The Further Development of Natural Science Through Rudolf Steiner’s Reception of Goethe

As a monist, Rudolf Steiner was convinced that spiritual and scientific knowledge do not contradict but complement each other. Thus, on the one hand, he tried to base his spiritual science on the methods of natural science; on the other hand, he was convinced that spiritual knowledge could fertilize natural science. From his student days until his death, he defended Goethe's theory of color as a contribution to the development of natural science out of spiritual conviction, even though it was considered disproved and Goethe's polemics against Newton were regarded as misguided. Like no other, he succeeded in inspiring researchers for experimental development in this field.
In this contribution we look at the research results that have been achieved in the field of color theory over the last one hundred years, inspired by Rudolf Steiner. In particular, we look at new experiments that have originated from these approaches and ask what they contribute to natural science. 
Not all hopes have been fulfilled, but the work that has been done allows a reassessment of Goethe's theory of color from a scientific perspective. In particular, the newly developed experiments show that, following Newton, optics was built on a subclass of experiments. This subclass allows the formulation of a complete optical theory. However, it was only after the development of the new experiments that symmetries and conservation laws were formulated, which until then had been the implicit, but unspoken, basis of optics. Finally, the new experiments suggested the abandonment of ontological concepts, as had already been done in other areas of physics.