Archive STROE Mihai
The Annals of Ovidius University Constanţa no.19 / 2008
STROE MIHAI - Henri Coandă and the Romantic Programme
(pag. 123-132)
The present study discusses the major romantic universalistic aspects in Henri Coandă’s worldview and philosophy, which point to a cultural-scientific programme worthy of being reevaluated since this programme anticipates a new kind of critical discourse, namely one which is holonic-holistic-encyclopedic in nature, one that simultaneously takes into consideration ‘information’ and ‘culture’ in Coandă’s acceptation. Henri Coandă is a priceless example of how men should combine these two fundamental aspects in any cultural/scientific act: information (i.e. scientific knowledge; or thought in general) needs culture (the integrated assemblage of science, art and religion; or materialized thought in general, as accumulated during millennia of civilization), while culture (materialized thought) needs information (thought), either one without the other leading to cultural barrenness (both these concepts, information and culture, are in agreement with Brâncusi’s system of thought). The scientific and the general cultural theory, will, as a consequence, sooner or later unite their ways, which are artificially separated in our modern society by the emphasis on overspecialization. Coandă’s message is as clear and as valid as ever: the way towards universality can be reached only by avoiding a unilateral cultural formation. This is an ideal that was stated as such as early as Leonardo da Vinci’s Renaissance and it is reflected in what is known today as the ‘third culture’ – i.e. literature and science in Elinor S. Shaffer’s acceptation –, as well as in encyclopedic, holonic-holistic systems such as those developed by, among others, Arthur Koestler, Fritjof Capra and Ken Wilber.