Full Idea
General statements are not valid in the study of nature.
Gist of Idea
General statements about nature are not valid
Source
Novalis (Last Fragments [1800], 17)
Book Reference
Novalis: 'Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Stoljar,M.M. [SUNY 1997], p.156
A Reaction
This is his striking obsession with the particularity and fine detail of nature. Alexander von Humbolt was exploring nature in S.America in this year. It sounds wrong about physics, but possibly right about biology.
Related Ideas
Idea 19591 Desire for perfection is an illness, if it turns against what is imperfect [Novalis]
Idea 19595 Nature is a whole, and its individual parts cannot be wholly understood [Novalis]