Newton, Goethe and the Process of Perception: an approach to Design

7. Theory For him, theory is seeing this intensive dimension of the phenomenon - a use of the word 'theory' which fits with the original Greek word 'theoria', which simply means 'seeing'. He commented "Don't look behind the phenomena; they themselves are the theory."

Goethe's intuitive way of science concerns engaging with the phenomenon and developing an understanding of the phenomenology, using the term in the sense that Heidegger uses by returning to the Greek word 'phainomenon', which gives the root meaning of phenomenon as 'that which shows itself in itself'. Cassirer commented, concerning the difference between Newton's mathematical physics and Goethe's phenomenology, that "the mathematical formula strives to make the phenomena calculable, that of Goethe to make them visible". In the context of design it might be added that Goethe's approach also makes the phenomena real-ise-able, i.e. it enables the imaginative designer to do things with them. More substantially than this, as Husserl's foundational work on phenomenology makes clear, whilst Newton's approach to science effectively treats consciousness as something passive, it is actually active. As Goethe was at pains to communicate, consciousness is intentionality.