»How the Big People Toy with the Little People«

The oft-invoked unity of theory and practice is something that Goethe realised in his public work as a minister in Weimar. And throughout his whole life – which, it must be noted, spanned the major transformations in Europe and beyond – he reflected upon contemporary issues and on politics more broadly. The politics of his time and contemplations on topics such as domination, war, and power played an often underestimated role in his thought.

In fact, as a member of the political class, Goethe was not just highly interested in politics and extremely well informed on the matters of the age, he was also a fundamental and subtle critic of the politicians of his time. »Weimar« was for him a kind of experiment, a model of a possible form of good governance, and an alternative to the historically irrational politics of authoritarian states, which ultimately did take the day. But despite what many of his era might have claimed, this did not mean that the ideals for which Goethe and Weimar stood were in any way debunked.