The morphological thought is committed to a critic of a restricted understanding of language, in which words become things, and also to a critic of a linear, temporal one-way vision, sustained by a simplistic notion of fact causality. The concept of history in Goethe is figurative (as in Walter Benjamin, Aby Warburg and several contemporary scholars as Didi-Hubberman and Maurizio Gribaudi) and its pattern of growth is described in “The Metamorphosis of Plants”. We find this in Benjamin and Wittgenstein’s language conceptions, being their affinity with Goethe explicitly assumed. (as in “Das Passagen-Werk” (Benjamin, 1978) or as in “Bemerkungen über Frazers The Golden Bough” (Wittgenstein, 1999). Hence, the fundamental role of team member specialists in both authors: Joachim Schulte, Jean Lacoste, Andrew Benjamin, Eliane Escoubas and Maria Filomena Molder. 

In order to deepen the relation between morphology and all matters of method and language we praise the collaboration of IFL members António Marques, José Gil and João Constâncio.

Also in the team the philosopher Federico Vercellone (Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sulla Morfologia – CIRM, Torino/ Italy) that does remarkable research theory of culture as image, historian Maurizio Gribaudi (“Séminaire Morphologies : des sciences sociales à l'architecture et aux sciences du vivant”, Laboratoire de Démographie Historique - LDH – EHESS, Paris/ France) whose thesis on the aesthetic categories of history have a direct application in work field. And therefore also Matthew Rampley’s relevance, author of pioneering studies (Rampley, 1999) on the relation between Benjamin and art history’s most prominent art history of the XXth century, Aby Warburg - author that has renovated the concept of art history, subscribing, fully Goethe’s initial citric to an historicist and factual vision. Therefore, the collaboration of Jean Petitot, Luciano Boi and Hervé le Bras (mathematic, epistemologist, demography and theory of aesthetics) are priceless.

That is why, among the goals of our project is an disciplinary self-evaluation, a reflection on the disciplinary identity and on the deformation of misunderstandings generated by the opacity and growing petrifaction on the concept of nature.

For instance, we consider natural history, classification is less and less dependent on morphology and more dependent on information (DNA). It is necessary therefore to reflect on the consequences that a loss of visual acuity can bring to the comprehension of what is to compare, to classify and categorize hence the contribution of biologist António Gouveia.

An example of another paradigm is art and we approach it presenting an original viewpoint where landscape is converted in a pictorial language problem, also decisive to morphological thought. Therefore it is relevant the collaboration of Javier Arnaldo and researchers Diana Soeiro, Nuno Fonseca, Maria João Branco, Nélio Conceição, Alexander Gerner, Joana Oliveira and Bruno Duarte.

The Conference is an event where research developed throughout Seminar sessions will be presented, evaluated and discussed.  That is why we will present as final result a joint publication including both Conference and Seminar presentations.

The novelty in this project is not related with contents considered previously. The debate of ideas, the confront between different perspectives and discussion enabled by a real encounter between researches with solid career results coming from different disciplines allow the formation of a true scientific community – and here we enhance the role of our research centre partners in Italy and France previously mentioned. This is our highest expected result to our project, that will be attested in our communications and publishing.

Lastly, let us remind our team members (Javier Arnaldo, João Barrento, Maria Filomena Molder, Eliane Escoubas) that have provided, as editor/ translator, works of Goethe, necessary tools to the general access to morphological problems. The existence of a translation is always a sign that there is an interest of ongoing research enabling new results. It is therefore meaningful to stress that recently, in 2009, MIT has published a new edition on “The Metamorphosis of Plants”. To us this is a confirmation of a scientific interest in morphological problems nowadays. Our project follows this tendency.

Project Activities: Seminar “Percepção e Linguagem” academic year 2010/ 2011 and an international meeting  reunião “Conferência Morfologia: Método e Linguagem”/ “Conference Morphology: Method and Language” in October 2011.