Baucis episode (Faust's reclamation project destroys an old couple's house) is the ethical-political crisis of Act V.