There is no One Without the Other

Matthias Rang is Head of the Natural Science Section at the Goetheanum in Dornach. He studied physics in Freiburg and Berlin. He wrote his dissertation on complementary spectra at the University of Wuppertal. This was followed by research in the fields of nano-optics, color theory and fluorescence excitation spectroscopy.

Erziehungskunst | What might be institutes or seminars at other universities, the Sections are at the Goetheanum School of Spiritual Science in Switzerland. One of these is the Natural Science Section, which you co-chair. What do you do there?

Matthias Rang | The Natural Science Section is one of the sections at the Goetheanum in which we do a lot of research, and we also finance ourselves through it. In other sections, the focus can be different, for example in networking efforts or in the area of conferences and artistic events.

EK | What are your fields of research?

MR | As one of two section heads, I unfortunately don't have the time to carry out research projects myself at the moment. However, I have been researching color and light for a long time, especially color theory, optics and spectroscopy, and I am still involved in two projects, but these are mainly being worked on by colleagues.

EK | And your colleagues?

MR | They work in the fields of biology and microbiology, pharmacy and botany, for example. There is a researcher who conducts research on medicinal plants for Weleda, a colleague works on dyes from the indigo plant, as a team we also work on the effect of colored light on plants and there are also some cooperation projects with other institutions. Together we also organize meetings and conferences at the Goetheanum.

EK | What is anthroposophical about your topics and your research work?

MR | There is no anthroposophical scientific research in the narrower sense, only scientific research. However, my questions can very well come from anthroposophy. For example, from an anthroposophical point of view I can be interested in something like the Earth's thermal envelope. If I then try to identify and characterize the thermal envelope, I do this using scientific methods. And these can also be Goetheanistic methods – combining empirical methodology and a being-related understanding of nature. Anthroposophy plays a decisive role for us when it comes to the considerations and insights from which the research questions arise.

EK | In today's academic world, the humanities are academic disciplines that deal with aspects of human culture and society. They study, for example, language, literature, history, philosophy, art and religion. Steiner, on the other hand, defined «spiritual science» as methodical observation and research into the spiritual, supersensible world. Is the fact that the Natural Science Section is also located at the Goetheanum based on a certain anthroposophical interest in knowledge?

MR | Yes, definitely. In addition, Rudolf Steiner was always interested in the natural sciences. According to his training, he was a natural scientist and then worked particularly in the humanities – according to his definition. However, he never did this in isolation from the natural sciences. Steiner emphasized that we have a world around us. Not a world of natural scientists and one of artists and one of spiritual esotericists, but a world that can be learned about throughout and in which it is worth taking an interest throughout. This is also how we understand our Natural Science section. We are trying to lay the groundwork for all the other Sections that still exist at the Goetheanum – such as the Pedagogical Section, the Medical Section and so on.

EK | Your work also deals with teaching at Waldorf schools. Can you tell us something about that?

MR | For example, we developed a teaching tool that was distributed by the Pedagogical Research Center at the Association of Waldorf Schools – a so-called mirror slit diaphragm. This is an aperture with which you can simultaneously show the sun's familiar light spectrum and Goethe's inverted spectrum. Until then, the two spectra had always been treated as opposites. My aim was to show that these two supposedly separate phenomena are actually one phenomenon with two sides. In other words, one spectrum does not exist without the other. This can be shown with this mirror slit aperture.

EK | Are you also in dialogue with teachers?

MR | We organize working days for physicists. Teachers from Waldorf schools, some from other schools, university lecturers and researchers come and work together on various issues. For example, we just had the topic «How do we teach?». One way to show something in physics is with a demonstration experiment. So I demonstrate something up front and the students stay in the audience's perspective like in a movie. The other variant comes from Goetheanism and is integrated. In this case, the students enter the experiment. The physicist Martin Wagenschein, who died in 1988, was a pioneer in this field. According to Wagenschein, when I deal with the pendulum, it is less instructive to look at the swinging of a small pendulum on the teacher's desk than to sit on a swing myself – then I am a pendulum and feel the forces in the movement, which I can then also describe. Then I have understood much more about the pendulum than when I have it as a blackboard drawing with arrows symbolizing forces. So this is the inclusion of me as a person in the experiment from an integrated perspective. At such conferences, for example, we look for experiments of this kind.

EK | It sounds as if your work also has to do with fun, curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. What fascinates you most about science?

MR | There are millions of books on every subject. The moment you start trying to understand something in more detail with a single question, you realize how many doors open to further questions. Researchers are never out of work. It is almost impossible to work on something so thoroughly that it is complete. That's a nice thing, even if it can be depressing at times. (laughs)

EK | Would you say that the natural sciences get the attention they deserve at Waldorf schools?

MR | When I look at the people I meet at our conferences for physicists, I can only say that the schools where they teach have excellent science lessons. The teaching goes far beyond what you might expect at other schools, as they also ask: «What does science actually mean for people growing up?»

EK | One might think it's obvious, but from your perspective, why do we need STEM subjects at all?

MR | Society needs them to stay economically up-to-date. But what is important to me is that we live in a world that is very much shaped by STEM. And if you don't know your way around, you become insecure about this world and insecurities can turn into fears. That's why I believe we also need these STEM subjects to stay mentally healthy. Any relationship that is not well-founded is unhealthy. Even a negative relationship is healthy in comparison.
For example, when we teach electricity in science lessons, we look at how it works. With electricity, cause and effect are virtually separated – I press the light switch here, but the cause is somewhere else entirely, namely in a power station. I'm not normally aware of this. If I consciously penetrate this, I can develop a healthier relationship with it and notice what it does in the world. We do a lot of things in our everyday lives that we don't understand how they work.

EK | Thank you for the conversation! 

The interview was conducted by Heidi Käfer.