Goetheanism

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Goetheanism is a term used in the context of anthroposophy and Waldorf education for a holistically oriented scientific method . The scientific work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is viewed as a paradigmatic justification of this methodology . It was theoretically founded by Rudolf Steiner as editor and commentator of Goethe's scientific writings (1883–1897) and as the author of an "epistemological theory of the Goethean worldview" (1886). Goethean research strives to combine empirical methodology andholistic understanding of essence, with the aim of overcoming the epistemological division of subject and object.

History and name

The word Goetheanism first appeared in 1803 in a letter from the Swedish poet and diplomat Karl Gustav Brinckmann to Goethe. He referred to Goethe's devotion to the world as a whole. However, this term did not become common in the 19th century. In the early 20th century, Rudolf Steiner , the founder of anthroposophy, often spoke of "Goetheanism" in lectures, by which he meant mainly, but not exclusively, the method on which Goethe's studies of nature are based. This is how the word became common among anthroposophists . Outside of these circles, on the other hand, it is not used to this day, not even by natural scientists who - like the botanist Wilhelm Troll or the zoologist Adolf Portmann - methodologically explicitly follow Goethe.

Even within anthroposophical circles there is no consensus on the meaning of the term “Goetheanism”.

The Goetheanist Wolfgang Schad writes : “It is referred to as: a) For example, everything that is scientific work in anthroposophical contexts. […] C) The experimental verification of many of Steiner's statements using the methods of university natural sciences. d) Any poetic, aesthetically experiencing contact with nature without any claim to science. e) The cultural-scientific content based on anthroposophy in art, art history, history, linguistics and literature. f) The arts that have grown out of anthroposophy such as eurythmy and the organic building style in architecture [...]. "

In the sense of a scientific methodology, the term “Goetheanist” has recently been coined by the “Writings of early Goetheanism” edited by Renate Riemeck (around 1980) and the book series “Goetheanist Natural Science” (1982–1985) edited by Wolfgang Schad , in which mainly publications by anthroposophical biologists such as Jochen Bockemühl, Andreas Suchantke and Schad are brought together. In fundamental treatises, leading Goetheanists emphasize the close connection between Goetheanism and anthroposophy.

“But there is [...] a logic of thought and a logic of life. And the one who not only delves into Goethe through a logic of thought, but who takes the Goethean suggestions full of impulses alive and now tries to gain from them what can be gained after so many decades about human development since Goethe Death has passed away, he will believe [...] as he will that through the living suggestions of Goetheanism - if I may use the expression - precisely this anthroposophy could have come about through the logic of life, through the experience of what lies in Goethe, and by letting it grow in a modest way what Goethe mentioned. "

- Rudolf Steiner

Systematics

In his main scientific works " The Metamorphosis of Plants " (1790) and " On Theory of Colors " (1810), Goethe developed different approaches. Correspondingly, Steiner also made a distinction in his "Basics of an Epistemological Theory of Goethean World View" (1886) between the knowledge of inorganic and organic nature. Following on from this, anthroposophically oriented natural scientists formulated the following "systematics" in 1980, which follows the four-part conception of man in anthroposophy:

  • In the inorganic , thinking is used to order the qualities given to the senses through observation and experimentation in such a way that the states and processes of one phenomenon can be understood as a consequence of other phenomena. A distinction is made between essential (necessary for the appearance of the phenomenon) and insignificant (only modifying) conditions. Such a phenomenon, in which there is an immediately understandable, lawful connection with the essential conditions, is a primordial phenomenon . From these all relationships between further phenomena can be derived and the latter can thus be understood ( proving method ). So Goethe developed the basis of optics from the primordial phenomenon of color theory (origin of color in light, darkness and cloudiness).
  • In the organic world the members of the phenomena are no longer mutually dependent, but each individual is determined by the whole according to its individual character. When studying the processes it is noticed that the transformation (metamorphosis) of the leaf organs of a plant from the cotyledons to the foliage leaves, the sepals, petals, stamens and carpels take place from a basic form (the type ); the external conditions have a modifying effect. In the same sense, the different species can be understood as special manifestations of the genus. This points to a sensual-supersensible process which, according to the idea, is the same in all plants, produces different forms in appearance both in the individual plant and in the whole plant kingdom and which Goethe called the original plant (the general plant type). From this, according to Goethe, infinite plants can be invented, which must be consistent and have an inner truth and necessity ( developing method ).
  • Unlike the plant develops animal a soul life, which is outward in the instinctively and drove bound intrinsic mobility manifests; In addition, the human being consciously participates in the spiritual within. In connection with this, the change in animal and human forms, in contrast to the change in plant forms, contains essential leaps, which u. a. by invagination (e.g. during the formation of the internal organs) or inversion , e.g. B. of long bones in the skull bones can be understood. The developing method is extended to the eversion method , with the help of which u. a. the threefold structure of the animal and human organism, consisting of nerve-sensory organs , rhythmic organs and metabolic organs , starting with the embryonic development is explored.
  • In contrast to animals, the effects of the nervous-sensory system, which is pervaded by dying processes, and of the metabolic-limb system living in building processes, are conveyed in the physicality of humans by an independent rhythmic system that momentarily rekindles the currently paralyzed life in such a way that they form the physiological basis of thinking Becoming, wanting and feeling; Through these soul activities the human individuality can continue its own development. Based on these connections, Goetheanism tries to understand and shape the social organism in its threefold division into intellectual, legal and economic life.

However, this system was more of a programmatic nature and is not generally recognized among Goetheanists.

Goethe quotes

“A phenomenon, an experiment cannot prove anything, it is the link in a large chain that only applies in context. Anyone who wanted to cover up a string of pearls and only show the most beautiful one at a time, demanding that we believe them, the rest of them are all like that, someone would hardly get involved in the deal. "

- Proverbs in prose 160, maxims and reflections 501.

“No phenomenon can be explained in and of itself; only many overlooked together, methodically arranged, ultimately give something that could apply to theory. "

- Proverbs in prose 161, maxims and reflections 500.

“The greatest thing would be to understand that everything factual is already theory. The blue of the sky reveals the basic law of chromatics to us. Just look for nothing behind the phenomena; they themselves are the teaching. "

- Proverbs in prose 165, maxims and reflections 488.

“There is a delicate empiricism that makes itself intimately identical with the object and thus becomes the actual theory. This increase in intellectual ability, however, belongs to a highly educated time. "

- Proverbs in prose 167, maxims and reflections 509.

“The opinion of the most excellent men and their example give me hope that I am on the right path, and I wish that my friends, who sometimes ask me: what is my intention with my optical efforts, may be satisfied with this explanation ? My intention is: to collect all experience in this field, to make all the experiments myself and to carry them out through their greatest variety, whereby they are easy to imitate and not out of sight of so many people. Then set up the sentences in which the experiences of the higher genre can be expressed and wait to see to what extent these also rank under a higher principle. "

- Essay The attempt as a mediator of object and subject.

“... for nature can only be understood if one tries to present the most varied of apparently isolated phenomena in a methodical sequence; because one learns to understand that there is no first and last, but that everything, enclosed in a living circle, instead of contradicting one another, is cleared up and the most delicate references are presented to the inquiring mind. "

- Goethe, letters. To Joseph Sebastian Grüner, Weimar, March 15, 1832.

See also

literature

  • Jochen Bockemühl: Goethe's scientific method under the aspect of responsibility formation. Elements of Natural Science 38, 1983, pp. 50-52
  • Jochen Bockemühl: The fertility of Goethe's scientific approach in the present. Elements of Natural Science 61, 1994, pp. 52-69
  • Henri Bortoft: Goethe's scientific method. Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-7725-1544-4 .
  • Thomas Göbel: Soaking experience with ideas - Goethe's scientific working method. Essay in Natur und Kunst (pp. 13–24), Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-7725-1748-X .
  • Peter Heusser (Ed.): Goethe's contribution to the renewal of the natural sciences. The book for the lecture series of the same name at the University of Bern. Bern / Stuttgart / Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-258-06083-5 .
  • Ernst-Michael Kranich: Goetheanism - its method and meaning in the science of the living. Elements of Natural Science 86, 2007, pp. 31–45
  • Wolfgang Schad (Ed.): Goethean Natural Science (4 volumes). Stuttgart 1982–1985
  • Wolfgang Schad (1987): The Goethean Research Approach and its Application to the Ecological Problem of Forest Dying . In GR Schnell (Ed.): Waldsterben , Stuttgart, ISBN 3-7725-0549-X
  • Wolfgang Schad: What is Goetheanism? Tycho de Brahe-Jahrbuch für Goetheanismus 2001, pp. 23-66, ISBN 3-926347-23-6 . Reprinted in Die Drei , Heft 5–7, 2002
  • Jost Schieren: Intuitive judgment. The philosophical and methodological foundations of Goethe's scientific knowledge . Düsseldorf / Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-930450-27-5 .
  • Rudolf Steiner: Basic lines of an epistemology of the Goethean worldview . GA number 2, 1886, ISBN 3-7274-6290-6 .
  • Rudolf Steiner: Goethe's worldview. GA number 6, 1897, ISBN 3-7274-6250-7 .
  • Andreas Suchantke: Metamorphosis. The device of evolution. Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7725-1784-6 .
  • Andreas Suchantke: Goetheanism as the “grounding” of anthroposophy. In: The Three. Issue 2 and 3, 2006

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Goethe on his scientific methodology: The attempt as a mediator of object and subject
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Schad: What is Goetheanism? To the word history . In: Die Drei 5/2002, p. 36
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Schad: What is Goetheanism? To the word history . In: Die Drei 5/2002, II. Goetheanism in the representations of Rudolf Steiner , Die Drei 6/2002, pp. 50–59
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Schad: What is Goetheanism? To the word history . In: Die Drei 5/2002, III. Goetheanism since Rudolf Steiner . In: The Three . Issue 7, 2002, pp. 54-65
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Schad: What is Goetheanism? To the word history . In: Die Drei 5/2002, and Andreas Suchantke: Goetheanism as “grounding” of anthroposophy , Die Drei 2 and 3/2006
  6. ^ Rudolf Steiner's lecture on April 9, 1923 in Basel, page 7 (PDF; 120 kB)
  7. ↑ Ernst-August Müller et al .: Goetheanism . Elements of Natural Science 33, p. 37f (1980), here in a slightly revised form with the permission of the copyright holder
  8. ↑ Jochen Bockemühl: The image movements of plants . In: manifestations of the ethereal. Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-7725-0401-9
  9. ↑ George Adams, Olive Whicher: The plant in space and counter space. Stuttgart 1960
  10. ↑ Rudolf Steiner: The relationship between the various scientific areas and astronomy. GA number 323, 1926, ISBN 3-7274-3230-6
  11. ^ Herrmann Poppelbaum: Animal Essence Studies. Dornach 1938
  12. ^ Wolfgang Schad: Mammals and humans. Stuttgart 1971
  13. ↑ Rudolf Steiner: From soul riddles. GA number 21, 1917
  14. ↑ Rudolf Steiner: The key points of the social question. GA number 23, 1919, ISBN 3-7274-0230-X
  15. ↑ https://www.aphorismen.de/zitat/106475
  16. ↑ http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Goethe,+Johann+Wolfgang/Briefe/1832