Steve Slatin on tue 13 jul 04
And Intuition...maybe
Ivor --
Certain personal issues throughout history have affected the way we
think about various groundbreaking scientists. I am regularly amused
by folks whose journal of record is "People" magazine telling me
in all sincerity that the theories of Einstein, Freud, etc. are "pretty
much completely discredited."
Goethe was the much-admired symbol of German culture 100+
years ago. He was particularly admired by Rudolf Steiner,
who studied mathematics and physics at university but couldn't
put together a dissertation in those areas and who consequently
had to do it in philosophy.
Steiner himself was influential in various areas; "Waldorf Schools"
are generally attributed to him, but he also spent much of his adult
life proselytizing for Theosophy, a quasi-religious system he
largely created, Eurythmy, and like issues.
He wandered in work and spirit for many years and edited
Goethe's scientific work. Out of these labors he wrote "A
Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World Conception"
-- which was an effort to make Goethe's largely incomprehensible
writings on scientific issues accessible. I believe this work first
makes the comparison between Newton's observations on
light and Goethe's. Having devoted many years of his life to
Goethe's work; Steiner naturally found Goethe's approach more
satisfying than Newton's.
In fact, Newton created real, reproducible experiments, and by
using an iris before a light source (as he did) anyone can
obtain precisely the prismatic results he described.
Goethe made a different observation -- not shining light through a
prism but looking through a prism at an illuminated object, you will
see the object with fuzzy color 'halos' outside the object. Also
reproducible, also meaningful, but as you suggest, coming years
after Newton, it's more a refinement, or an additional observation,
than an issue of correct vs. incorrect. It's also less clear what
meaning attaches to Goethe's observation.
I will not claim to be indifferent to the emotional appeal of various
authors. I have read some Goethe, and find him a hopeless
romantic with few apprehensible ideas. People who read him in
German tell me his language is quite beautiful; I cannot confirm this.
I have read (widely but not deeply) of Steiner and find him part of
the school of misty, sloppy, turn-of-the-last-century German
romanticism that gave the world Hauptman, Mann, etc. Let me
quote his definition of his own beloved "Anthroposopy" to make
my last point --
Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge, to guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe. It arises in people as a need of the heart and feeling life. Anthroposophy can be justified only to the degree that it satisfies this inner need. It may be acknowledged only by those who find within it what they themselves feel the need to seek. Therefore, anthroposophists are those who experience, as an essential need of life, certain questions on the nature of the human being and the universe, just as one experiences hunger and thirst. — Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts
To evaluate the paragraph by content, the sentences are, in order,
a definition, an unsupportable statement, and unprovable statement,
and a meaningless abstraction expressed (wrongly, with the word
"therefore") as a conclusion. It has about as much actual meaning
as the advice of Yoda to a young Luke Skywalker. This is an example
of the thought processes of the person who (I believe) began the
movement to discredit Newton in favor of Goethe.
Ivor and Olive Lewis wrote:
Dear Lee Love,
Recently you suggested that I should start quoting.
Since you assert <...Newton fudged his prism color experiments so that
they would support his theory....>
Steve Slatin -- Entry-level potter, journeyman loafer, master obfuscator
Sequim, Washington, USA
48.0937°N, 123.1465°W or thereabouts
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Lee Love on wed 14 jul 04
And Intuition...maybe
Steve Slatin wrote:
> I am regularly amused
>by folks whose journal of record is "People" magazine
>
Steve, my first encounter with the comparisons of Newton's and
Goethe's color experiments were in Scientific American. I tried to
search the web but can't find the original article. The digital
archives at the Scientific American web page only go back to 1993. I
can't remember if I read about it in Minneapolis after 1983 or when I
was still in college in Michigan. Probably before 1983.
> telling me
>in all sincerity that the theories of Einstein, Freud, etc. are "pretty
>much completely discredited."
>
I haven't run into anybody trying to discredit Einstein, though
the Super String Theory explains the nature of gravity better
(Einstein's gravity was in conflict with quantum mechanics.).
On the other hand, Freud certainly has been discredited. It
isn't necessary to understand "childhood trauma" in order to deal with
our adult psychology. Cognitive Therapy is becoming the dominant
therapy in America and psychoanalysis really has little influence today.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://journals.fotki.com/togeika/Mashiko/ Commentary On Pottery
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