Whole Organism Biology
A Goethean Approach
““There is a delicate empiricism that makes itself utterly identical with the object, thereby becoming true theory. But this enhancement of our mental powers belongs to a highly evolved age.” — Goethe”
This work is inspired by a scientific approach that has its roots in the research and writings of poet and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). Goethe spent his long life pursuing a living science of the natural world. He spoke of “delicate empiricism,” a felicitous way of expressing two fundamental features of our scientific inquiry: We work empirically by attending closely to phenomena as they appear in manifold ways in nature and through experiments. And we cultivate a particular way of interacting with the phenomena and our own way thinking: We want to enter into a dialogue through which — gently — understanding can arise; we don’t want to forcefully impose concepts, models, or theories on nature. To understand and portray the living nature of things entails both ridding ourselves of ingrained habits of thought and mobilizing new forces within ourselves.
A Goethean approach, as we develop it at The Nature Institute, is concerned with evolving the discipline of science to understand life in a way that is modeled after life itself. For this to occur we have to work to transform ourselves as human beings and begin forming, as Goethe put it, new organs of perception for the dynamic and living qualities of the world. This is no simple pathway, but an inspiring one, since it shows a way to re-integrate human knowing and doing into the wisdom of the world.
In what we call whole organism biology, we study the internal ecology of plants and animals, elucidating how structures and functions interrelate in forming the creature as a whole. And we investigate the whole organism as part of the larger web of life. Our interdisciplinary approach integrates natural history, anatomy, physiology, behavior, development, genetics, and evolution. By creating life history narratives of plants and animals, we open up a new understanding of our fellow creatures as dynamic and integrated beings.
Through this approach, the organism teaches us about itself, revealing its characteristics and its interconnectedness with the world that sustains it. This way of doing science enhances our sense of responsibility for nature. No one who has read, for example, Craig Holdrege’s essay on the sloth — coming to appreciate this animal as a unique, focused expression of its entire forest habitat — will be able to tolerate the thought of losing either the sloth or its habitat.
Goethean Delicate Empiricism
“Goethe and the Evolution of Science” by Craig Holdrege (2014)
Curious about Goethean science, a special interest group of the New York Academy of Sciences invited Craig Holdrege to speak on the topic in October 2013. Craig has expanded that talk into an essay. It is a good place to start for anyone curious about what we mean by “Goethean science.”
“Doing Goethean Science” by Craig Holdrege (2005)
This essay describes the practice of a Goethean approach. It was part of a special issue of the interdisciplinary journal Janus Head that focused on Goethe’s approach to science. Fourteen essays discussed Goethe’s “delicate empiricism” from a variety of perspectives. Craig was one of the volume’s guest editors. We also have a Portuguese translation of Craig’s article.
“The Experiment as Mediator of Object and Subject” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1790/2010)
Goethe’s seminal essay describes the nature of scientific knowing and experimentation. See also our webpage about Goethe.
Thinking Like a Plant by Craig Holdrege (2013)
How can we develop an awareness of the transformational nature of life that can increasingly inform our own thought and action, so that we become more conscious and responsible participants in an evolving earth? This book directly addresses that question. It is written as a practical guide that shows, through concrete and vivid examples, how we can learn from the context dependency of nature to think and act in more dynamic and context-sensitive ways. Read an excerpt from this book.
“Phenomenon Illuminates Phenomenon” by Craig Holdrege (2011)
“Metamorphosis and Metamorphic Thinking” by Craig Holdrege (2002)
“Where Do Organisms End?” by Craig Holdrege (2000)
Whole Organism Studies
Animals
The Dairy Cow and our Responsibility to Domesticated Animals by Craig Holdrege (2022)
Excerpted from Craig Holdrege’s new book, Seeing the Animal Whole — And Why It Matters (Lindisfarne Books, 2021), this in-depth article examines the life of the dairy cow and the critical implications of our deeply co-dependent relationship with this domesticated species.
Seeing the Animal Whole — And Why It Matters by Craig Holdrege (2021)
In vivid portrayals of nine different animals, Craig shows how all of an animal’s features are interconnected and a revelation of the animal as a whole. At the same time, every animal intersects with and influences in dynamic ways the larger environment. In this book, he provides a nuanced sense for what it means to be a living being. With the open-ended question “Who are you?” and the will to let the animals themselves be his guide, Craig avoids the pitfalls of mechanistic and anthropomorphic perspectives that not only skew our conception of animals, but can also lead to their mistreatment.
“The Intertwined Worlds of Zebra and Lion” by Craig Holdrege (2020)
Not only do the zebra and lion live in close relationship, but a study of either one can throw into relief the character of the other. We begin to see wholeness that reveals itself in all aspects of the animal’s life and morphology.
The Giraffe’s Long Neck: From Evolutionary Fable to Whole Organism by Craig Holdrege (2005)
This booklet provides a comprehensive picture of the giraffe’s biology and ecology and also discusses the complex and controversial issue of its evolution. It gives a unique portrayal of the giraffe while also exemplifying the Goethean approach to understanding animals and evolution. (For articles that were later incorporated into this booklet see “The Giraffe’s Short Neck” and “The Giraffe on Its World.”)
The Flexible Giant: Seeing the Elephant Whole by Craig Holdrege (2003)
Of this publication, Doug Groves, Chairman of Living with Elephants Foundation in Botswana, Africa, wrote:
"Your marvelous mini-monograph on "the Flexible Giant" is momentous and inspirational! For the past thirty plus years I’ve been sharing my daily life with elephants which I think puts me in a pretty good position to appreciate your fresh, succinct, thoughtful, holistic and principle-centered approach to seeing the elephant.”
Do Frogs Come From Tadpoles? Rethinking Origins in Development and Evolution by Craig Holdrege (2017)
Through closely attending to the phenomena of amphibian development, this monograph shows that development and evolution are truly processes, and not simply the inevitable product of biological mechanisms. The result is a concrete example of how one can begin to understand, as well as teach, life science in a truly holistic and living way. (For articles that were later incorporated into this booklet see “Do Frogs Come From Tadpoles?” and “Creativity, Origins, and Ancestors: What Frog Evolution Can Teach Us.”)
“What Does it Mean to be a Sloth?” by Craig Holdrege (1998/2019)
The sloth is a decidedly slow and withdrawn mammal — in movement, digestion, and reactions. Its passive nature is revealed in many remarkable anatomical and physiological characteristics. But the activity it seems to lack also allows the sloth to host a whole array of other creatures in its fur — algae, moths, mites, and more. It becomes a steady, slowly moving, and yet teeming microhabitat within the rain forest. Almost merging with the vegetative life of its environment, the sloth brings an “ever-smiling,” plant-like slowness into its world.
“How Does a Mole View the World?” by Craig Holdrege (2003)
“Out of the Life of the Dairy Cow” by Craig Holdrege (2019)
“What Forms an Animal?” by Craig Holdrege (2001)
Plants
“Meeting Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)” by Craig Holdrege (2020)
To discover the first bloodroot plants poking through the damp leaf litter in early spring, you have to get down on your knees and look carefully. Each small grayish-green bud swaddled in its leaf is inconspicuous, and yet, as Craig describes, is also “a powerful image of becoming.” In this in-depth article, he shares the dynamics of bloodroot’s development and its transforming activity in the world.
“Skunk Cabbage” by Craig Holdrege (2000)
One of our most popular articles, this portrayal brings to life this earliest spring plant to flower in northeastern North America. Skunk cabbage has a fluid, bud-like quality, and in late winter it can melt its way up through the snow by generating animal-like body heat.
“The Story of an Organism: Common Milkweed” by Craig Holdrege (2010)
This essay portrays the development of common milkweed, its unique flowers, and the array of insects — including the Monarch butterfly — whose existence is so closely intertwined with milkweed.
“A Day in the Life of a Chicory Flower” by Craig Holdrege (2016)
“The Forming Tree” by Craig Holdrege (2005)
“Portraying a Meadow” by Craig Holdrege (2002)
Viruses
“Ways of Looking at a Virus” by Craig Holdrege and Jon McAlice (2021)
How can we best place ourselves in relation to a pandemic that is a biological, ecological, social, and worldview phenomenon? In this extensive article, Jon and Craig seek to answer this question by engaging first with the various known and unknown aspects of Sars-Cov-2 as a biological entity, and then with a detailed study of the nature of our collective response to the pandemic as handicapped by the current one-dimensional scientific and medical focus on organisms as discrete entities.
“Some Comments on the Contagion Myth” by Craig Holdrege and Jon McAlice (2021)
Within the thicket of opinions regarding narratives about Sars-Cov-2, it is hard to find a common ground of phenomena that people can agree upon. In an ongoing effort to discern the truthfulness of what different authorities are saying, Craig and Jon critique many of the central claims and the manner of argumentation in The Contagion Myth, one recent controversial book whose authors refute many studies in the scientific literature to support their position on infectious disease.
“Viruses in the Dynamics of Life” by Craig Holdrege (2020)
This article grew out of many conversations during the Covid-19 pandemic in the winter and spring of 2020. To what extent has the picture of viruses as “enemies” and disease-causing agents limited our ability to understand them and their place in the greater whole of life on earth? Can we gain a broader and more encompassing view? The article addresses these questions as it presents viruses in their larger, living context.
“Extendedness and Permeability: Core Gestures of the Living Organism” by Jon McAlice (2020)
Jon depicts organismic life as transcending what we conventionally consider the boundaries of living beings. Within this context, his article provokes new ways of considering Sars-Cov-2 and challenges the assumption of linear causality in the relationship between the presence of a virus and the bodily organism’s response to it.