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Goethean Science: a Phenomenological Study of Plant Metamorphosis

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Goethean Science: a Phenomenological Study of Plant Metamorphosis Dana Pauly Goethean Science: A Phenomenological Study Of Plant Metamorphosis The following is the first segment ofa tlmis written a1 part of the author's work at Pmcort Colkgt toward a tkgru in Environmmtnl Studin. with an emphasiJ in Agrotcowgy. The remaindn- ofth( piea will appellr in upcoming ISSUN of this journal. Natural system - a contradiction in terms. Nature has no system; she has, she is life and irs progress from an unknown cemer toward an unknowable goal. Scientific research is therefore endless, whether one proceed analytically into mintltiae or follow the trail as a whole, in all its breadth and height. [ -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Introduction We live in an age of increasing polarization among thco~ ri cs regarding the nature of life. Some clai m that the mys­ teries of life and the human being will unfold with the deciphering of the gt:lletic code, while others urgcndy demand [hat science be morally, socially, and environ­ mentall y responsible fo r irs findings and irs association wi m technological "advancements." Quanrum physics reminds us there is no rrue li ne of separation between the observer and the observed. - thac the world docs not work BIODYNAMICS 21 GOETHEAN SCIENCE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF PLANT METAMORPHOSIS in linear ways. For even the most determined material sci­ with this system with appropriate action. Environmental entist, nature is a non-linear dynamic system. The whole­ work such as ecological restoration and agriculture, where ness of nature can not be found through a dissection of its the human being works in an intimate relationship with partS. Do we include this concept of wholeness in our sci­ the natural world, requires this ability if work is to be entific practice? Many scientists and large corporations appropriate for, and an extension of, the landscape. reduce life co a material commodity as they patent seeds, "Steiner maintained that if artists could school trademark research laboratory animals, and genetically themselves to apprehend the inherent principles manipulate plantS and animals for herbicide and pest manifesting in, and giving order to, natural phe­ resistance. This approach to the natural world has led to nomena, they could create forms with an inherent the compartmentalization of the farm, where annual and consistency. The result would nor be naturalism - a perennial plant cultivation, forestry, and animal hus­ copying of nature - but a free expression of the bandry were once practiced together as a living system. underlying formative principles working in nature." 4 It is this matetialistic approach to nature, which places If these types of work are done out of a sense of the more emphasis on quantity, measurement, and isolated whole, the work belongs to this whole. In this way we expetiments to "explain" life than on relationships and may aptly serve our feHow species and the landscapes in personal experience, that the poet, playwright, and scien­ which we live. tist, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was wary of twO hundred years ago. He proposed a participatory Goethean Sci ence and Phenomenology methodology for srudying and discovering lawfulness in The most basic tenet of Goethe's scientific method is that the natural world. The essence of the natural world is we enter into the experience of the phenomenon itself, growth and change, constant interaction ben-veen both remaining with it throughout our research, rather than the living and the non-living realms. The relationships speculating beyofld it or replacing the phenomenon with ben-veen various beings in nature are nOt linear, but recip­ an abstract concept or mathematical model. By dwelling rocal and simultaneous, generating what has often been in the phenomenon itself, Goethe maintained that one referred to as a web of life. lOne may find deeper mean­ could come to "see" the unity and lawfulness of the nat­ ing in seeing that the very same patterns and processes at ural world. In his scientific studies, he was seeking ro work in the natural world are also at work in the individ­ explain na ,~ure by laws of development lying within ual human being. Goethe states: "If we would arrive, to nature itself, not external forces located outside nature. 5 some degree, at a vital intuition of Nature, we must strive In this sense, Goethe's approacll was truly phenomeno­ to keep ourselves as Rexible and pliable as the example she logical. A phenomenological scienc,.e ~draws theoretical herself provides". 3 concepts from the structure of phenomena themselves Life and living processes are not linear, but they are rather than from an imperceptible realiry assumed to be directional. This directionaliry follows patterns that obey behind them. 6 This approach places emphasis on the sci­ the laws of nature. It was through his mission to discover entist's perceptual capacities and underlines the primacy and "see" the unity and lawfulness of nature, and espe­ and immediacy of sensory phenomena as reliable sources cially through his observations of plants, that Goethe dis­ of true information. 7 ~lnsofar as he makes use of his covered and developed his theory of metamorphosis. He healthy senses, man himself is the best and most exact sci­ gave definition and deeper meaning to these laws through entific instrument gossible."g We do not need to exclude his studies in anatomy, botany, zoology, osteology, geol­ ourselves or our s~ses, only our judgment, from the sci­ ogy, and meteorology. entific process In order to practice good science. By allowing and training ourselves to become active in Goethe did not accept the replacement of personal our thinking, and to ~grow" and change with phenomena observation and study with the use of instruments and (plants, animals, landscapes, etc.), we attempt to under­ measuring devices, which tend to substitute the experience stand how the processes of becoming and of dying away of the object under study with a mathematical construct. are manifested and at work in the natural world and in This replacement may well serve in the accumulacion of ourselves. This rype of seeing is not meant to replace the information, but it does not lead to an understanding of conventional scientific method, but to enhance it by the phenomenon or of how we should interact with it. exploring phenomena in a different way. From a sense of Through direct and deep experience, he sought the under­ wholeness, we can see intrinsic relationships between the lying idea or law of nature itself, the ideal from which the "parts~ of a system, and can enter into OUf relationship diversity of experiences unfold in the sensory world. 22 JULY/AUGUST,2000 "Goethe wamed to show how all the individual branches attention and discipline in observation, absent of judg­ of natural science - natural history, physics, anatomy, ment. Goethe warns against an anthropocentric approach chemistry, wology, and physiology - must work together to the natural \vorld; rather, he seeks to know phenomena in order that a higher kind of contemplation may use in and of themselves. 19 For example: them to explain the shapes and process ofliving beings." 9 "A far more difficult task arises when a person's His goal was to create a new science, a general morphol­ thirst for knowledge kindles in him a desire to view ogy of organisms (Steiner, 1985) . IO He sought meaning nature's objects in their own right and in relation to not through isolated individual phenomena, but through one another. On the one hand he loses the yardstick the relationships of different forms. which came to his aid when he looked at things In taking a phenomenological approach, "scientific from the human standpoint; i.c., in relation to him­ investigation becomes individualized - a process pro­ self. This yardstick of pleasurc and displeasure, foundly dependent on the person and his or her capacicies attraction and repulsion, help and harm, he must to see panern, form, and the archetype within the multi­ now renounce absolutely; as a neutral, seemingly plicity of nature." II Goethe recognizes this irf;iividualiz.1.­ godlike being he must seek out and examine what tion and does not consider it an obstruction to the is, not what pleases. Thus the tcue botanist must validity of the science; rather, it places responsibility on remain unmoved by beauty or utility in a plant; hc the scientist and allows for the development of the scien­ must explore its formation, its relation to other tist in the process. 12 The practice of the Goethean way of plants. Like the sun which draws forth every plant science is an exercise for scientists as they test and develop and shines on all, he must look upon each plant their ability to "see" the unity of nature as it manifests in with the same quiet gaze; he must find the measure the multiplicity of its parts. IJ This approach requires the for what he learns, the data for judgment, nOt in "delicate empiricism" Goethe calls for in the scientist - himself but in the sphere of what he observes." 20 that one maintains an inner state of openness and willing­ Goethe putS faith and trust in the aesthetic and think- ness in which the phenomenon may present itself. l4 Sdf­ ing capacity of the human being. Scientific study should awareness in thinking is as important for the scientist as bring us closer ro nature, not separate us further from our :memiveness to the phenomenon under stlldy. , expf'.rience. Goethe maintained that. scientific nudy could How can an individualized science be a reliable source bring about a met:lmorphosis of the scientist herself. of knowledge? Goethean scholar Frederick Amrine writes, "Every new object, well contemplated, opens up a new "1 submit that Goethe's (method) is a(n} attractive org:ln within us." 21 The scientist becomes the instrument solution to this dilemma.
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