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Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner · 1861 – 1925

HermetismoOccidenteModerna (1900 –)

Fundador de la antroposofía, la pedagogía Waldorf y la agricultura biodinámica (discutido).

Este perfil está por ahora solo en inglés y chino.

Note on controversy

Steiner described Anthroposophy as a 'spiritual science', but its claims rest on his own clairvoyant research and have not been confirmed by scientific methods. Critics and medical reviewers describe anthroposophic medicine as unscientific, and there is no good evidence that its remedies work beyond placebo; biodynamic farming's distinctive preparations and astrological planting calendar are likewise considered unscientific, even though its organic practices are similar to other organic farming. Waldorf education is popular with many families, while critics question its developmental theories and, in some schools, attitudes to vaccination. Some of Steiner's lectures describe races in a spiritual hierarchy, and these statements are widely criticised as racist, though he also rejected nationalism and racial antisemitism. This page is not medical advice; consult qualified professionals for health questions.

Sources for this note

Life

Rudolf Steiner was born in Kraljevec, then in the Austrian Empire (now Croatia). He studied at the Vienna Institute of Technology, edited Goethe's scientific writings, and earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Rostock in 1891; The Philosophy of Freedom (1894) set out his ethical individualism. In 1902 he became head of the newly formed German section of the Theosophical Society, and wrote Theosophy (1904) and How to Know Higher Worlds (first published as essays in 1904–05). Differences with the Society's leaders, above all his rejection of their claim that Krishnamurti was the coming World Teacher, led him and most of the German members to form the Anthroposophical Society in 1912–13, centred on the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. After the First World War he applied his ideas widely: the first Waldorf school opened in Stuttgart in 1919, his 1924 agriculture course founded biodynamic farming, and with the physician Ita Wegman he developed anthroposophic medicine. He died in Dornach in 1925.

The system

  • Anthroposophy: a 'spiritual science' claiming to study the spiritual world as exactly as natural science studies the physical.
  • A path of inner development through concentration, meditation and moral practice, as a long-term discipline.
  • The human being as body, soul and spirit, developing through repeated earthly lives.
  • Applications in education, agriculture, medicine, architecture and the arts (eurythmy).

Key works

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Where to start

  • How to Know Higher Worlds is the most widely read introduction to his path; The Philosophy of Freedom shows the philosopher before the esoteric teacher.

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What is Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy, and how did it lead to Waldorf schools and biodynamic farming?
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Sources