A Bibliography of Writings related to a Goethean Phenomenological Approach to Science
This is a partially annotated bibliography of books, book chapters, and articles, with emphasis on the life sciences. It includes only English language publications and is by no means complete; if you have suggestions or corrections please contact us.
Many articles by Nature Institute staff and affiliate researchers are not listed here, since they can be found by referring to Research Areas and Writings Ordered by Author.
I. General/Foundations/History
Goethe: Scientific Studies; the Collected Works, Vol. 12
Edited and translated by Douglas Miller (Princeton University Press, 1995)
This is probably the most comprehensive collection of Goethe's scientific writings in the English language at the present.
Goethe on Science: An Anthology of Goethe's Scientific Writings
Selected and introduced by Jeremy Nadler (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 1996)
A fine selection of Goethe's writings, often excerpts from essays, and also aphorisms, ordered by themes.
Nature's Open Secret: Introduction to Goethe's Scientific Writings
By Rudolf Steiner (Great Barrington, MA: Anthroposophic Press, reprinted 2000)
These essays by Steiner, written between 1883 and 1897, still belong to the most penetrating elucidations of Goethe's scientific approach.
Goethe's Way of Science
Edited by David Seamon and Arthur Zajonc (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1998)
This excellent collection of essays by contemporary authors considers both the philosophy of a Goethean approach to science and examples of practical application in different fields.
The Wholeness of Nature
By Henri Bortoft (Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Press, 1996)
A masterful philosophical introduction to a Goethean approach to science.
Taking Appearance Seriously
By Henri Bortoft (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 2012)
Bortoft describes the pathway to a dynamic way of seeing and places it within the context of the development of modern science and philosophy.
“Doing Goethean Science”
By Craig Holdrege (2005)
This article focuses on the practice of a Goethean approach.
“Goethe and the Evolution of Science”
By Craig Holdrege (2014)
This article describes some of Goethe’s work in botany and animal morphology, and shows the relevance of his approach today.
Goethe and the Sciences: A Reappraisal
Edited by Frederick Amrine et al. (D. Reidel Pub. Co., 1987)
This volume contains many excellent discussions of Goethe's approach to science.
Goethe's Delicate Empiricism
A special issue of the journal Janus Head that contains many articles on Goethe's approach from a variety of perspectives. Published in 2005.
The Marriage of Sense and Thought
By Stephen Edelglass, Georg Maier, Hans Gerbert, John Davy (Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Press, 1997)
A clear and concise discussion of a phenomena-based approach to science.
Wonders of Development: In Plants, People, and Projects
By Jan Diek van Mansvelt (Hillsdale, NY: Adonis Press, 2022)
Goethe's Science of Living Form: The Artistic Stages
By Nigel Hoffmann (Ghent, NY: Adonis Press, 2007)
The Organism
By Kurt Goldstein (New York: Zone Books, 1995)
Goldstein's main work, describing his holistic approach to science; most of the examples are drawn from neurobiology. A classic.
Toward a Phenomenology of the Etheric World
Edited by Jochen Bockemühl (Great Barrington, MA: Anthroposophic Press, 1985)
The contributions in this volume explore different applications of the Goethean approach in biology and physics. They were written for an audience familiar with Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy.
The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe
By Robert J. Richards (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002)
The Will to Create: Goethe's Philosophy of Nature
By Astrida Orle Tantillo (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2002)
The Vortex of Life - Nature's Patterns in Space and Time
By Lawrence Edwards (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 1993)
II. Botany
The Metamorphosis of Plants
By J.W. von Goethe (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2009)
This new edition contains beautiful color photographs and an introduction by Gordon Miller.
Goethe's Botanical Writings
By J.W. von Goethe, translated by Bertha Mueller (Woodbridge, CT: Ox Bow Press, 1989)
Thinking Like a Plant: A Living Science for Life
By Craig Holdrege (Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books, 2013)
This book shows how we can learn from plants to think in more dynamic and context-sensitive ways — the plant as a teacher of living thinking.
Awakening to Landscape
By Jochen Bockemühl (Dornach, Switzerland: Natural Science Section, Goetheanum)
In Partnership with Nature
By Jochen Bockemühl (Wyoming, RI: Biodynamic Literature, 1981)
Metamorphosis of Plants
By Jochen Bockemühl and Andreas Suchanke (Cape Town: Novalis Press, 1995)
A New Eye for Plants
By M. Colquhoun and A. Ewald (Stroud, UK: Hawthorn Press, 1996)
The Plant, Vol. I and II
By G. Grohman (Kimberton, PA: Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Assoc., 1989)
The Living World of Plants: A Book for Children and Students of Nature
By G. Grohman (Fair Oaks, CA: AWSNA, 1999)
Planetary Influences upon Plants
By E. M. Kranich (Wyoming, RI: Biodynamic Literature, 1984)
About Formative Forces in Plants
By Dick von Romunde (Jannebeth Roell, 2003)
“The Concept of Morphological Polarity and Its Implication on the Concept of the Essential Organs and on the Concept of the Organisation Type of the Dicotyledonous Plant”
By P. Schilperoord-Jarke in Acta Biotheoretica vol. 45 (1997), pp. 51-63
“Goethe’s Metamorphosis of Plants and Modern Plant Genetics”
By Peer Schilperoord-Jarke in Goethes Beitrag zur Erneuerung der Naturwissenschaften, edited by Peter Heusser and translated by P. Schilperoord-Jarke (Bern: Verlag Paulhaupt, 2000)
III. Zoology
Seeing the Animal Whole — And Why it Matters
By Craig Holdrege (Lindisfarne Books; 2021)
Threefoldness in Humans and Mammals: Toward a Biology of Form (2 Volumes)
By Wolfgang Schad (Ghent, NY: Adonis Press, 2020)
Do Frogs Come from Tadpoles? Rethinking Origins in Development and Evolution
By Craig Holdrege (Great Barrington, MA: Evolving Science Association, 2017)
The Giraffe’s Long Neck: From Evolutionary Fable to Whole Organism
By Craig Holdrege (Ghent, NY: The Nature Institute, 2005)
The Flexible Giant: Seeing the Elephant Whole
By Craig Holdrege (Ghent, NY: The Nature Institute, 2003)
“Horns, Hooves, Spots, and Stripes: Form and Pattern in Mammals”
By Mark Riegner in Orion vol. 4, pp. 22-35 (1985)
“Essays in Philosophical Zoology: The Living Form and the Seeing Eye”
By Adolf Portmann in Problems in Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 20 (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991)
Animal Forms and Patterns
By Adolf Portmann (New York: Schocken Books, 1967)
IV. Human Biology
Functional Morphology: The Dynamic Wholeness of the Human Organism
By Johannes Rohen (Ghent, NY: Adonis Press, 2007)
From Mechanism to Organism: Enlivening the Study of Human Biology
By Michael Holdrege (Hudson, NY: Waldorf Publications, 2022)
The Heart and Circulation: An Integrative Model
By Branko Furst (Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland, Second Edition, 2020)
The Dynamic Heart and Circulation
Edited by Craig Holdrege (Fair Oaks, CA: AWSNA, 2002)
Living With Your Body
By Walther Buehler (London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996)
Bolk Companions to the Practice of Medicine
Published by The Louis Bolk Institute in the Netherlands, on topics such as anatomy, physiology, embryology, and biochemistry. They address the multitude of facts in medical textbooks in the context of a phenomenological approach.
V. Ecology
The Earth's Face
By E. Pfeiffer (East Grinstead, UK: The Langthorn Press, 1988)
Eco-Geography
By Andreas Suchantke (Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 2001)
Moon Rhythms in Nature
By Klaus-Peter Endres and Wolfgang Schad (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 1997)
“Toward a Holistic Understanding of Place: Reading a Landscape Through its Flora and Fauna”
By Mark Riegner in Dwelling, Seeing, and Designing, D. Seamon, ed. (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993)
VI. Genetics and Genetic Engineering
Genetics and the Manipulation of Life
By Craig Holdrege (Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1996)
Beyond Biotechnology
By Craig Holdrege and Steve Talbott (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2008)
“Genetic Engineering and the Intrinsic Value and Integrity of Animals and Plants”
Edited by David Heaf & Johannes Wirz (Ifgene, 2002)
Proceedings of a Workshop at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, UK 18-21 September 2002.
The Future of DNA
Edited by Johannes Wirz and Edith Lammerts von Bueren (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997)
“Progress Toward Complementarity in Genetics”
By Johannes Wirz (1998)
VII. Evolution
Do Frogs Come from Tadpoles? Rethinking Origins in Development and Evolution
By Craig Holdrege (Great Barrington, MA: Evolving Science Association, 2017)
On the Origin of Autonomy
By Bernd Rosslenbroich (Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2014)
Metamorphosis: Evolution in Action
By Andreas Suchantke (Ghent, NY: Adonis Press, 2009)
Thinking Beyond Darwin
By E.M. Kranich (Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1999)
Developmental Dynamics
By J. Verhulst (Ghent, NY: Adonis Press, 2003)
“The Theory of Increasing Autonomy in Evolution: A Proposal for Understanding Macroevolutionary Innovations”
By Bernd Rosslenbroich in Biology and Philosophy vol. 24, pp. 623-44. (2009)
The Spirit in Human Evolution
By Martyn Rawson (Fair Oaks, CA: AWSNA, 2003)
Hope, Evolution, and Change
By John Davy (Stroud, UK: Hawthorn Press, 1986)
Childhood and Human Evolution
By Friedrich Kipp (Ghent, NY: Adonis Press, 2005)
VIII. Color and Light
Theory of Colours
By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1970; reprint of original English translation from 1840)
Seeing Colour: A Journey Through Goethe’s World of Colour
By Nora Löbe, Matthias Rang, Troy Vine (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 2022)
What is Colour?
By Michael Wilson (Berlin: Logos Verlag, 2018)
Rainbows, Halos, Dawn and Dusk: The Appearance of Color in the Atmosphere and Goethe's Theory of Colors
By Johannes Kühl (Ghent, NY: Adonis Press, 2016)
Catching the Light
By Arthur Zajonc (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993)
Goethe Contra Newton: Polemics and the Project for a New Science of Color
By Dennis L. Sepper (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988)
“Exploratory Experimentation: Goethe, Land, and Color Theory”
By Neil Ribe and Friedrich Steinle in Physics Today (July 2002)
“Goethe’s Theory of Color and Scientific Intuition”
By Arthur Zajonc in American Journal of Physics vol. 44, p. 327ff (1976)
IX. Astronomy
Sky Phenomena: A Guide to Naked Eye Observation of the Stars
By Norman Davidson (Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1993)
Astronomy: An Introduction
By Hermann von Baravalle (Fair Oaks, CA: Rudolf Steiner College Press, 2000)
X. General Physics
Forming Concepts in Physics
By Georg Unger (Spring Valley, NY: Parker Courtney Press, 1995)
XI. Fluid Dynamics
Sensitive Chaos
By Theodore Schwenk (New York: Schocken Books, 1978)
Water: The Element of Life
By Theodore Schwenk and Wolfram Schwenk (Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1989)
XII. Teaching Phenomenological Science and Mathematics
To the Infinite and Back Again: A Workbook in Projective Geometry
By Henrike Holdrege (Great Barrington, MA: Evolving Science Association, 2019)
Teaching Physics Phenomenologically: Electricity and the Practice of Embodied Learning
By Wilfried Sommer (Kassel, Germany: Pädagogische Forschungsstelle, 2019)
From Mechanism to Organism: Enlivening the Study of Human Biology
By Michael Holdrege (Hudson, NY: Waldorf Publications, 2022)
A Phenomena-Based Physics
By Manfred von Mackensen (Fair Oaks, CA: AWSNA, 1994); Vol. 1: grade 6; Vol. 1: grade 7; Vol. 3: grade 8
Phenomenological Organic Chemistry
By Manfred von Mackensen (Fair Oaks, CA: AWSNA, 2009); grade 9 Chemistry
Sensible Physics Teaching
By Michael D'Aleo and Stephan Edelglass (Spring Valley, NY: Parker Courtney Press, 1999); for grades 6-8
Fundamentals for Phenomenological Study of Chemistry
By Frits Julius (Fair Oaks, CA: AWSNA, 2000); for grades 10-12
The Wonders of Waldorf Chemistry
By David Mitchell (Fair Oaks, CA: AWSNA, 2001); for grades 7-9