Affinities

The conceptual history of the term “elective affinity” refers to the “force” that causes chemical reactions. A broad definition of chemical affinity is when substances enter into or resist decomposition. Since the late eighteenth century it has become less and less common to use the term “elective affinity” in chemistry. Soon after 1800 the phrase was adapted in literature, and in 1809 Johann Wolfgang Goethe chose the term as a title for one of his classic novels, Wahlverwandschaften (Elective Affinities). He thus used the expression as an organizing metaphor for the conflict between responsibility (culture) and passion (nature). In the novel, not only reason, but society and its norms effectively inhibit the “natural” matchmaking of the protagonists. Thirty years later, another “natural” couple entered the stage: photography and historiography. How would the protagonists perform? Would anyone inhibit this match? When Daguerre and Talbot announced their respective discoveries in 1839, it was taken for granted that photography would become an important means with which to document objects, people and – when technically possible – events. To many contemporary observers the new technology promised to offer exactly what was expected of historiography: truthful documents of people, events and nature. In 1821 the Prussian philosopher and politician Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) wrote the following in his essay, whose English title is “On the Historian’s Task”: