My dissertation and thesis both covered the work of the German poet, dramatist, and naturalist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).

In my thesis, I explore Goethe’s botanical thought in relation to his idea of archetypal phenomena, Linnaean taxonomy, and Kantian idealism. I also connect Goethe to contemporary thought in natural aesthetics and look at his impact on the work of the Nature Institute.

Goethe’s impact in 20th century Anglophone biology is the central concern of my dissertation. This line of research leads to the central debate among plant morphologists over whether they should adopt an evolutionary interpretative framework. One participant in this debate was the English botanist Agnes Arber (1879-1960), who, like Goethe, drew upon history, philosophy, and mysticism to support and contextualize her morphological work. I also follow Goethe’s thinking into two different mathematical traditions in 20th century biology. One follows the Scottish naturalist D’Arcy Thompson’s (1860-1948) “science of form” and the English mathematician Alan Turing’s (1912-1954) work in morphogenesis and phyllotaxis. The self-styled Goethean science of George Adams (1894-1963) and Olive Whicher (1910-2006) connects Goethe’s morphology to non-Euclidean geometries while drawing upon the Swiss esoteric philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).

• “Forms of Life: Goethe’s Impact on Twentieth-Century Anglophone Botany and Morphology”2018 – Dissertation for a Ph.D in History of Science with Philosophy minor from Oregon State University, Corvallis
  • Chapters include:
    • “Goethe’s Metamorphosis of Science”
      • Goethe interpreted the organ forms of flowering plants as metamorphoses of each other. His literary, historical, and philosophical writings suggest themes of alienation from and disenchantment of the natural world resulting from mathematical and mechanistic scientific interpretations of nature that have lost their connection to the senses.
    • “The Fate of Morphology in the Twentieth Century”
      • In twentieth-century debates on plant morphology, Goethe’s metamorphosis theory represented the “Old Morphology” that did not fit with the growing phylogenetic interpretation of forms brought about by Darwinism and the emerging Modern Synthesis.
    • “Agnes Arber’s Unity in Diversity”
      • The English botanist Agnes Arber saw Goethe’s morphology as an example of “Pure Morphology,” which she stressed should be carried out before any phylogenetic interpretations. Goethe’s themes of alienation and disenchantment appeared as Arber’s interests in morphology expanded into philosophy and mysticism.
    • “The Mathematics of Morphology”
      • Despite his critiques against the overuse of mathematics, in the twentieth century Goethe’s morphology was connected with it in two different ways. The Scottish naturalist D’Arcy Thompson extended Goethe’s morphology into a “Science of Form” as a part of his On Growth and Form where he applied physical methods to biological subjects. Thompson’s background in botany was an factor important for his new science.
    • “Goethean Science”
      • The English Goethean scientists George Adams and Olive Whicher used projective geometry to integrate Goethe’s morphology with the cosmology of the Swiss esoteric philosopher Rudolf Steiner. With Adams and Whicher, themes of alienation and disenchantment found in Goethe appear again.