Articles

A Commitment to Observation

Florian Theilmann
Elemente der Naturwissenschaft 83, 2005, P. 90-96 | DOI: 10.18756/edn.83.90
Colloquium | Language: English | €6.00
Export Article Citation as

Abstract:

In his article Pepe Veugelers (Veugelers 2005) takes up the old issue of whether it is possible to explain “prismatic colours”, i.e. the characteristically coloured and diffuse transitions between bright and dark structures seen obliquely through a boundary between media of different optical densities, with Goethe’s ‘archetypal phenomenon’1 ? In other words his project is to explain colours which arise under the use of dispersive optical media in the context of looking through ‘hazy’ media, i.e. media that in a conventional manner of speaking cause ‘light scattering’. I will not try to decide whether such a project can be at all fruitful, although there are some concerns that will be mentioned later, but I will discuss why Veugelers’ arguments are not convincing for me. Two objections touch his argumentation directly and lead us to more fundamental methodological issues.

References
  • Grebe-Ellis, J., Sommer, W., Vogt, J. (2002): Modellfreie Optik II. Pädagogische Forschungsstelle Kassel.
  • Grebe-Ellis, J. (2005): Zur Phänomenologie der Polarisation. Thesis at the Humboldt-University, Berlin. Publication imminent.
  • Greenler, R. (1994): Rainbows, Halos and Glories. Cambridge.
  • Kühl, J. (1988): Zum Goethe’schen Urphänomen der Farbentstehung und zu einem Zusammenhang mit Beugung und Brechung. Elemente d. N. 49, p. 85-95.
  • Lobeck, F. (1954): Farben anders gesehen. Basel.
  • Mackensen, M. von, Ohlendorf, H.-Ch. (1998): Modellfreie Optik. Pädagogische Forschungsstelle Kassel.
  • Maier, G. (1973): Zum Begriff der Trübe. Elemente d. N. 19, p. 1-12, and in Maier 2004.
  • Maier, G. (1986): Optik der Bilder. Dürnau.
  • Maier, G. (2004): blicken, sehen, schauen. Dürnau.
  • Ott, G. (1965): Zur Entstehung der prismatischen Farben. Basel.
  • Sommer, W. (2005): Zur phänomenologischen Beschreibung der Beugung im Konzept optischer Wege. Berlin.
  • Theilmann, F., Maier, G. (2005): Ein modellfreier Blick auf die prismatischen Farben. Submitted to Phydid. Cf. www.phydid.de. Manuscript available from the author.
  • Veugelers, P. (2005): Prismatic colours explained with Goethe’s fundamental phenomenon. Elemente d. N. 82, p. 73-86.