42.
Goethe “Living nature”: *
Goethe's nature was the activity of "nature naturing" as against "nature natured"; the domain of naturally formed objects, it is one in constant flux and flow, but nonetheless governed by law, logic and intelligence above the mind. To approach vital nature requires a different cognitive capacity and cognitive organ from that used to perceive inert nature (based on the Intellect).
Goethe argued Knowledge is about association, not about separation (dissection). Arranging material phenomena in logical linear sequence is a valid scientific method BUT had to be carried out under a correct and humanistic organization. For Goethe, this organizing idea or archetype could be discerned via a living interaction with Nature, through "the labor of experimentation". He reacted against a mechanistic approach which tested a hypothesis with lab based artificial experiments. What was needed was an ability to derive meaning from voluminous external data by looking at it from a different perspective. Instead of a reductionist & quantitative approach, the scientist must enter into the living essence of Nature as expressed in the phenomenon studied. For Goethe this leads to the crucial underlying archetype-pattern (Ur-phänomen). The experimenter must allow the phenomena to show its inherent order & logic; which, often invisible, is clearly objective, not subjective or invented by the experimenter. This objective essence was about movement; activity first, material objects second. Goethe saw a hidden relationship of parts that explains how one form can transform into another whilst being part of an underlying archetypal form. It is this organizing idea that guides the consideration of the parts; it is a virtual image that "emerges & re-emerges from the interaction of experience and ideas"