Metamorphosis, Evolution in Action (Innbundet (stive permer))

Andreas Suchantke was born in Basle, Switzerland, in 1933. After studying zoology and botany, he taught life sciences at the Rudolf Steiner School in Zurich and became involved with teacher training. He has published several books in German about landscape and culture, with the theme of metamorphosis running throughout his work.

Our understanding of life on earth is always developing. In this age of genetics and microbiology, Andreas Suchantke brings a lifetime of holistic biological research to the question of the development and evolution of plants and animals. Following Goethe's participatory method, and drawing on his observation on a number of continents, Suchantke presents evolution as an integrated dynamic process that unfolds on a far more fundamental level than Darwin's natural selection. Beautifully illustrated through the author's own drawings and colour photographs, this masterly work offers a rich, dynamic and deeply meaningful understanding of organic life.

About the Author and this Book Foreword Introduction: Metamorphosis--Evolution in Action 1. Archetype and Evolution--a Contradiction? Understanding 2. An Example of Metamorphosis: Goethe's Idea of the Vertebral Nature of the Cranial Bones 3. "From top to bottom the plant is all leaf." Formative Tendencies in the Domain of the Leaf Everything is Leaf? Metamorphosis in the Evolution of a Family of Plants: the Pathway of the Cacti from the Forest to the Desert and back again The "Primal Leaf": the Ocean's Green Carpet The Leaf-form--Outcome of a Dialogue between Earth and Cosmos 4. The Blossom The Polarity of Leaf and Flower Flower Color The Morphic Field of the Blossom 5. Interim Summary: Metamorphoses--the Key to Understanding the Nature of Life 6. The Various Forms of Metamorphosis in the Plant Kingdom Metamorphosis and Juvenilization The Development of the Leaf through the Ages of the Earth Evolutionary Countermovements Pinnacles of Plant Evolution: Orchids and Grasses "Reproduction" and "Nutritive Multiplication" 7. Polarity and Threefold Organization: The Dynamics of Metamorphosis 8. Polarity and Threefold Structure in the Animal Kingdom The Mammals An Interim Note on Method The Birds The Insects Insects in general Butterflies Beetles The middle group of insects 9. The Archetype in Action-- Metamorphosis and Threefold Structure in the Evolution of the Animal Vacillation between the Inner and the Outer Stages of Internalization From Exoskeleton to Endoskeleton Summary Latimeria and the crossed alternation gait The Formation of the Endoskeleton and the Limbs Confirmation of Statements made by Rudolf Steiner on the Head and Limb Formation in Human Beings, and on the Question of how to Present this as a Teacher 10. The All-pervasive Endoskeleton The Exoskeleton and the Endoskeleton in Coelenterates Molluscs and their Skeletons 11. The Fate of Exoskeleton and Endoskeleton in the Further Course of Evolution Life between Levity and Gravity "Limbs" of the Head: Horns and Antlers The Separating out of the Bodily Systems-- The Embodiment of the Archetype in the Human Being Notes and References Bibliography