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Book An Attempt to Explain the Metamorphosis of Plants

Download or read book An Attempt to Explain the Metamorphosis of Plants written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and published by Newcomb Livraria Press. This book was released on with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new 2023 translation into modern American English of Goethe's 1790 "Der Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären". This edition contains an Afterword by the Translator, a Timeline of Goethe’s Life & Works and a Glossary of Philosophic Terminology used by Goethe. In his 1790 work "The Attempt to Explain the Metamorphosis of Plants," Goethe delves into the realm of botany, employing a scientific lens to unravel the mysteries of plant transformation. With advanced vocabulary and meticulous observation, he investigates the intricate processes and structures that govern plant development. By challenging prevailing notions of plant morphology, Goethe presents an alternative framework that emphasizes the interconnectedness of plant forms and the underlying principles that guide their metamorphosis.

Book The Metamorphosis of Plants

Download or read book The Metamorphosis of Plants written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2009-09-11 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Goethe's influential text, newly illustrated with stunning color photographs. The Metamorphosis of Plants, published in 1790, was Goethe's first major attempt to describe what he called in a letter to a friend “the truth about the how of the organism.” Inspired by the diversity of flora he found on a journey to Italy, Goethe sought a unity of form in diverse structures. He came to see in the leaf the germ of a plant's metamorphosis—“the true Proteus who can hide or reveal himself in all vegetal forms”—from the root and stem leaves to the calyx and corolla, to pistil and stamens. With this short book—123 numbered paragraphs, in the manner of the great botanist Linnaeus—Goethe aimed to tell the story of botanical forms in process, to present, in effect, a motion picture of the metamorphosis of plants. This MIT Press edition of The Metamorphosis of Plants illustrates Goethe's text (in an English translation by Douglas Miller) with a series of stunning and starkly beautiful color photographs as well as numerous line drawings. It is the most completely and colorfully illustrated edition of Goethe's book ever published. It demonstrates vividly Goethe's ideas of transformation and interdependence, as well as the systematic use of imagination in scientific research—which influenced thinkers ranging from Darwin to Thoreau and has much to teach us today about our relationship with nature.

Book The Enlightened Eye

Download or read book The Enlightened Eye written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Poets, painters, philosophers, and scientists alike debated new ways of thinking about visual culture in the “long eighteenth century”. The essays in The Enlightened Eye: Goethe and Visual Culture demonstrate the extent to which Goethe advanced this discourse in virtually all disciplines. The concept of visuality becomes a constitutive moment in a productive relationship between the verbal and visual arts with far-reaching implications for the formation of bourgeois identity, pedagogy, and culture. From a variety of theoretical perspectives, the contributors to this volume examine the interconnections between aesthetic and scientific fields of inquiry involved in Goethe’s visual identity. By locating Goethe’s position in the examination of visual culture, both established and emerging scholars analyze the degree to which visual aesthetics determined the cultural production of both the German-speaking world and the broader European context. The contributions analyze the production, presentation, and consumption of visual culture defined broadly as painting, sculpture, theater, and scientific practice. The Enlightened Eye promises to invest new energy and insight into the discussion among literary scholars, art historians, and cultural theorists about many aspects of visual culture in the Age of Goethe.

Book Performing Knowledge  1750 1850

Download or read book Performing Knowledge 1750 1850 written by Mary Helen Dupree and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-07-31 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The period between 1750 and 1850 was a time when knowledge and its modes of transmission were reconsidered and reworked in fundamental ways. Social and political transformations, such as the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, went hand in hand with in new ways of viewing, sensing, and experiencing what was perceived to be a rapidly changing world. This volume brings together a range of essays that explore the performance of knowledge in the period from 1750 to 1850, in the broadest possible sense. The essays explore a wide variety of literary, theatrical, and scientific events staged during this period, including scientific demonstrations, philosophical lectures, theatrical performances, stage design, botany primers, musical publications, staged Schiller memorials, acoustic performances, and literary declamations. These events served as vital conduits for the larger process of generating, differentiating, and circulating knowledge. By unpacking the significance of performance and performativity for the creation and circulation of knowledge in Germany during this period, the volume makes an important contribution to interdisciplinary German cultural studies, performance studies, and the history of knowledge.

Book Remapping Biology with Goethe  Schelling  and Herder

Download or read book Remapping Biology with Goethe Schelling and Herder written by Gregory Rupik and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-03-18 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remapping Biology with Goethe, Schelling, and Herder recruits a Romantic philosophy of biology into contemporary debates to both integrate the theoretical implications of ecology, evolution, and development, and to contextualize the successes of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis’s gene’s-eye-view of biology. The dominant philosophy of biology in the twentieth century was one developed within and for the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis. As biologists like those developing an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis have pushed the limits of this paradigm, fresh philosophical approaches have become necessary. This book makes the case that an organicism developed by the 19th century figures Goethe, Schelling, and Herder offers surprising resources to navigate the contemporary biological and evolutionary terrain. This “metamorphic organicism” resonates with present trends in biological theory that emphasize process, organismal dynamics, ecology, and agency. It also proposes strategies for reintegrating reductive and mechanistic maps of biology, like those of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis, into richer theoretical representations of life. Drawing from cutting-edge biology, Romantic history, and perspectival pluralist literatures, this integrated history-and-philosophy-of-biology will be of interest to students and scholars interested in the genesis of current theoretical tensions in evolutionary biology, and to those seeking constructive ways to resolve those tensions, including practicing biologists and educators.

Book Rudolf Magnus

    Book Details:
  • Author : Otto Magnus
  • Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
  • Release : 2002-06-30
  • ISBN : 9781402004612
  • Pages : 372 pages

Download or read book Rudolf Magnus written by Otto Magnus and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2002-06-30 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most medical doctors have probably during their studies heard of the `Magnus and De Kleijn reflexes' and may have been aware of their relation to posture. But they know little about their significance and nothing about the man who unravelled the complex physiology of these reflexes and about his work. Rudolf Magnus lived from 1873 until 1927. His work on the physiology of posture was initiated during a short period of work with Sherrington in Liverpool in 1908. Though Magnus was also an authority in the field of pharmacology, it was particularly his neurophysical work on posture which made him known worldwide. It led to his nomination, together with De Kleijn, for the Nobel Prize in 1927. Unfortunately he died before the decision was made. In this illustrated biography Magnus' family background and his student years are described in a lively way. Fragments of the diary of his journey to England in 1898 and the description of his scientific career in Heidelberg will enlighten those interested in the history of how science was conducted during his lifetime. His lectures on Goethe as a scientist are also included. This is followed by Magnus' life as Professor of Pharmacology in Utrecht, and his studies on animal postures and experimental pharmacology. Finally Magnus' legacy is described.

Book German Romanticism and Science

Download or read book German Romanticism and Science written by Jocelyn Holland and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-04-30 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Situated at the intersection of literature and science, Holland's study draws upon a diverse corpus of literary and scientific texts which testify to a cultural fascination with procreation around 1800. Through readings which range from Goethe’s writing on metamorphosis to Novalis’s aphorisms and novels and Ritter’s Fragments from the Estate of a Young Physicist, Holland proposes that each author contributes to a scientifically-informed poetics of procreation. Rather than subscribing to a single biological theory (such as epigenesis or preformation), these authors take their inspiration from a wide inventory of procreative motifs and imagery.

Book Goethe  A Very Short Introduction

Download or read book Goethe A Very Short Introduction written by Ritchie Robertson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-01-28 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1878 the Victorian critic Matthew Arnold wrote: 'Goethe is the greatest poet of modern times... because having a very considerable gift for poetry, he was at the same time, in the width, depth, and richness of his criticism of life, by far our greatest modern man.' In this Very Short Introduction Ritchie Robertson covers the life and work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): scientist, administrator, artist, art critic and supreme literary writer in a vast variety of genres. Looking at Goethe's poetry, novels and drama pieces, as well as his travel writing, autobiography, and essays on art and aesthetics, Robertson analyses some of the key themes in his works: love, nature, religion and tragedy. Dispelling the misconception of Goethe as a sedate Victorian sage, Robertson shows how much of his art was rooted in turbulent personal conflicts, and draws on recent research to present a complete portrait of the scientific work and political activity which accompanied Goethe's writings. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Book Goethe s Botanical Writings

    Book Details:
  • Author : Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
  • Release : 2021-05-25
  • ISBN : 082488504X
  • Pages : 269 pages

Download or read book Goethe s Botanical Writings written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much has been written about the golden youth and the Olympian old age of Johann Wolfgang Goethe, poet; less has been written, however, about Goethe the scientist, who, pursuing independent research in many fields, opposed the professional men of his day with brilliant theories of his own. The educated world, familiar with Faust, Werther, and Wilhelm Meister, is not so generally aware of the scientific achievements of the man who had a genus of plants (Goethea) and a mineral (goethite) named for him who coined and first used the word morphology; who contributed to the understanding of the physiology of color; who rediscovered and described the intermaxillary bone in man, propounded the vertebral theory of the skull, formulated a concept in botanical morphology that persists to this day; who discovered the volcanic origin of a mountain; who established the first system of weather stations; who made the first systematic classification of minerals and was among the first to use the comparative method in biology; and who came unwittingly close to achieving the greatest concept in biology—some say the greatest concept in the thinking of man—the theory of organic evolution and the descent of man. Even in those few cases where subsequent research has proved Goethe’s theories to be wrong, his supporting accumulation of facts has proved extremely valuable to science. Goethe was born at the beginning of a great scientific era. But he was a creative thinker; his was not the analytic mind that emphasized fine differences but the synthetic mind that sensed the unity behind the differences. He was also an ardent lover of nature, possessed of unlimited curiosity. Consequently, as a contemporary observed, "Whatever Goeth looked upon in nature immediately acquired the character of a living experience for him." Most of the material translated in this volume is taken from notes and essays which Goethe published from 1817 to 1824 in journal form. Occupying a central position is the most famous and lasting of his scientific writings, the essay on the metamorphosis of plants—an essay which is today considered "one of the minor classics of botany." One of the most important episodes in Goethe's life was his flight to Italy, where he was delighted by the climate and the luxuriance of the plant life. A fan palm in particular attracted his attention because its leaves seemed to exhibit a complete series of transitions from the simple lance-shaped first leaves to the most complex fan type. "At my request," Goethe wrote in his diary, "the gardener cut off an entire sequence of modifications for me, and I burdened myself with several pasteboard containers in which to carry these treasures around." From this beginning Goethe started to evolve his theory of plant metamorphosis, and he returned to Weimar convinced that he had found the secret. The literary student will find much to interest him in this translation—the poet's own account of his grief and suffering at the hands of misunderstanding friends, and his victory over a threatening neurosis. Such essays as "The History of My Botanical Studies" and "The Fate of My Manuscript" throw much light on the crucial middle period of Goethe's life. During Goethe's lifetime and after, there was a tendency to ignore his scientific accomplishments in the face of his literary works. Many felt that they were almost a crime against his poetry. A few, however, contended that in science lay the center and focal point of Goethe's mental life. Goethe, himself, toward the end of his life wrote, "For more than a half century I have been known as a poet, in my own country and undoubtedly also abroad; or at any rate I have been permitted to pass for one. But the fact that I have busily occupied myself with Nature in all her general physical and organic phenomena, constantly and passionately pursuing seriously formulated studies—this is not so generally known; still less has it been accorded any attention." "Minds like Goethe's," Thomas Carlyle said, "are the common property of all nations; and, for many reasons, all should have correct impressions of them." This translation will enable those not familiar with the German language to gain a direct impression of Goethe's mind as expressed in his botanical writings.

Book Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science

Download or read book Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science written by Gemma Anderson-Tempini and published by Intellect Books. This book was released on 2017-10-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent history, the arts and sciences have often been considered opposing fields of study, but a growing trend in drawing research is beginning to bridge this divide. Gemma Anderson’s Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science introduces tested ways in which drawing as a research practice can enhance morphological insight, specifically within the natural sciences, mathematics and art. Inspired and informed by collaboration with contemporary scientists and Goethe’s studies of morphology, as well as the work of artist Paul Klee, this book presents drawing as a means of developing and disseminating knowledge, and of understanding and engaging with the diversity of natural and theoretical forms, such as animal, vegetable, mineral and four dimensional shapes. Anderson shows that drawing can offer a means of scientific discovery and can be integral to the creation of new knowledge in science as well as in the arts.

Book Goethe s Way of Science

Download or read book Goethe s Way of Science written by David Seamon and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines Goethe's neglected but sizable body of scientific work, considers the philosophical foundations of his approach, and applies his method to the real world of nature.

Book The Oxford Handbook of European Romanticism

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of European Romanticism written by Paul Hamilton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-01-14 with total page 750 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of European Romanticism focuses on the period beginning with the French Revolution and extending to the uprisings of 1848 across Europe. It brings together leading scholars in the field to examine the intellectual, literary, philosophical, and political elements of European Romanticism. The volume begins with a series of chapters examining key texts written by major writers in languages including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Hungarian, Greek, and Polish amongst others. Then follows a second section based on the naturally inter-disciplinary quality of Romanticism, encapsulated by the different discourses with which writers of the time, set up an internal comparative dynamic. These chapters highlight the sense a discourse gives of being written knowledgeably against other pretenders to completeness or comprehensiveness of understanding, and the Enlightenment encyclopaedic project. Discourses typically push their individual claims to resume European culture, collaborating and trying to assimilate each other in the process. The main examples featuring here are history, geography, drama, theology, language, geography, philosophy, political theory, the sciences, and the media. Each chapter offers original and individual interpretation of individual aspects of an inherently comparative world of individual writers and the discursive idioms to which they are historically subject. Together the forty-one chapters provide a comprehensive and unique overview of European Romanticism.

Book Empire Biota  Taxonomy and Evolution 2nd Edition

Download or read book Empire Biota Taxonomy and Evolution 2nd Edition written by Bernard Pelletier and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of taxonomy, including historical overviews, the first cladistic analyses of bacteria based on classical evidence, the most comprehensive cladistic analyses of eukaryotes based on classical evidence, cladograms, tables and lists, d

Book An Introduction to Eurythmy

    Book Details:
  • Author : Rudolf Steiner
  • Publisher : SteinerBooks
  • Release : 1983-12
  • ISBN : 0880107170
  • Pages : 108 pages

Download or read book An Introduction to Eurythmy written by Rudolf Steiner and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 1983-12 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 16 talks preceding eurythmy performances (CW 277 / 277a) The art of eurythmy strives to make the invisible visible in a harmonious and disciplined play of color, form, sound, and motion. During the early years of the twentieth century when eurythmy was young and little known, Rudolf Steiner's introductory talks prepared nearly 300 audiences for their encounters with this wholly new way of presenting drama, poetry, and music through human movement. Full of life and creativity, these talks illuminate the richness underlying the spiritual laws of this new art form. Sixteen of Steiner's talks on eurythmy are presented here as an introduction to the aesthetic, pedagogical, and therapeutic secrets of this developing art. This volume contains translations of 1st lecture in Die Entstehung und Entwickelung der Eurythmie (GA 277a); and 15 lectures in Eurythmie als Impuls für künstlerisches Betätigen und Betrachten (current edition: Eurythmie. Die Offenbarung der sprechenden Seele, GA 277).

Book Simulated Selves

    Book Details:
  • Author : Andrew Spira
  • Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
  • Release : 2020-06-25
  • ISBN : 1350091081
  • Pages : 360 pages

Download or read book Simulated Selves written by Andrew Spira and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-25 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The notion of a personal self took centuries to evolve, reaching the pinnacle of autonomy with Descartes' 'I think, therefore I am' in the 17th century. This 'personalisation' of identity thrived for another hundred years before it began to be questioned, subject to the emergence of broader, more inclusive forms of agency. Simulated Selves: The Undoing Personal Identity in the Modern World addresses the 'constructed' notion of personal identity in the West and how it has been eclipsed by the development of new technological, social, art historical and psychological infrastructures over the last two centuries. While the provisional nature of the self-sense has been increasingly accepted in recent years, Simulated Selves addresses it in a new way - not by challenging it directly, but by observing changes to the environments and cultural conventions that have traditionally supported it. By narrating both its dismantling and its incapacitation in this way, it records its undoing. Like The Invention of the Self: Personal Identity in the Age of Art (to which it forms a companion volume), Simulated Selves straddles cultural history and philosophy. Firstly, it identifies hitherto neglected forces that inform the course of cultural history. Secondly, it highlights how the self is not the self-authenticating abstraction, only accessible to introspection, that it seems to be; it is also a cultural and historical phenomenon. Arguing that it is by engaging in cultural conventions that we subscribe to the process of identity-formation, the book also suggests that it is in these conventions that we see our self-sense - and its transience - best reflected. By examining the traces that the trajectory of the self-sense has left in its environment, Simulated Selves offers a radically new approach to the question of personal identity, asking not only 'how and why is it under threat?' but also 'given that we understand the self-sense to be a constructed phenomenon, why do we cling to it?'.

Book Quarterly Review

    Book Details:
  • Author :
  • Publisher : UM Libraries
  • Release : 1948
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 412 pages

Download or read book Quarterly Review written by and published by UM Libraries. This book was released on 1948 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes section: "Some Michigan books."

Book De Stijl Continued

    Book Details:
  • Author : Jonneke Jobse
  • Publisher : 010 Publishers
  • Release : 2005
  • ISBN : 9789064505775
  • Pages : 484 pages

Download or read book De Stijl Continued written by Jonneke Jobse and published by 010 Publishers. This book was released on 2005 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 1958 to 1964 the journal 'Structure' was a major platform for artists reconsidering the design tenets and underlying principles of the Bauhaus, Constructivism and De Stijl. This book explores the artists' body of ideas in meticulous detail.