Goethe and the Sciences: A Reappraisal

Goethe and the Sciences: A Reappraisal PDF Author: F.R. Amrine
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940093761X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
of him in like measure within myself, that is my highest wish. This noble individual was not conscious of the fact that at that very moment the divine within him and the divine of the universe were most intimately united. So, for Goethe, the resonance with a natural rationality seems part of the genius of modern science. Einstein's 'cosmic religion', which reflects Spinoza, also echoes Goethe's remark (Ibid. , Item 575 from 1829): Man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is comprehensible. Else he would give up investigating. But how far will Goethe share the devotion of these cosmic rationalists to the beautiful harmonies of mathematics, so distant from any pure and 'direct observation'? Kepler, Spinoza, Einstein need not, and would not, rest with discovery of a pattern within, behind, as a source of, the phenomenal world, and they would not let even the most profound of descriptive generalities satisfy scientific curiosity. For his part, Goethe sought fundamental archetypes, as in his intuition of a Urpjlanze, basic to all plants, infinitely plastic. When such would be found, Goethe would be content, for (as he said to Eckermann, Feb. 18, 1829): . . . to seek something behind (the Urphaenomenon) is futile. Here is the limit. But as a rule men are not satisfied to behold an Urphaenomenon. They think there must be something beyond. They are like children who, having looked into a mirror, turn it around to see what is on the other side.

Goethe and the Sciences: A Reappraisal

Goethe and the Sciences: A Reappraisal PDF Author: F.R. Amrine
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940093761X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Get Book Here

Book Description
of him in like measure within myself, that is my highest wish. This noble individual was not conscious of the fact that at that very moment the divine within him and the divine of the universe were most intimately united. So, for Goethe, the resonance with a natural rationality seems part of the genius of modern science. Einstein's 'cosmic religion', which reflects Spinoza, also echoes Goethe's remark (Ibid. , Item 575 from 1829): Man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is comprehensible. Else he would give up investigating. But how far will Goethe share the devotion of these cosmic rationalists to the beautiful harmonies of mathematics, so distant from any pure and 'direct observation'? Kepler, Spinoza, Einstein need not, and would not, rest with discovery of a pattern within, behind, as a source of, the phenomenal world, and they would not let even the most profound of descriptive generalities satisfy scientific curiosity. For his part, Goethe sought fundamental archetypes, as in his intuition of a Urpjlanze, basic to all plants, infinitely plastic. When such would be found, Goethe would be content, for (as he said to Eckermann, Feb. 18, 1829): . . . to seek something behind (the Urphaenomenon) is futile. Here is the limit. But as a rule men are not satisfied to behold an Urphaenomenon. They think there must be something beyond. They are like children who, having looked into a mirror, turn it around to see what is on the other side.

Goethe and the Sciences: A Reappraisal

Goethe and the Sciences: A Reappraisal PDF Author: F.R. Amrine
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9789027724007
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
of him in like measure within myself, that is my highest wish. This noble individual was not conscious of the fact that at that very moment the divine within him and the divine of the universe were most intimately united. So, for Goethe, the resonance with a natural rationality seems part of the genius of modern science. Einstein's 'cosmic religion', which reflects Spinoza, also echoes Goethe's remark (Ibid. , Item 575 from 1829): Man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is comprehensible. Else he would give up investigating. But how far will Goethe share the devotion of these cosmic rationalists to the beautiful harmonies of mathematics, so distant from any pure and 'direct observation'? Kepler, Spinoza, Einstein need not, and would not, rest with discovery of a pattern within, behind, as a source of, the phenomenal world, and they would not let even the most profound of descriptive generalities satisfy scientific curiosity. For his part, Goethe sought fundamental archetypes, as in his intuition of a Urpjlanze, basic to all plants, infinitely plastic. When such would be found, Goethe would be content, for (as he said to Eckermann, Feb. 18, 1829): . . . to seek something behind (the Urphaenomenon) is futile. Here is the limit. But as a rule men are not satisfied to behold an Urphaenomenon. They think there must be something beyond. They are like children who, having looked into a mirror, turn it around to see what is on the other side.

Goethe and the Sciences

Goethe and the Sciences PDF Author: Frederick Amrine
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


The Perennial Alternative

The Perennial Alternative PDF Author: Frederick Amrine
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780932776655
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
The Perennial Alternative is the ripe fruit of a long, lively, in-depth exploration of Goethe's scientific work. Anyone who has begun to realize the significance of Goethe's scientific approach for us today will find this collection of brilliant essays richly rewarding. Frederick Amrine brings us up to date on the current reception of Goethe's scientific work and how it relates to the new paradigm of emergence and to such contemporary thinkers as Thomas Nagel, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Gilles Deleuze, and Thomas Kuhn. In a fascinating essay on the importance of Goethe's Italian Journey for the development of his organic thinking, the author digs deep into his intimate knowledge of Goethe's biography, shedding new light on Goethe's relationship with Spinoza's philosophy and with Newton's optics. In "The Metamorphosis of the Scientist," he articulates a central aspect of Goethean science--namely, that, like all of organic nature, scientists evolve. Their understanding of the world evolves with them in the sense that, as Goethe put it, "Every new object, well-observed and contemplated, opens up a new organ of perception in us." Thisnatu collection also includes insightful essays on the work of contemporary Goethean scientists Jochen Bockemühl, Michael Wilson, and Wolfgang Schad as well as an excellent introduction to Schad's life work, Threefoldness in Humans and Mammals. C O N T E N T S 1. Introduction 2. Goethe's Italian Discoveries as a Natural Scientist (The Scientist in the Underworld) 3. Goethean Intuitions 4. The Metamorphosis of the Scientist 5. Methodological Issues Regarding the Experimentum crucis 6. Goethe and Steiner as Pioneers of Emergence 7. The Music of the Organism 8. Readings in the Text of Nature: Three Contemporary Goetheans 9. Goethean Method in the Work of Jochen Bockemühl 10. Goethe's Epistemology of the South 11. Bibliographic Essay

Goethe's Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and Art

Goethe's Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and Art PDF Author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Goethe's Way of Science

Goethe's Way of Science PDF Author: David Seamon
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438419309
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Though best known for his superlative poetry and plays, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) also produced a sizable body of scientific work that focused on such diverse topics as plants, color, clouds, weather, and geology. Goethe's way of science is highly unusual because it seeks to draw together the intuitive awareness of art with the rigorous observation and thinking of science. Written by major scholars and practitioners of Goethean science today, this book considers the philosophical foundations of Goethe's approach and applies the method to the real world of nature, including studies of plants, animals, and the movement of water. Part I discusses the philosophical foundations of the approach and clarifies its epistemology and methodology; Part II applies the method to the real world of nature; and Part III examines the future of Goethean science and emphasizes its great value for better understanding and caring for the natural environment.

Goethe's History of Science

Goethe's History of Science PDF Author: Karl J. Fink
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521402115
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Fink explores how Goethe's scientific activities contributed to the growing literature in the history and philosophy of science.

The Gestation of German Biology

The Gestation of German Biology PDF Author: John H. Zammito
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022652079X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
This book explores how and when biology emerged as a science in Germany. Beginning with the debate about organism between Georg Ernst Stahl and Gottfried Leibniz at the start of the eighteenth century, John Zammito traces the development of a new research program, culminating in 1800, in the formulation of developmental morphology. He shows how over the course of the century, naturalists undertook to transform some domains of natural history into a distinct branch of natural philosophy, which attempted not only to describe but to explain the natural world and became, ultimately, the science of biology.

Goethe in the History of Science: Bibliography, 1950-1990

Goethe in the History of Science: Bibliography, 1950-1990 PDF Author: Frederick Amrine
Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
A corrected but otherwise unabridged reprint of a work originally published in 1859, documenting a Canadian artist's journeys from Toronto to Vancouver Island and Oregon in order to paint landscapes and scenes of Indian life. Kane's journals offer insight on the hardships and adventures of travel, and on Indian customs, hunting rituals, funeral practices, and anecdotes of battles and war. Includes bandw and color illustrations. For general readers. No index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Travel, Discovery, Transformation

Travel, Discovery, Transformation PDF Author: Gabriel R. Ricci
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351301144
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
This latest volume in the Culture & Civilization series gathers interdisciplinary voices to present a collection of essays on travel and travel narratives. The essays span a range of topics from iconic ancient travel stories to modern tourism. They discuss travel in the ancient world, modern heroic travels, the literary culture of missionary travel, the intersection of fiction and travel narratives, modern literary traditions and visions of Greece, personal identity, and expatriation. Essays also address travel memoirs, the re-imagining of worlds through travel, transformed landscapes and animals in travel narratives, diplomacy, English women travel writers, and pilgrimage and health in the medieval world. The history of travel writing takes in multiple pursuits: exploration and conquest, religious pilgrimage and missionary work, educational tourism and diplomacy, scientific and personal discovery, and natural history and oral history. As a literary genre, it has enhanced a wide range of disciplines, including geography, ethnography, anthropology, and linguistics. Moreover, twenty-first-century interests in travel and travel writing have produced a global framework that promises to expand travel's theoretical reach into the depths of the Internet, thus challenging our conventional concept of what it means to travel. The fact that travel and travel writing have a prehistory that is embedded in foundational religious texts and ancient narratives of journey, like the Odyssey and the Epic of Gilgamesh, makes both travel and travel writing fundamental and essential expressions of humanity. Travel encourages writing, particularly as epistolary and poetic chronicling. This is clearly a history and tradition that began with human communication and which has kept pace with our collective development.