​Goethe's Phenomenology as a Contemplation of Nature

​Please join us in SF on Thursday, March 27 for our next Theōros Lecture, featuring an evening dialogue with Ryan Shea of The Nature Institute. Ryan will introduce us to Goethe’s work on the phenomenology of nature, to be followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A.

​The schedule, description, and bios are below.

​Schedule

​5:30 pm: Arrival + Refreshments
6:00 – 7:00 pm: Event Time
7:00 – 7:30 pm: Q&A

​Description

​Living beings are always changing, moving, growing, transforming, and metamorphosing. How might we learn to be-with the living world, to directly experience it both in our sensing and our thinking? Goethe's phenomenology is an invitation to take up transformational practices with the hope of cultivating "new organs of perception." In this way, it deeply resonates with perennial contemplative traditions for whom the ultimate goal is participatory encounter. This talk will explore these themes and questions, while also offering a general introduction to Goethe's phenomenology and the work of The Nature Institute, exploring their connections to perennial traditions that prioritize experience (mysticism, theoria physike, and more).

​Guest Bio 

​Ryan Shea is a full time researcher and educator at The Nature Institute in Ghent, New York. He taught philosophy of science, environmental philosophy, and nature writing for eight years at Providence College. His scholarly background includes work in ancient philosophical biology (especially Aristotle), the scientific revolution, 20th century phenomenology, German idealism, and Goethean qualitative science. Right now he is working on a phenomenological comparative study of plants and insects, looking especially at their different kinds of metamorphosis.