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)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/181729 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Hoffmann, Nigel, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, Faculty of Health, Humanities and Social Ecology, School of Social Ecology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Source | THESIS_FHHSE_SEL_Hoffmann_N.xml |
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