“The question is not what you look at, but how you look and whether you see.”
— HENRY DAVID THOREAU
The fall 2024 issue (#52) of our biannual publication, In Context, has just been published in print and online. New writings include a feature by Craig Holdrege on the implications of factor-based thinking in science. An article from our archives, by Martin Wagenschein, makes the case for learning a subject through an exemplary study rather than by a broad survey. You’ll also find a photo collage of activities with our summer Foundation Course participants in our News section, and a report on collaborative Goethean practice by Ryan Shea.
Our Latest Podcast: Celebrating Trees
If you were not able to join us in November at the institute for Jon McAlice’s talk, “Celebrating Trees,” we are pleased now to be able to make the audio version available on our podcast, In Dialogue With Nature. In the talk, Jon shares an appreciation for how trees are in the world and how we might gain a sense of kinship with them.
With deciduous trees now in their winter dormancy (here in the northern hemisphere), it’s an ideal time to view their leafless crowns, branches, and trunks — forms which also speak to us. As described in Craig’s archived article from In Context #14, “The Forming Tree,” each tree’s shape and size is not predetermined but rather expresses its individual history in place and time. As a companion to Jon’s talk and your own arboreal observations, we recommend this illuminating reading.
In addition to publishing our staff’s work relating to Goethean Science and Phenomenology on this site, we also periodically showcase the work of others in the field. A new such addition to our Writings By Author section is the work of Mark Riegner PhD, who taught Ecology and Evolution for 35 years at Prescott College in Arizona, and has authored four insightful articles that you can link to from here.
About the work of The Nature Institute — In a rare interview, recorded in Brazil, Henrike and Craig Holdrege speak of their transformative work and the Goethean perspective that has long inspired it. This Q & A followed a two-week course, “Seeing Nature Whole,” that the Holdrege’s have frequently taught each December in Florianópolis.
In the biological sciences many concepts are used habitually without careful reflection on the biases they inherently carry with them. One such concept is that of “factors.” In this article by Craig Holdrege, he considers “factors” as related to plant development and growth, with a focus on roots. What picture of organisms arises when we have analyzed their activities and relations into myriad factors? This consideration grew out of our staff’s ongoing research project on “Intelligence in Nature,” and Craig discusses the implications of the factor-based thinking that colors current conceptions of plant intelligence. . . Read more
News From The Institute
Read here about recent staff activities at the institute as well as abroad. You can find field notes from our Foundation Course 2024 summer intensive and more, including a Fall Colors art/observation workshop; talks introducing Goethean Phenomenology to students and professional philosophers; and workshops for bringing Goethean practice into the classroom.
We recently expanded and redesigned our online Bookstore to better serve you and to offer titles from other Goethean authors whose work we value. We encourage you to browse or contact us with any questions.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Winter Animal Tracking
with Jonathan Talbott and Mike Pewtherer
Saturday, January 18, 2025, 9 am - noon
Join us for a morning of tracking as we read the landscape and the tell-tale signs left by the animals who call this area "home". This will be a great introduction to tracking and no experience is necessary.
From a Reader…
Dear Craig,
Once again I’m introducing papers from The Nature Institute website, this time for a HS botany course, and I’m just so grateful for your work (and Steve’s) and that a resource like yours exists. …I appreciate so much those who approach science thoughtfully, with open minds and hearts. It has lit a fire in several students over the years, and helped to humanize even those who are not especially otherwise interested in science.
- Executive Director, Waldorf High School