This dissertation examines the impact of the German naturalist and literary figure Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s ideas on twentieth century Anglophone plant morphology and biology. Goethe interpreted the organ forms of flowering plants as metamorphoses of each other. His literary, historical, and philosophical writings suggest themes of alienation from and...
This thesis examines the morphology of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) through several lenses. The first explores Goethe's morphology as he applied it in his botanical work and supplies an explanation of what Goethe referred to as archetypal phenomena and the archetypal plant. The scope of exploration then broadens to...