Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner (February 27, 1861, Murakirály, Hungary – March 30, 1925) was an Austrian philosopher, literary scholar, architect, playwright, educator, and social thinker, who is best known as the founder of Anthroposophy and its practical applications, including Waldorf School, Biodynamic agriculture, the Camphill Movement, and the Christian Community.

Goethean Scholar, Philosopher, Phenomenologist of Spirit and Sense Perception

Steiner's father was a huntsman in the service of Count Hoyos in Geras, and later became a telegraph operator and stationmaster on the Southern Austrian Railway. When Rudolf was born, his father was stationed in Murakirály in the Muraköz region, then part of Hungary (present-day Donji Kraljevec, Me?imurje region, northernmost Croatia). When he was two years old, the family moved into Burgenland, Austria, in the foothills of the eastern Alps.

Related Topics:
Hoyos - Geras - Murakirály - Muraköz - Hungary - Donji Kraljevec - Me?imurje - Croatia - Burgenland - Austria - Alps

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Steiner displayed a keen and early interest in mathematics and philosophy. From 1879-1883 he attended the Technische Hochschule (Technical University) in Vienna, where he concentrated on mathematics, physics, and chemistry. In 1891, with his thesis Truth and Knowledge, he earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Rostock in Germany.

Related Topics:
Technische Hochschule - Vienna - Mathematics - Physics - Chemistry

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In 1888, Steiner was invited by Grand Duchess Sophie of Saxony to edit the complete edition of Goethe's scientific works in Weimar, where he worked until 1896. During this time he also collaborated in a complete edition of Arthur Schopenhauer's work.

Related Topics:
1888 - Sophie of Saxony - Goethe - Weimar - Arthur Schopenhauer

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He wrote his seminal philosophical work, Die Philosophie der Freiheit (The Philosophy of Freedom) in 1894.

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It advocated the possibility that humans can become spiritually free beings through the conscious activity of thinking (see section on 'Philosophical Debate').

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In 1896, Friedrich Nietzsche's sister, Forster-Nietzsche, asked Steiner to set the Nietzsche archive in Naumburg in order. Her brother by that time was no longer compos mentis. Forster-Nietzsche introduced Steiner into the presence of the catatonic philosopher and Steiner, deeply moved, subsequently wrote the book Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom. This book may be of interest, but arguably is not in the category of Steiner's most important works. Students of philosophy in particular are likely to find much more substantial grist if they start with Steiner's Philosophy of Freedom and his doctoral thesis, Truth and Science (Wahrheit und Wissenschaft). See also the list of (mostly non-philosophy) works in the 'Selected Bibliography' at the bottom.

Related Topics:
Nietzsche - Compos mentis

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In 1897, Steiner moved to Berlin to edit the Magazin für Literatur.

Related Topics:
1897 - Berlin

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A turning-point came when, in the August 28, 1899 issue of this magazine, he published an article entitled "Goethe's Secret Revelation" on the esoteric nature of Goethe's fairy tale, The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily. This article led to an invitation by the Count and Countess Brockdorff to speak to a gathering of Theosophists on the subject of Nietzsche. Steiner continued speaking regularly to the members of the Theosophical Society, eventually becoming the head of its German Section.

Related Topics:
Goethe - Theosophists - Theosophical Society

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Beginning around this time (ca. 1900), till his death in 1925, Steiner articulated an ongoing stream of "experiences of the spiritual world" -- experiences he said had touched him from an early age on. Steiner sought to apply all his training in mathematics, science and philosophy in order to produce rigorous, intersubjectively testable presentations of those experiences. He also sought to bring a consciousness of spiritual life and non-physical beings into many practical domains - medicine, education, science, architecture, special education, social reform, agriculture, drama, etc. Steiner held that non-physical beings were in everything, and that through freely chosen ethical disciplines and meditative training, anyone could develop the ability to experience such beings, and thus be strengthened for creative and loving work in the world.

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Steiner sought to be phenomenological (experience-based, rejecting immobile abstractions and assumptions). Like Edmund Husserl and Jose Ortega y Gasset, but preceding them, Steiner was intimately familiar with the philosophical work of Franz Brentano and Wilhelm Dilthey, both of whom were central precursors of the phemonenological movement in European philosophy. Steiner was also deeply influenced by Goethe's phenomenological approach to science.

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Unlike the Theosophists, Steiner encouraged the development of artistic efforts within the Society — and this was poorly received. Steiner also strongly objected when the leaders of the Theosophical Society declared that Krishnamurti was the reincarnation of Christ (Krishnamurti himself later repudiated the attempt to make him into a reincarnated messiah, shocking the other Theosophical leaders). Steiner quickly denied Krishnamurti was Christ, and held that Christ's earthly incarnation was a unique event. Steiner held that what trained spiritual vision could discover about most of the rest of humanity -- namely that the human being goes through a series of repeated earth lives -- did not apply to Christ. These and other conflicts eventually led Steiner and most of the German branch of theosophists to separate from the main body of Theosophists, and form the Anthroposophical Society, which was founded in 1912.

Related Topics:
Anthroposophical Society - 1912

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The society remained active, and after years of extensive touring and lecturing, the organization needed a home for their activities. In 1913, Steiner was employed as architect for the first Goetheanum building in Dornach, Switzerland. It was built entirely by the work of volunteers who offered their skills of craftsmanship and trade. Once World War I started in 1914, the Goetheanum volunteers could hear the sound of cannon fire beyond the Swiss border, but despite the war, people from all over Europe worked peaceably side by side on the building's construction. By 1919, the first run of Goethe's Faust had been produced there — the same year as the founding of the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart.

Related Topics:
Goetheanum - Dornach - Switzerland

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The Goetheanum developed as a cultural centre which included activities in mathematics, medicine, Biodynamic agriculture, and schools of art. It was within the Society that Steiner met his wife Marie von Sievers, with whom he developed a new artform known as Eurythmy (aka 'visible speech'). On New Year's Eve, 1922, the first Goetheanum building was burned down by arsonists. Unwavered, work was begun on a second Goetheanum building — still under construction when he died in 1925.

Related Topics:
Mathematics - Medicine - Biodynamic agriculture - Eurythmy - 1925

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During the Christmas conference in 1923, he founded the School of Spiritual Science, which is also known as the Goetheanum or by some the spiritual Goetheanum. The distinction makes clear that the first Goetheanum was a building, a 'physical' architecture embodying the spirit (hence it was known as the house of the word, while the second Goetheanum consists of the spiritual architecture of those human beings active in it (members of the above school). The School has become increasingly active since Steiner's day, and is structured like a university. As such, it has three classes (years) and various sections (faculties). Within the society, it is seen as a centre of activity in education, agriculture, art, natural science, medicine, and economics.

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