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Henri Bortoft

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Peter Henri Bortoft (1938 29 December 2012)[1] was a British independent researcher and teacher,
lecturer and writer on physics and the philosophy of science. He is best known for his work The
Wholeness of Nature, considered a relevant and original recent interpretation of Goethean science.[2]
[3]
His book Taking Appearance Seriously: The Dynamic Way of Seeing in Goethe and European
Thought was published in 2012.
Bortoft completed his studies at the University of Hull,[4] and then performed postgraduate research on
the foundations of quantum physics at Birkbeck College, where theoretical physicist David
Bohm introduced him to the problem of wholeness in quantum theory. Subsequently, Bortoft worked
with John G. Bennett on Bennett's Systematics (also known as Multi-Term Systems, which was Bennett's
methodology for assisting the systematic and progressive understanding of systems, complexity, and
wholeness, and on efforts with Bennett and with Kenneth W. Pledge to develop a formal language that
was rigorouly descriptive of scientific activity. Those efforts were published in Systematics: The Journal
of the Institute for the Comparative Study of History, Philosophy and the Sciences, listed below.
Bortoft taught physics and philosophy of science at Schumacher College in the framework of the
program in Holistic Science. He held numerous lectures and seminars in Great Britain and the United
States on the scientific work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and on the development of modern
science.
Bortoft died on 29 December 2012 at his home in Matlaske, Norfolk.[5]

Works[edit]

Henri Bortoft Taking Appearance Seriously: The Dynamic Way of Seeing in Goethe and
European Thought, Floris Books, 2012, ISBN 978-086315-927-5.

The Wholeness of Nature: Goethe's way toward a science of conscious participation in nature,
Lindisfarne Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0-940262-79-9.

Goethe's Scientific Consciousness, Octagon press, 1986, ISBN 978-0-904674-10-1. Note


that Goethe's Scientific Consciousness is reused as part II of the book The Wholeness of Nature

"Counterfeit and Authentic Wholes", In D. Seamon and R. Mugerauer, eds.: Dwelling, Place
and Environment: Toward a Phenomenology of Person and World, pp. 281302, Columbia
University Press, 1985.

The Whole: Counterfeit and Authentic, Systematics, 9 (2) (September, 1971), pp. 43-73.

Review Discussion: A Systematic Critique of the Management of Science, Systematics, 7 (4)


(March, 1971), pp. 347-351.

The Ambiguity of One and Two in Youngs Experiment, Systematics, 8 (3) (December, 1970),
available online at http://www.toutley.demon.co.uk/HB.htm.

Language, Will, and the Fact, Systematics, 6 (3) (December, 1968).


The Resolution by a Rigorous Descriptive Method of Some Dilemmas in Physical Science
Part 1, Systematics, 4 (2) (September, 1966). This article reflects Bortofts development of the idea
of a rigorous descriptive method in the earlier article below and restates the Descriptive Model more

concisely and elegantly, with an emphasis on the collective, sociological will of the scientific
community.

with J. G. Bennett and K. W. Pledge: Towards an Objectively Complete Language: An essay in


objective description as applied to scientific procedure, Systematics, 3 (3) (December, 1965).

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Harding, Stephan; Franses, Philip; Shaw, Patricia (January 2013). "A
Tribute to Henri Bortoft". Schumacher College. Retrieved 2013-01-08.

2.

Jump up^ Book review on Wholeness of Nature by David Seamon, originally


appeared in Parabola, 22, 3 (Fall 1997): 90-91

3.

Jump up^ Book review on The Wholeness of Nature by John Barnes

4.

Jump up^ Henri Bortoft (German)

5.

Jump up^ Add to Timeline (2013-01-05). "PETER HENRI BORTOFT : Death FamilyNotices24 - Eastern Daily Press". FamilyNotices24. Retrieved 2013-01-09.

External links[edit]

Henri Borthoft at Schumacher College

Henri Bortoft: The transformation of consciousness

Goethian science, by H. Bortoft

Dialogue on leadership, interview with Henri Bortoft by Claus Otto Scharmer, 1999

Review of Henri Bortoft's Taking Appearance Seriously

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