Articles

Environment as Data versus «Being»

Is a Western Goetheanistic View Possible?
William Brinton
Elemente der Naturwissenschaft 72, 2000, P. 62-72 | DOI: 10.18756/edn.72.62
Colloquium | Language: English | €6.00
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Abstract:

The complex, sociological context of scientific innovation in the western world demands that we attempt to understand science in a more comprehensive manner, turning back to the socially embedded, cognizing human as the start point. Reductionistic theories emerged in the world along With industrial developments. Darwinism is an excellent case for sociological-scientific study, for it appeared on its own merits within science, while at the same time corresponding closely to social upheavals and the rise of egalitarian industrialism and democratic secularism. Today, the context that once supported Darwinism is no longer present. Questions are arising about modern science’s relentless acquisition of data about nature, and how it is to be applied. Present social factors have lead many to ask whether competitive, data-orienting sciences are not increasingly anti-social and antinature. Continued in their own right, they may preclude the development of a holistic or comprehensive science. Finally, alternatives that ignore the cognitive aspect of seeing may not themselves be adequate.

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