Pierre Hadot (1922–2010) was professor of the history of Hellenistic and Roman thought at the Collège de France. He was the author of many books, including Plotinus, or The Simplicity of Vision. Michael Chase is a senior researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique–Centre Jean Pépin and adjunct professor of Greek and Roman studies at the University of Victoria. Arnold I. Davidson is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as well as the Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. Daniele Lorenzini is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.

• Translator’s IntroductionPreface1. “The Present Is the Only Goddess I Adore”Faust and HelenThe Present, the Trivial, and the IdealIdyllic ArcadiaUnconscious Health or Conquered Serenity?The Philosophical Experience of the PresentThe Tradition of Ancient Philosophy in GoetheThe Present, the Instant, and Being-There in Goethe2. The View from Above and the Cosmic JourneyThe Instant and the View from AboveThe View from Above in Antiquity: Peaks and Flight of the ImaginationThe Philosophical Meaning of the View from Above among Ancient PhilosophersThe Medieval and Modern TraditionThe Various Forms of the View from Above in GoetheThe View from Above after GoetheAeronauts and Cosmonauts3. The Wings of Hope: The UrworteDaimôn, TukhêDaimôn, Tukhê, Eros, Anankê, and ElpisHuman DestinyAutobiographical Aspects?The CaduceusElpis, Hope4. The Yes to Life and the WorldGreat Is the Joy of Being-There (Freude des Daseins)Greater Still Is the Joy One Feels in Existence Itself (Freude am Dasein)The Yes to Becoming and the TerrifyingGoethe and NietzscheConclusionTranslator’s NoteNotesBibliographyIndex

"There are few figures in Western literature whose legacies are as bound up with their work as Goethe, and Hadot’s powerful interpretation is undoubtedly an important milestone in that legacy’s history. Even apart from it many other virtues, that reason alone makes this volume a necessary addition to the libraries of Goethe scholars."