Life — July 30, 1885 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "The Concord School of Philosophy Honors Goethe" This satirical cartoon mocks the Concord School of Philosophy, a real 19th-century educational institution in Concord, Massachusetts. The drawing depicts a giant head of German poet/philosopher Goethe being worshipped or celebrated by numerous small figures climbing ladders and gathered around it like pilgrims at a shrine. The satire targets the school's perceived pretentiousness and excessive reverence for European intellectualism. The exaggerated scale—treating Goethe as an idol—suggests mockery of American philosophers who uncritically elevated foreign philosophical traditions. The crowds of devoted followers amplify this critique of cultish admiration for "high" Continental thought, positioning the Concord School as overly earnest and somewhat ridiculous in its philosophical earnestness.