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Rudolf Steiner was born in 1861 and died in 1925. In his autobiography,
The Course of My Life
(see Note 1),
he makes quite clear that the problems dealt with in
The Philosophy of Freedom
played a leading part in his life.
His childhood was spent in the Austrian
countryside, where his father was a stationmaster. At the age of
eight Steiner was already aware of things and beings that are not
seen as well as those that are. Writing about his experiences at this
age, he said, “... the reality of the spiritual world was as certain
to me as that of the physical. I felt the need, however, for a sort
of justification for this assumption.”
Recognizing the boy's ability, his father sent him
to the Realschule at Wiener Neustadt, and later to the Technical
University in Vienna. Here Steiner had to support himself, by means
of scholarships and tutoring. Studying and mastering many more
subjects than were in his curriculum, he always came back to the
problem of knowledge itself. He was very much aware: that in the
experience of oneself as an ego, one is in the world of the spirit.
Although he took part in all the social activities going on around
him — in the arts, the sciences, even in politics — he wrote
that “much more vital at that time was the need to find an answer
to the question: How far is it possible to prove that in human thinking
real spirit is the agent?”
He made a deep study of philosophy, particularly
the writings of Kant, but nowhere did he find a way of thinking that
could be carried as far as a perception of the spiritual world. Thus
Steiner was led to develop a theory of knowledge out of his own
striving after truth, one which took its start from a direct
experience of the spiritual nature of thinking.
As a student, Steiner's scientific ability was
acknowledged when he was asked to edit Goethe's writings on nature.
In Goethe he recognized one who had been able to perceive the
spiritual in nature, even though he had not carried this as far as a
direct perception of the spirit. Steiner was able to bring a new
understanding to Goethe's scientific work through this insight into
his perception of nature. Since no existing philosophical theory
could take this kind of vision into account, and since Goethe had
never stated explicitly what his philosophy of life was, Steiner
filled this need by publishing, in 1886, an introductory book called
The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethes World Conception
His introductions to the several volumes and sections of Goethe's
scientific writings (1883–97) have been collected into the book
Goethe the Scientist.
These are valuable contributions to the philosophy of science.
During this time his thoughts about his own
philosophy were gradually coming to maturity. In the year 1888 he met
Eduard von Hartmann, with whom he had already had a long
correspondence. He describes the chilling effect on him of the way
this philosopher of pessimism denied that thinking could ever reach
reality, but must forever deal with illusions. Steiner was already
clear in his mind how such obstacles were to be overcome. He did not
stop at the problem of knowledge, but carried his ideas from this
realm into the field of ethics, to help him deal with the problem of
human freedom. He wanted to show that morality could be given a sure
foundation without basing it upon imposed rules of conduct.
Meanwhile his work of editing had taken him away
from his beloved Vienna to Weimar. Here Steiner wrestled with the
task of presenting his ideas to the world. His observations of the
spiritual had all the exactness of a science, and yet his experience
of the reality of ideas was in some ways akin to the mystic's
experience. Mysticism presents the intensity of immediate knowledge
with conviction, but deals only with subjective impressions; it fails
to deal with the reality outside man. Science, on the other hand,
consists of ideas about the world, even if the ideas are mainly
materialistic. By starting from the spiritual nature of thinking,
Steiner was able to form ideas that bear upon the spiritual world in
the same way that the ideas of natural science bear upon the
physical. Thus he could describe his philosophy as the result of
“introspective observation following the methods of Natural
Science.” He first presented an outline of his ideas in his
doctoral dissertation,
Truth and Knowledge,
which bore the sub-title
“Prelude to a ‘Philosophy of Freedom’.”
In 1894
The Philosophy of Freedom
was published, and the content which
had formed the centre of his life's striving was placed before the
world. Steiner was deeply disappointed at the lack of understanding
it received. Hartmann's reaction was typical; instead of accepting
the discovery that thinking can lead to the reality of the spirit in
the world, he continued to think that "spirit" was merely a concept
existing in the human mind, and freedom an illusion based on
ignorance. Such was fundamentally the view of the age to which
Steiner introduced his philosophy. But however it seemed to others,
Steiner had in fact established a firm foundation for knowledge of
the spirit, and now he felt able to pursue his researches in this
field without restraint. The
The Philosophy of Freedom
summed up the ideas he had formed to deal with the riddles of existence
that had so far dominated his life. “The further way,”
he wrote, “could now be nothing else but a struggle to find the
right form of ideas to express the spiritual world itself.”
While still at Weimar, Steiner wrote two more books,
Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom,
inspired by a visit to the aged philosopher, and
Goethe's Conception of the World
(1897), which completed his work in this field. He then
moved to Berlin to take over the editing of a literary magazine; here
he wrote
Riddles of Philosophy
(1901) and
Mysticism and Modern Thought
(1901). He also embarked on an ever-increasing activity of lecturing.
But his real task lay in deepening his knowledge of the spiritual world
until he could reach the point of publishing the results of this
research.
The rest of his life was devoted to building up a
complete science of the spirit, to which he gave the name
Anthroposophy. Foremost amongst his discoveries was
his direct experience of the reality of the Christ, which soon took a
central place in his whole teaching. The many books and lectures
which he published set forth the magnificent scope of his vision
(see Note 2).
From 1911 he turned also to the arts — drama, painting,
architecture, eurythmy — showing the creative forming
powers that can be drawn from spiritual vision. As a response to the
disaster of the 1914–18 war, he showed how the social sphere
could be given new life through an insight into the nature of man,
his initiative bearing practical fruit in the fields of education,
agriculture, therapy and medicine. After a few more years of intense
activity, now as the leader of a world-wide movement, he died,
leaving behind him an achievement that must allow his recognition as
the first Initiate of the age of science
(see Note 3).
Anthroposophy is itself a science, firmly based on the results of
observation, and open to investigation by anyone who is prepared to
follow the path of development he pioneered — a path that takes its
start from the struggle for inner freedom set forth in this book.
Michael Wilson, Clent, 1964.
From the introduction to
The Philosophy of Freedom
Footnotes:
- Published in parts from 1923–5,
and never completed. The titles given for Dr. Steiner's books are
those of the English translations. Read the 1928 edition titled
The Story of My Life.
- The list of titles is long, but the
more important books include:
- For an account of the life and work
of Rudolf Steiner, see A Scientist of The
Invisible, by A. P. Shepherd (1954). The range of his
contribution to modern thought can be seen in The Faithful
Thinker, edited by A. C. Harwood (1961).
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