Johannes W. Rohen was born in 1921 and completed his doctorate in medicine at the University of Tübingen in 1946. It was at Tübingen that he started lifelong research on the physiology of the eye. He became chair of anatomy at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg in 1964, and retired in 1989. He is the author of many textbooks, which reflect his standing as one of the founders of functional anatomy. He was jointly awarded the Heller Keller Prize for Vision Research for 2007.
Review of Functional Morphology: The Dynamic Wholeness of the Human
Organismby Alicia Landman-Reiner, MDin The Journal of Alternative
and Complementary Medicine (vol. 14 no. 7, 2008)Johannes W. Rohen's
remarkable book opens with the question, "Is our human organism--or
any organism for that matter--merely the result of millions of
physicochemical reactions, or are there structural, morphological
principles that integrate these individual events into a living,
dynamic whole?"Dr. Rohen, now in his 80s, is well known to medical
students and anatomists worldwide for his Color Atlas of Anatomy: A
Photographic Study of the Human Body, one of the most widely used
anatomy texts, currently in its sixth edition. During his long and
productive career as Professor of Anatomy, Rohen describes a
parallel lifetime endeavor "to understand functional relationships,
living wholes, and qualitative aspects" of the human organism. He
pursued the discipline of phenomenology and the organic scientific
method originated by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe* and elucidated by
Rudolf Steiner.** In this book, we have the fruit of his decades of
quiet, inspired efforts to describe human structure in a way that
overcomes one-sided reductionist thinking, while holding to the
spirit of scientific inquiry. Functional Morphology does not
describe the human body part by part. Relationships between
structures become as illuminating as the structures in themselves.
We are asked, not to sit back with only our left brains in gear,
but to participate in the concepts described: to contemplate them,
and see if they come to life within us. In this way, the parts
gradually reveal themselves in relation to the whole.Dr. Rohen's
central concept is the threefold structuring principle, originated
by Steiner. In the first section of Functional Morphology, Rohen
shows how the human body is arranged so that the informational (and
informational, or form-conveying) functions are centered in the
head and the nervous system. Processing of material--nutrition,
storage, and elimination--is centered in the metabolic system in
the abdominal cavity. Transportation, distribution, and mediation
between these two poles take place anatomically between those
poles, in the organs of the chest, heart, and lungs, via the
functions of circulation and gas exchange for which they are
responsible. He shows how this overarching organizing principle
runs from the whole skeleton and whole organ-systems, right down to
the organization of each of the body's cells.Subsequent sections
deal in detail with each of the three divisions, showing how, if we
are willing to look and to see precisely how the body is composed,
a world of integrated form and function is revealed. Here is one
example among many. The author describes the Autonomic Nervous
System (ANS), showing in beautifully worked-out detail how this one
division of the nervous system is further divided in a threefold
manner: the more "informational" aspect of the hypothalamus and
limbic systems of the brain; the ANS' nerves in the spine, which
are rhythmically segmented, and most closely associated with
breathing and heart, that is, belonging to the rhythmic system; and
the diffuse, unconscious, plexuses (such as the solar plexus)
connected with the metabolic organs, which are least
"informational" in character. In the course of a nuanced discussion
of the pituitary and pineal glands, Rohen writes, "Discovering such
connections is a slow process, more intuitive than factual." He
could not make such a statement if his book were not very well
supported by the facts of anatomy, in which he is utterly expert.
His book, therefore, offers the reader an unusually well-grounded
exercise in infusing our step-by-step, analytic style of knowledge
with a sober opening to intuition. It is an extraordinary,
pioneering work in this regard. The final section, on evolution
with reference to the human spirit, should have been left out.
Unlike the rest of the book, this chapter consists of speculative
ideas, insufficiently supported by evidence. Furthermore, while
they may have merit, Rohen's ideas could be misinterpreted as a
fundamentalist-style "intelligent design" theory, and could
potentially blind readers to a fair appraisal of the rest. The
remainder of the book is too solid and too important to have taken
this risk with material that could easily be presented in another
context.This book is highly recommended to anyone interested in
going beyond a reductionist scientific and medical paradigm. It
should be given to every medical student with any aspirations
toward holism.References* Henri Bortoft. The Wholeness of Nature:
Goethe's Way Toward a Science of Conscious Participation in Nature.
Hudson, NY: Lindesfarne Press, 1996.
** Rudolf Steiner. Nature's Open Secret: Introductions to Goethe's
Scientific Writings (CW 1). Hudson, NY: SteinerBooks, 2010.
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