American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner

American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner PDF Author: Robert A. McDermott
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 158420138X
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Few thinkers from outside the United States have touched American culture in as many ways as Rudolf Steiner. Agriculture, education, spirituality, and medicine --or more precisely, alternative practices in these fields --all bear clear marks of his influence, for those with eyes to see. Yet the very breadth of Steiner's impact has perhaps made him harder, not easier, for observers of American culture to notice. American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner aspires to raise Steiner's profile by digging into just one field of inquiry: philosophy. Before he became known to the world as a transmitter of clairvoyant wisdom, Steiner was an academic philosopher, editor of the scientific writings of Goethe and author of a foundational work in philosophy, The Philosophy of Freedom: The Basis for a Modern Worldview, published in 1894. That book expressed in philosophical terms many of the ideas that would later emerge as integral to the spiritual science of Anthroposophy. Though the authors cover a wide range of topics, most share an elegiac tone. They see great potential for dialogue between Rudolf Steiner and the great American philosophers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. American philosophy may have taken a wrong turn in the mid-twentieth century, when pragmatism gave way to a tradition of analytical philosophy that eschewed metaphysics as inherently meaningless and focused on the coherence or incoherence of linguistic structures. Nonetheless, many new sites of potential dialogue exist between Steiner and American philosophy. Five of the articles in this volume were written as part of a seminar on Rudolf Steiner and American Thought as part of a Project for the Renewal of Philosophy, Science, and Education sponsored by Laurance S. Rockefeller. The contributors --David Ray Griffin, Gertrude Reif Hughes, Frank M. Oppenheim, S. J., Douglas Sloan, and Robert McDermott --were originally published in ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation (spring and summer 1991).

American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner

American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner PDF Author: Robert A. McDermott
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 158420138X
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Few thinkers from outside the United States have touched American culture in as many ways as Rudolf Steiner. Agriculture, education, spirituality, and medicine --or more precisely, alternative practices in these fields --all bear clear marks of his influence, for those with eyes to see. Yet the very breadth of Steiner's impact has perhaps made him harder, not easier, for observers of American culture to notice. American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner aspires to raise Steiner's profile by digging into just one field of inquiry: philosophy. Before he became known to the world as a transmitter of clairvoyant wisdom, Steiner was an academic philosopher, editor of the scientific writings of Goethe and author of a foundational work in philosophy, The Philosophy of Freedom: The Basis for a Modern Worldview, published in 1894. That book expressed in philosophical terms many of the ideas that would later emerge as integral to the spiritual science of Anthroposophy. Though the authors cover a wide range of topics, most share an elegiac tone. They see great potential for dialogue between Rudolf Steiner and the great American philosophers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. American philosophy may have taken a wrong turn in the mid-twentieth century, when pragmatism gave way to a tradition of analytical philosophy that eschewed metaphysics as inherently meaningless and focused on the coherence or incoherence of linguistic structures. Nonetheless, many new sites of potential dialogue exist between Steiner and American philosophy. Five of the articles in this volume were written as part of a seminar on Rudolf Steiner and American Thought as part of a Project for the Renewal of Philosophy, Science, and Education sponsored by Laurance S. Rockefeller. The contributors --David Ray Griffin, Gertrude Reif Hughes, Frank M. Oppenheim, S. J., Douglas Sloan, and Robert McDermott --were originally published in ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation (spring and summer 1991).

The Philosophy of Freedom

The Philosophy of Freedom PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855842564
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
"Are we free, whether we know it or not? Or is our sense of freedom merely an illusion? Rudolf Steiner tackles this age-old problem in a new way. He shows that by taking account of our own activity of thinking, we can know the reasons for our actions. And if these reasons are taken from our world of ideals, then our actions are free, because we alone determine them. But this freedom cannot be settled for us by philosophical argument. It is not simply granted to us. If we want to become free, we have to strive through our own inner activity to overcome our unconscious urges and habits of thought. In order to do this we must reach a point of view that recognises no limits to knowledge, sees through all illusions, and opens the door to an experience of the reality of the spiritual world. Then we can achieve the highest level of evolution. We can recognise ourselves as free spirits. This special reprint, featuring the acclaimed translation by Michael Wilson, is being made available in response to public demand--Page 4 of cover

Steiner and Kindred Spirits

Steiner and Kindred Spirits PDF Author: Robert McDermott
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 1621481379
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), the Austrian founder of Anthroposophy, is frequently viewed by those familiar with his teaching as unique and separate from other spiritual teachers of our modern era. While, Steiner is thought by anthroposophists to be a scientist and a philosopher, as well as an interpreter of events depicted in Christian scriptures, he is nevertheless generally ignored by scientists and philosophers, as well as by both liberal and fundamentalist scriptural scholars and theologians. In this book, Robert McDermott—the editor of American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner, which investigates Steiner’s philosophy in the context of American philosophers—places Steiner and his work in the context of a variety of spiritual teachers and teachings, both Western and Eastern. In doing so, the reader is guided to new perspectives that show the similarities and contrasts between Steiner’s Spiritual Science and a number of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and secular spiritual worldviews. The kindred spirits in this book include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, C. G. Jung, Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Buber, Sri Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhians, feminists, ecologists, and more. Steiner went as far up the spiritual ladder as any modern individual but, unlike some enthusiasts for Steiner, McDermott is also impressed by other religious thinkers and spiritual practitioners who have been helpful to those of us in need of encouragement and guidance and whose vistas and insights may not have been researched or explained by Steiner. For those with unbiased, open minds, this book presents a fresh look at Rudolf Steiner, a modern spiritual initiate, and his contributions to the world, along with a generous and appreciative view of his kindred spirits of our time.

Learning to See Into the Spiritual World

Learning to See Into the Spiritual World PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 0880109270
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description
Few thinkers from outside the United States have touched American culture in as many ways as Rudolf Steiner. Agriculture, education, spirituality, and medicine--or more precisely, alternative practices in these fields--all bear clear marks of his influence, for those with eyes to see. Yet the very breadth of Steiner's impact has perhaps made him harder, not easier, for observers of American culture to notice. American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner aspires to raise Steiner's profile by digging into just one field of inquiry: philosophy. Before he became known to the world as a transmitter of clairvoyant wisdom, Steiner was an academic philosopher, editor of the scientific writings of Goethe and author of a foundational work in philosophy, The Philosophy of Freedom: The Basis for a Modern Worldview, published in 1894. That book expressed in philosophical terms many of the ideas that would later emerge as integral to the spiritual science of Anthroposophy. Though the authors cover a wide range of topics, most share an elegiac tone. They see great potential for dialogue between Rudolf Steiner and the great American philosophers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. American philosophy may have taken a wrong turn in the mid-twentieth century, when pragmatism gave way to a tradition of analytical philosophy that eschewed metaphysics as inherently meaningless and focused on the coherence or incoherence of linguistic structures. Nonetheless, many new sites of potential dialogue exist between Steiner and American philosophy. Five of the articles in this volume were written as part of a seminar on Rudolf Steiner and American Thought as part of a Project for the Renewal of Philosophy, Science, and Education sponsored by Laurance S. Rockefeller. The contributors--David Ray Griffin, Gertrude Reif Hughes, Frank M. Oppenheim, S. J., Douglas Sloan, and Robert McDermott--were originally published in ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation (spring and summer 1991).

Philosophy and Anthroposophy

Philosophy and Anthroposophy PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780936132945
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description


The Philosophy of Freedom

The Philosophy of Freedom PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855842688
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Are we free, whether we know it or not? Or is our sense of freedom merely an illusion? Rudolf Steiner tackles this age-old problem in a new way. He shows that by taking account of our own activity of thinking, we can know the reasons for our actions. And if these reasons are taken from our world of ideals, then our actions are free, because we alone determine them. But this freedom cannot be settled for us by philosophical argument. It is not simply granted to us. If we want to become free, we have to strive through our own inner activity to overcome our unconscious urges and habits of thought. In order to do this we must reach a point of view that recognises no limits to knowledge, sees through all illusions, and opens the door to an experience of the reality of the spiritual world. Then we can achieve the highest level of evolution. We can recognise ourselves as free spirits. This special reprint, featuring the acclaimed translation by Michael Wilson, is being made available in response to public demand.

Toward Wholeness

Toward Wholeness PDF Author: Mary Caroline Richards
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
ISBN: 0819569712
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
For Rudolf Steiner, life can be truly understood only if it is experienced as art is experienced, as inner activities expressed through physical materials. On this ground of the union of inner experience and sensory life, he developed his unique, holistic approach to education. Richards views Steiner schools as expressing a new educational consciousness appropriate for our time, a "grammar of interconnections" among scientific observational, artistic imagination, religious reverence, and practical activity in which every part bears a deep connection.

Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path

Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 088010970X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
A collection of talks on Psychology (CW 143, 178, 205) "These lectures on psychoanalysis and spiritual psychology, given at the very time when the 'talking cure' was in its beginnings, force us to confront the inadequate knowledge used in founding psychoanalysis and psychotherapy as a method of soul work.... A truly spiritual psychology leads to wisdom of the soul [and] not only takes us out of the limited domain of psychology as concerned with subjective states and into the broader culture, it also takes us into an understanding of the body as the necessary organ through which spiritual perception must find its orientation." -- Robert Sardello (from the introduction) In these five talks, Rudolf Steiner laid out the foundations for a truly spiritual psychology. The first two lectures take a critical look at the principles of Freud and Jung's early work. The last three lectures describe the threefold structure of human consciousness and then outline a psychological approach that considers both the soul's hidden powers and the complex connections between psychological and organic, bodily processes. Robert Sardello, codirector of The School of Spiritual Psychology, contributed an important and provocative introduction from the perspective of a practicing psychotherapist. This is an important work for understanding Steiner's views on psychoanalytic practices as they appeared in the first quarter of the twentieth century. A previous edition of this book was titled Psychoanalysis & Spiritual Psychology.

HUMAN AND COSMIC THOUGHT

HUMAN AND COSMIC THOUGHT PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855844168
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 74

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Book Description
Rudolf Steiner demonstrates that there are twelve main philosophical standpoints, and that the future of philosophy rests not upon defending one and refuting the others, but in learning to experience the validity of them all. What convinces us of the truth of a certain point of view? Why do we find it difficult to comprehend viewpoints that differ from our own? What are the inner foundations of our knowledge? In these concentrated and aphoristic lectures, Steiner speaks of twelve main philosophical standpoints, and the importance of understanding each of them. An appreciation of the variety of possible world views not only sharpens and makes more flexible our own powers of thinking, but helps us to overcome a narrow-minded one-sidedness, promoting tolerance of other people and their opinions. Steiner goes on to explain how each standpoint is also coloured by a particular ‘soul mood’, which influences the way we actively pursue knowledge. Several philosophers and their works are characterised in this manner, throwing light on their contributions to human culture. Through such insight into the true nature of human thinking, we are led to understand the quality of cosmic thought and how, in Rudolf Steiner’s words, the human being can be seen as a ‘thought which is thought by the Hierarchies of the cosmos’.

Rudolf Steiner on His Book "The Philosophy of Freedom"

Rudolf Steiner on His Book Author: Otto Palmer
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 0880106956
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Eternal becoming in thinking Every step a deepening Overcoming the surface Penetrating the depths." --Rudolf Steiner Much has been written by students of spiritual science on The Philosophy of Freedom, but the advantage of discovering what the author himself had to say about this most important and seminal work should be obvious. Not only were the words of the text chosen most carefully, but also its very structure was intended to become a powerful inner experience for the careful reader. In a sense, all of the works that flowed from Rudolf Steiner in the following years were to elaborate on this great work. At the age of twenty-seven, Rudolf Steiner "was beset by questions" related to outer human life, whereas inner human nature had been revealing itself to him with increasing clarity as a world of reality. In all his works, Steiner had relied on contemplation of that inner world, which led to writing The Philosophy of Freedom. His intention was to join inner and outer so that true inner work would lead to fully incarnating as human beings. The book that resulted became a pillar of anthroposophic practice and essential study for every student of inner development. Otto Palmer has provided an invaluable service by extracting numerous references from the words of Rudolf Steiner, providing keys to the deeper meanings behind the words of The Philosophy of Freedom, making it more accessible and meaningful to readers.