Taking Appearance Seriously: The Dynamic Way of Seeing in Goethe and European Thought

by Henri Bortoft

Overview

The history of western metaphysi from Plato onwards is dominated by the dualism of being and appearance. What something really is (its true being) is believed to be hidden behind the 'mere appearances' through which it manifests. Twentieth-century European thinkers radically overturned this foundation. With Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer came a major step towards taking appearance seriously, exploring a way of seeing that draws attention back 'upstream', from what is experienced into the act of experiencing. Understood in this way, perception is a dynamic event, a 'phenomenon', in which the observer participates. Henri Bortoft guides us through this dynamic way of seeing in various areas of experience -- in distinguishing things, the finding of meaning, and the relationship between thought and words. He also explores similarities with Goethe's reflections on the coming-into-being of the living plant. Here, in another reversal of classical thinking, we find that even in their 'diversity of appeareances', living things are not separate but in relation. Diversity is the dynamic unity of life itself. Expanding the scope of his previous book, The Wholeness of Nature, the author shows how Goethean insights combine with the dynamic way of seeing in continental philosophy to offer us an actively experienced 'life of meaning'. This book will be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the contribution and wider implications of modern European thought in the world today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780863159688
Publisher:	Floris Books
Publication date:	10/25/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Henri Bortoft (1938-2012) was a physicist with an interest in the history of science and continental philosophy. He authored the well-received book, The Wholeness of Nature: Goethe's Way of Science (Floris Books, 1996, 2005).

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments 9

1 Into the Dynamic Way of Thinking 10

A Different Approach to Wholeness 13

Introduction to Phenomenology 17

The Act of Distinction 19

The Illusion of Independent Existence 26

2 Goethe and Modern Science 28

The Beginnings of Modern Science 28

The Temple of the Sun 33

Galileo and the New Science 37

Descartes Seeks Foundations 40

Newton and the Mathematical Physics of Nature 49

Goethe Returns to the Senses 52

Goethe and the Bimodal Brain 59

3 Goethe and the Dynamic Unity of Nature 62

The Idea of Metamorphosis 62

Protean Thinking Goethe and Schelling 70

The Self-Differencing Organ 71

Becoming Other in Order to Remain Itself 76

The Archetypal Movement 81

Modes of Unity and the Bimodal Brain 85

4 The Philosophy of Unfinished Meaning 90

The Common Sense View 90

The Dynamic Approach 94

Aristotle and the Unitary Event 97

The Event of Understanding 99

The Hermeneutic Reversal 101

The Problem of Multiple Meaning 109

The One and the Many 109

The Act of Saying 113

Self-Differences in Meaning 116

Organic Hermeneutics 118

The Enhancement of Being 121

5 Catching Saying in the Act 128

Disclosure and Representation 132

Introduction into Language 139

Language and World 145

The Fallacy of the Proposition 152

6 Taking Appearance Seriously 164

Notes 177

Bibliography 228

Index 233

Editorial Reviews

'Henri Bortoft is one of the world's foremost experts on Goethean science... This is a seminal text that deserves the widest audience.'
– Scientific and Medical Network

'A rare philosophical work of both outstanding quality and immense practicality.'
– Simon Robinson, Editor of Transition Consciousness, Resurgence & Ecologist

'Through his carefully crafted prose Bortoft takes us on an incredible journey in which we learn to shift the focus of our attention away from our common-sense view of a fragmented world of subjects and objects, into our experiencing of what we experience...The genius of [the book] lies in Bortoft's ability to extend his previous work on the science of Goethe, guiding us into a deeper level of perception, i.e. this dynamic way of seeing.'
– Resurgence

'Bortoft's aim is to help readers see and understand the world and human experience in a more integrated, compelling way... Bortoft demonstrates convincingly the need to shift attention from what is experienced to the experience of what is experienced. In a writing style that is both accessible and penetrating, he shows how to do this by drawing on examples from our experience of meaning, understanding and language.'
– David Seamon, Professor at Kansas State University, and Editor of Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology

From the Publisher