“The question is not what you look at, but how you look and whether you see.”
— HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Upcoming Events
The Pulse of the Earth
A Talk by Jon McAlice
December 9, 7:00 - 8:30 pm
From phytoplankton and raindrops: cyclic rhythms are characteristic of all life forms. What do Earth’s rhythms tell us of the life of our planet?
See more dates and details on our events page.
New Companion Podcast Episodes: “The Trouble with ‘Factors’”
Listen to two new companion episodes from our podcast, In Dialogue With Nature: a reading of Craig Holdrege’s article, “The Trouble with ‘Factors’” and a conversation between Craig and John Gouldthorpe, where they delve deeper into the content of the essay and its wider ramifications.
Latest Publications
In Context: Fall 2025 Issue
The fall 2025 issue (#54) of our biannual publication, In Context, is now available in print and online. New writings include a chapter from Stephen Talbott’s new book, Organisms and Their Evolution: Agency and Meaning in the Drama of Life, “Is the Earth Alive” - a feature article of Craig’s unfolding work, new publication announcements, plus news of our many activities, including highlights from this summer’s foundation course intensive.
About the work of The Nature Institute — In a rare interview, recorded in Brazil, Henrike and Craig Holdrege speak of their transformative work and the Goethean perspective that has long inspired it. This Q & A followed a two-week course, “Seeing Nature Whole,” that the Holdrege’s have frequently taught each December in Florianópolis.
New Foundation Course
Encountering Nature
and the Nature of Things: Foundation Course in Goethean Science
Next Foundation Course Begins March 2026
Application Deadline February 1, 2026
New Online Offering
Cultivating an Experiential Understanding of Self and World: An Introduction to a Goethean Way of Science
Please join us for a totally online introduction to a Goethean way of science through readings and discussion with John Gouldthorpe. Full course description, with readings and meeting dates for each series, available here. Register for Series II.
Featured Article
Sympoiesis: From Thinking About to Being With
Separate entities can either compete or develop strategies to cooperate. In either case, the starting point is separation. This is a foundational assumption of modern biology. But what if relatedness is more fundamental? How would we behold living beings and what we call their environment? A consideration of oak trees guides this exploration of sympoiesis — creating together.
News From The Institute
Read here about recent staff activities at the institute as well as abroad including lectures and workshops with farmers, gardeners, botanical enthusiasts, college and graduate students, and collaborative trainings in climate science, mathematics, and Goethean practice with teachers and visiting scholars. Also, a thank you to our departing editor, grant writer, and treasured staff member, Elaine Khosrova.
Our online Bookstore offers titles from our faculty and other Goethean authors whose work we value. We encourage you to browse or contact us with any questions.
Other Research and Resources
In addition to publishing our staff’s work relating to Goethean Science and Phenomenology on this site, we also periodically showcase the work of others in the field. A new such addition to our Writings By Author section is the work of Mark Riegner PhD, who taught Ecology and Evolution for 35 years at Prescott College in Arizona, and has authored four insightful articles that you can link to from here.
From a Reader…
Dear Craig,
Once again I’m introducing papers from The Nature Institute website, this time for a HS botany course, and I’m just so grateful for your work (and Steve’s) and that a resource like yours exists. …I appreciate so much those who approach science thoughtfully, with open minds and hearts. It has lit a fire in several students over the years, and helped to humanize even those who are not especially otherwise interested in science.
- Executive Director, Waldorf High School