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Goethe's notion of 'theory' : Goethean phenomenology as a new ecological discipline

Around two hundred years ago Goethe made the statement: ‘Let us not seek for something behind the phenomena – they themselves are the theory’. This would appear to be the antithesis of the claim of certain contemporary schools of epistemological thought, that a ‘theory’ is a construction of the human mind. Yet Goethe’s scientific aims are resonant with a present day ecological need: to find a form of ‘nature study’ which springs from a desire to care for things rather than merely to explain them, which can help to create a harmony between human and non-human nature. Goethe’s approach is phenomenological in that it seeks to uncover things ‘on their own terms’; it is integral in that it embraces both art and science. A Goethean methodology is used to study four Australian native plants: Grevillea buxifolia, Scaevola remosissima, Banksia integrifolia and Kunzea ambigua. It is suggested that Goethe’s way of ‘nature study’ fulfils the contemporary need for a participatory knowing which is responsible for the thing being researched, and various possibilities are indicated for further research and application – in the biological sciences and in disciplines such as architecture, landscape design and environmental education. / Master of Science (Hons)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/181729
Date January 1994
CreatorsHoffmann, Nigel, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, Faculty of Health, Humanities and Social Ecology, School of Social Ecology
Source SetsAustraliasian Digital Theses Program
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
SourceTHESIS_FHHSE_SEL_Hoffmann_N.xml

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