Imaginative Seeing in Goethe, Coleridge, and Emerson: Pathways to a Phenomenological Ecology — Ryan Shea

Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave., Cambridge, MA
Fri., Oct. 2, 2026, 3:30 – 5 p.m.



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In “The Poet,” Emerson said that imagination is “a very high sort of seeing.” This talk explores the imagination as an organ of direct intuitive perception that might become the foundation for a new phenomenological science of ecology. The first part explores the historical and cultural resonances among conceptions of the imagination in German Idealism, British Romanticism, and American Transcendentalism, as represented by Goethe, Coleridge, and Emerson. The second part engages the audience in interactive imaginative exercises that invite participants to see new things for themselves.

Ryan Shea is a full-time researcher and educator at The Nature Institute in Ghent, New York. Previously, he taught environmental philosophy, philosophy of science, interdisciplinary humanities, and nature writing at Providence College for eight years. He is also a doctoral researcher with MESH (Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities) at the University of Cologne in Germany.

His research seeks to develop the practice of experiential and participatory ecology, with a focus on metamorphosis in plants and insects. His work is informed by the tradition of Goethean transformative phenomenology—especially the work of Craig Holdrege, Mark Riegner, Henri Bortoft, Jochen Bockemühl, and Andreas Suchantke—which develops new ways of seeing that allow the whole to be directly experienced through the part.

Shea is the editor of The Nature Institute’s in-house publication, In Context, and co-producer of its podcast, In Dialogue with Nature. He also co-edited a recent translation of Goethean biologist Andreas Suchantke’s Insect Forms and Patterns: Exploring the Language of Nature.

Programming Series: Transcendentalism
Gazette Classification: Art/Design, Environmental Sciences
Sponsor: Center for the Study of World Religions
Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator, [email protected]