Product Description

The scientific work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) represents a style of learning and understanding which is largely ignored today. The approach of modern science is largely detached, intellectual and analytical, and it is increasingly recognized that many of our contemporary problems stem from the resulting divorce from nature. By contrast, Goethe's way of science pursued understanding through the experience of the 'authentic wholeness' of what was observed. Working with the intuitive mode of consciousness, Goethe aimed at an encounter with the whole phenomenon in its relationship with the observer. In his way of seeing, rather than dividing merely in order to categorize, we should investigate the parts of an object in order to reveal the true nature of the whole. In this invaluable study, Henri Bortoft examines the phenomenological and cultural roots of Goethe's ways of science. He argues that Goethe's insights, far from belonging to the past, represent the foundation for a future science. This new science of nature, involving other human faculties besides the analytical mind, can provide understanding and explanation in a way which our present scientific attitudes, and the culture they serve, desperately lack.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45444 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

About the Author
Henri Bortoft has taught physics and the philosophy of science for most of his career. His postgraduate research was on the problem of wholeness in the quantum theory under David Bohm and Basil Hiley at Birkbeck College, London. He now lectures and gives seminars on Goethean science as well as the development of modern scientific consciousness.

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive Introduction to Holistic Science
An absolutely fascinating read, at a level suitable for both professional scientists and academics but easily accessible to the layperson as well. This is essential reading for anyone with an interest in holism, holistic science and the limits of science. Bortoft provides an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of Johan Wolfgang von Goethe’s approach to science, clearly showing the contemporary relevance of his entirely different way of coming to an understanding of the natural world. He underpins this analysis by his own philosophical research on the relationship between the whole and its parts.

In our daily thinking we tend to be stuck in what Bortoft calls analytic consciousness, through which we try to understand the phenomena in our world by analysing them into parts and then building them up again from those parts. In this way, the whole becomes an entity, which stands alone, albeit constituted from its parts. Goethe’s way of science, however, draws on a very different conception of the whole, as being intimately entwined with its parts, in such a way that, in a sense, the whole comes into being through the parts, while at the same time the parts come into being through the whole. We can only really understand this by experiencing it and drawing on our intuitive mode of consciousness.

Bortoft shows how Goethe dwelled in the phenomena he studied to such degree that he was able to understand these phenomena, without needing to explain them. Moreover, Bortoft does an excellent job at showing how this mode of science is objective in the exact same way as conventional science is objective, in that it is verifiable by others, but dependant on a shared way of seeing the world.

Having read many parts of the book over again, I am in awe of the wholeness of this work, in the Goethean sense, so that each section forms both a part of the whole, but at the same time contains the entire work within itself. Once read as a whole, each section brings to life again the entire work, revealing each time new aspects and helping me to think afresh, with thought-provoking ideas. Striking in all this is how Bortoft has managed to bring the entire subject to life by showing so clearly how Goethe's science comes into being.

The relevance and importance of this work will no doubt increase over the years.

A primer for a holistic consciousness
'The Wholeness of Nature' is a work of the most patient exposition and extraordinary luminousity. Bortoft brings us the essence of Goethe's way of science, which has been lost on many previous commentators. But this book is much, much more than just a historical essay: it is a primer for a holistic consciousness, built on a profound insight into the nature of human perception. It sheds fresh light on some of our most pressing preocupations, in a way that is both erudite and highly accessible. 'The Wholeness of Nature' revitalised my intellectual and imaginative life, causing me to see things I had previously taken for granted in a wholly new way. This is one of very few books I feel really privileged to have come across. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

The best non-fiction book I've read
No praise is adequate for this book with its strong unsentimental philosophical approach tempered with a relaxed style and exceptionally clear explanations of the material. It opens up a completely new way of viewing and doing science, one not easily acceptable to a rigid interpretaion as it stands today. Very broad in its scope discussing very deeply the idea of world view, it is an essential read for any scientist even applied mathematicians such as myself. Unlike other books in the same vein e.g. mystical etc, in whose domain it does not belong, there are no fantastical explanations with no grounding but rather well researched arguments in favour of an almost Socratic perspective, refering here to Socrates's character and life rather than Plato's use of him in his arguments. Recommended for all open minded readers and those who would like to have theirs opened.