One of the earliest contributions along this line from Goethe, Über Mathematik und deren Mißbrauch (1826). While being critical of "Mathematics and its abuse", Goethe wishes to stress that "I have heard myself accused of being an opponent, an enemy of mathematics, which no one can value more highly than I, for it accomplishes the very thing whose achievement has been denied me."

One of the earliest contributions along this line is from Goethe, Über Mathematik und deren Mißbrauch (1826). When describing the abuse (Mißbrauch) in the applications of mathematics to the natural world, in particular the perception of color, Goethe laments that: "Mathematicians are like Frenchmen; if one speaks to them they translate it into their own language, and then it will be very soon something entirely different." Still, Goethe stresses that "I have heard myself accused of being an opponent, an enemy of mathematics, which no one can value more highly than I, for it accomplishes the very thing whose achievement has been denied me."