The Riddle of Philosophy Part 26

nature of things? To ask these questions is like investigating the nutritional value of the seed. But it is also possible to focus attention on the experiences of the soul that are not diverted by outside impressions, but lead the soul from one level of being on to another. These experiences are seen as an implanted driving force in which one recognizes a higher man who uses this life to prepare for the next. One arrives at the insight that this is the fundamental impulse of all human soul experience and that knowledge is related to it as the use of the seed of the plant for food is comparable to the development of the grain into a new plant. If we fail to understand this fact, we shall live under the illusion that we could discover the nature of knowledge by merely observing the soul's experiences. This procedure is as erroneous as it is to make only a chemical a.n.a.lysis of the seed with respect to its food value and to pretend that this represents its real essence.

Spiritual science, as it is meant here, tries to avoid this error by revealing the inner nature of the soul's experience and by showing that it can also serve the process of knowledge, although its true nature does not consist in this contemplative knowledge.

The "body-free soul consciousness" here described must not be confused with those enhanced mental conditions that are not acquired by means of the characterized exercises but result from states of lower consciousness such as unclear clairvoyance, hypnotism, etc. In these conditions no body-free consciousness can be attained but only an abnormal connection between body and soul that differs from that of the ordinary life. Real spiritual science can be gained only when the soul finds, in the course of its own disciplined meditative work, the transition from the ordinary consciousness to one with which it awakens in and becomes directly aware of the spiritual world. This inner work consists in a heightening, not a lowering of the ordinary consciousness.

Through such inner work the human soul can actually attain what philosophy aims for. The latter should not be underestimated because it has not attained its objective on the paths that are usually followed by it. Far more important than the philosophical results are the forces of the soul that can be developed in the course of philosophical work. These forces must eventually lead to the point where it becomes possible to recognize a "body-free soul experience." Philosophers will then recognize that the "world riddles" must not merely be considered scientifically but need to be experienced by the human soul. But the soul must first attain to the condition in which such an experience is possible.

This brings up an obvious question. Should ordinary knowledge and scientific knowledge deny its own nature and recognize as a world conception only what is offered from a realm lying outside its own domain? As it is, the experiences of the characterized consciousness are convincing at once also to this ordinary consciousness as long as the latter does not insist upon locking itself up within its own walls. The supersensible truths can be found only by a soul that enters into the supersensible. Once they are found, however, they can be fully understood by the ordinary consciousness. For they are in complete and necessary agreement with the knowledge that can be gained for the world of the senses.

It cannot be denied that, in the course of the history of philosophy, viewpoints have repeatedly been advanced that are similar to those described in this final chapter. But in former ages these tendencies appeared only like byways of the philosophical inquiry. Its first task was to work its way through everything that could be regarded as a continuation of the awakening thought experience of the Greeks. It then could point the way toward supersensible consciousness on the strength of its own initiative and in awareness of what it can and what it cannot attain. In former times this

consciousness was accepted, as it were, without philosophical justification. It was not demanded by philosophy itself. But modern philosophy demands it in response to what it has achieved already without the a.s.sistance of this consciousness.

Without this help it has succeeded in leading the spiritual investigation into directions that will, if rightly developed, lead to the recognition of supersensible consciousness. That is why this final chapter did not start by describing the way in which the soul speaks of the supersensible when it stands within its realm. Quite to the contrary, an attempt was made to outline philosophically the tendencies resulting from the modern world conceptions, and it was shown how a pursuit of these innate tendencies leads the soul to the recognition of its own supersensible nature.

INDEX.

--A -.

Agnosticism Ammonius Sakkas (c. 175 242) Ampere, Andre-Marie (1775 1836) Anaxagoras (c. 500 B.C.) Anaximander (611 550 B.C.) Anaximenes (c. 600 B.C.) Angelus Silesius (Johann Scheffler, 1624 1677) Anselm of Canterbury (1033 1109) Anthropomorphism Apollonius of Tyana (c. 50 A.D.) Archytas (c. 400 365 B.C.) Aristophanes (c. 450 385 B.C.) Aristotle (384 322 B.C.) Asmus, Paul (1842 1876) Atomists Augustine, St. Aurelius (354 430) Averroes (1126 1198)

Baader, Franz Xaver Benedikt von (1765 1841) Bacon, Francis (1561 1626) Baer, Carl Ernst von (1792 1876) Bain, Alexander, (1818 1903) Balfour, Arthur James (1848 1930) Basilides (c. 130 A.D.) Bauer, Bruno (1809 1882) Beck, Jakob Sigismund (1761 1840) Bergson, Henri (1859 1941) Berkeley, George (1684 1753) Bernardinus Telesius, see Telesius Boehme, Jakob (1575 1624) Boutroux, Emile (1845 1921) Brentano, Franz (1838 1917) Bruno, Giordano (1548 1600) Buechner, Ludwig (1824 1899) ? Burdach, Karl Friedrich (1776 1847) --C -.

Cabanis, Pierre Jean Georges (1757 1808) Carda.n.u.s, Hieronymus (1501 1576)

Carneri, Bartholomaus von (1821 1909) Ca.s.sirer, Ernst (1874 1945) Chalybas, Heinrich Moritz (1796 1862) Chrysippus (280 208 B.C.) Clemens of Alexandria (died 211 A.D.) Cohen, Hermann (1842 1918) Comte, Auguste (1798 1857) Condillac, Etienne Bonnot de Mably de (1715 1780) Copernicus, Nicholas (1473 1543) Cousin, Victor (1792 1067) Cratylus (Plato's teacher) Critias (Pupil of Socrates) Cusa.n.u.s, Nicolaus Cuvier, Georges Baron de (1769 1832) ? Czolbe, Heinrich (1819 1873) --D -.

Dante Alighieri (1265 1321) Darwin, Charles (1809 1882) Democritus (c. 460 371 B.C.) Descartes, Rene (1596 1650)

Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude (1754 1836) Deutinger, Martin van (1815 1864) Diderot, Denis (1713 1784) Dilthey, Wilhelm (1833 1911) Dionysius the Areopagite Dubois, Eugen (1858 1940) Du Bois-Reymond, Emil (1815 1896) ? Duhring, Eugen (1833 1921) --E -.

Echtermeyer, Ernst Theodor (1805 1844) Eckhardt, Meister, see Meister Eckhardt Einstein, Albert (1879 1955) Eleatics Empedocles (483 424 B.C.) Encyclopedists Epicureans Epicurus (342 270 B.C.) Erdmann, Benno (1851 1921) Erdmann, Johann Eduard (1805 1892) ? Eucken, Rudolf (1846 1926)

--F -.

Faraday, Michael (1791 1867) Fechner, Gustav Theodor (1801 1887) Feuerbach, Ludwig (1804 1872) Fichte, Immanuel Hermann (1797 1879) Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1762 1814) Fischer, Karl Philip (1824 1908) Flechsig, Paul (born 1847) Forberg, Friedrich (1770 1848) Frantz, Constantin (1817 1891) ? Fries, Jakob Friedrich (1773 1843) --G -.

Galilei, Galileo (1564 1642) Gegenbaur, Karl (1826 1903)

--B -? Geoffroy de St. Hilaire, Etienne (1772 1844) ? Gladstone, William Ewart (1809 1898) ? Gnosis ? Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749 1832) ? Gompertz, Theodor (1832 1912)

? Gorgias (died after 399 B.C.) ? Grillparzer, Franz (1791 1872) ? Guenther, Anton (1783 1863) --H -.

? Haeckel, Ernst (1834 1919) ? Hailer, Albrecht von (1708 1777) ? Hamann, Johann Georg (1730 1788) ? Hamerling, Robert (1830 1889) ? Hamilton, William (1788 1856) ? Hartmann, Eduard van (1842 1906) ? Harvey, William (1578 1657) ? Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Frederich (1770 1831) ? Heinroth, Johann Christian (1773 1843) ? Helmholtz, Hermann von (1821 1894) ? Helvetius, Claude Adrien (1715 1771) ? Hemsterhuis, Franz (1721 1790) ? Henle, Jakob (1809 1885) ? Herac.l.i.tus (c. 540 480 B.C.) ? Herbart, Johann Friedrich (1776 1841) ? Herder, Johann Gottfried (1744 1803)

? Herschel, John (1792 1871) ? Hippias (c. 400 B.C.) ? Hobbes, Thomas (1588 1679) ? Hoff, Karl von (1771 1837) ? Hoffman, Franz (1804 1881) ? Holbach, Paul Heinrich Dietrich von (1723 1789) ? Humboldt, Alexander von (1769 1859) ? Humboldt, Wilhelm von (1767 1835) ? Hume, David (1711 1776) ? Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825 1895) --I -.

? Iamblichus (c. 330 A.D.) --J -.

Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich (1743 1819) James, William (1842 1910) ? Jean Paul, see Richter --K -.

Kant, Immanuel (1724 1804) Kepler, Johannes (1571 1630) Key, Ellen (1849 1926)

Kinkel, Walter (born 1871) Kirchhoff, Gustav Robert (1824 1887) Kirchmann, Julius Heinrich (1807 1884) Kleanthes Krapelin, Emil (1856 1926) ? Krause, Karl Christian Friedrich (1781 1832) --L -.

Laas, Ernst (1837 1885) Lamarck, Jean (1749 1829) La Mettrie, Julien de (1709 1751) Lang, Arnold Lange, Friedrich Albert (1828 1875) Laplace, Pierre Simone (1749 1827) La.s.salle, Ferdinand (1825 1864) Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent (1743 1794) Leclair, Anton von (born 1845) Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von (1646 1716) Leonardo da Vinci (1452 1519) Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim (1729 1781) Leucippus (c. 450 B.C.)

Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph (1742 1799) Liebmann, Otto (1840 1912) Linnaeus, Karl von (Linne, Carl von) (1707 1778) Locke, John (1632 1704) Lotze, Hermann (1817 1881) Lucretius Carus, t.i.tus (96 55 B.C.) Lyell, Charles (1797 1875) Mackay, John Henry (1864 1933) Maimon, Salomon (1753 1800) Maimonides (1135 1204) Mainlander, Philipp (1841 1876) Maine de Biran, Francois Pierre Gauthier (1766 1824) Malthus, Thomas Robert (1766 1834) Mansel, Henry (1820 1871) Marcion (died c. 170 A.D.) Marsch (Marsh, Othniel Charles? (1831 1899)) Marx, Karl (1818 1883) Mayer, Julius Robert (1814 1878) Meister Eckhardt (1260 1327) Melissos (c. 450 B.C.)

Mendelssohn, Moses (1729 1786) Mettrie, see La Mettrie Michelet, Carl Ludwig (1801 1893) Mill, James (1773 1836) Mill, John Stuart (1806 1873) Moderatus (1st Century A.D.) Moleschott, Jacob (1822 1893) Mueller, Johannes (1801 1858) ? Muller, Fritz --N -.

Natorp, Paul (1854 1924) Naville, Jules Ernest (1816 1909) Nehring, Alfred (1845 1904) Neo-Platonism Newton, Isaac (1642 1727) Nietzsche, Friedrich (1844 1900) Nigidius Figulus (c. 95 45 B.C.) Nominalism ? Novalis (Friedrich Georg van Hardenberg) (1772 1801) --O -.

Oken, Lorenz (1779 1851) Oersted, Hans Christian (1777 1851) Origenes (Origen) (c. 183 252) ? Orphics --P -.

Paracelsus (1493 1541) Parmenides (born c. 540 B.C.) Pierce, Charles (1839 1914) Pherekydes of Syros (6th Century B.C.) Philo of Alexandria (20 50 A.D.) Philolaus (c. 450 B.C.) Planck, Karl Christian (1819 1880) Plato (427 347 B.C.) Plotinus (205 270) Porphyrius (232 304) Post-Kantians Pragmatism Prel, Carl du (1839 1899) Preuss, Wilhelm Heinrich (born 1809) Prodicus (contemporary of Socrates)

Proclus (410 485) Protagoras (c. 480 410 B.C.) Pyrrho (360 270 B.C.) ? Pythagoras (582 493 B.C.) --R -.

Realism Rehmke, Johannes (1848 1930) Reid, Thomas (1710 1756) Reinhold, Karl Leonhard (1758 1823) Relativity, Theory of Reuschle, Karl Gustav Rickert, Heinrich (1863 1936) Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich (1763 1825) Riehl, Alois (1844 1924) Rolph, W. H.

Romanticism Roscellin, Johannes (c. 1050 1123) Rosenkranz, Johann Karl Friedrich (1805 1879) Rosenthal, Isidor (1836 1915) Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1712 1778)

Ruge, Arnold (1802 1880) Saint-Simon, Claude-Henri de (1760 1825) Sch.e.l.ling, Friedrich Wilhelm Josef (1775 1854) Schiller, Ferdinand Canning Scult (1864 1937) Schiller, Friedrich (1759 1805) Schlegel, Friedrich (1772 1829) Schleiden, Matthias Jacob (1804 1881) Schleiermacher, Friedrich Ernst (1768 1834) Schopenhauer, Arthur (1788 1860) Schubert-Soldern, Richard von (born 1852) Schulze, Gottlob Ernst (1761 1833) Schuppe, Wilhelm (1836 1913) Schwann, Theodore (1810 1882) Scotus Erigena (c. 810 877) Seiling, Max Sengler, Jacob (1799 1878) Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper (1671 1713) Shakespeare (1564 1616) Scepticism Socrates (469 399 B.C.)

Solger, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand (1780 1819) Sophists Soret, Friedrich Jacob (1795 1865) Spencer, Herbert (1820 1903) Spicker, Gideon (1840 1912) Spinoza, Baruch (1632 1677) Stadler, August (1850 1910) Steffens, Henrik (1773 1845) Stirner, Max (1806 1856) Stoics Strauss, David Friedrich (1808 1874) ? Suso, Heinrich (c. 1300 1366) --T -.

Taine, Hippolyte (1828 1893) Tauler, Johannes (c. 1300 1361) Telesius, Bernardinus (1509 1588) Tetens, Johann Nikolaus (1736 1807) Thales (c. 625 545 B.C.) Theology, German Thomas Aquinas (1227 1274)

Thrahndorff, Karl Friedrich Eusebius (1782 1863) Thrasymachus (contemporary of Socrates) Tolstoi, Leo (1828 1910) Treitschke, Heinrich von (1834 1896) Trendelenburg, Friedrich Adolf (1802 1872) Troxler, Ignaz Paul Vitalis (1780 1866) ? Tyndall, John (1820 1893) --U -.

? Ulrici, Hermann (1806 1884) --V -.

Vaihinger, Hans (1852 1933) Valentinus (died c. 160 A.D.) Virchow, Rudolf (1821 1903) Vischer, Friedrich Theodor (1807 1887) Vogt, Karl (1817 1895) Volkelt, Johannes Immanuel (1848 1930) Volta, Alessandro (1743 1827) ? Voltaire, Jean Marie Aroriet (1694 1778) --W -.

Wackernagel, Wilhelm (1806 1869)

Wagner, Richard (1813 1883) Wagner, Rudolf (1805 1864) Wahle, Richard (died 1857) Weber, Ernst Heinrich (1795 1878) Weisse, Christian Hermann (1801 1866) Whewell, William (1794 1866) Wieland, Christoph Martin (1733 1813) Winckler, Johann Heinrich (1703 1770) Windelband, Wilhelm (1848 1915) Windischmann, Karl Joseph Hieronymus (1775 1839) Wirth Woehler, Friedrich (1800 1882) Wolff, Casper Friedrich (1733 1794) Wolff, Christian (1679 1754) Wundt, Wilhelm (1832 1920) Xenophon (c. 500 B.C.) ? Xenophanes (born c. 580 B.C.) --Z -.

Zeller, Eduard (1814 1908) Zeno (Zenon) of Elea (c. 500 B.C.)

Zeno of Kition (342 270 B.C.) Zimmerman, Robert (1824 1898)

--M ---S ---X -.

Rudolf Steiner, philosopher, scientist and educator, (1861- 1925), has achieved worldwide fame as the originator of the Science of the Spirit known as Anthroposophy, and as a pioneer of genius in a variety of fields of Learning.

"Steiner thought, spoke and wrote as a scientist. Though he challenged many of the conclusions of science, he did so as one who knew at first-hand the whole trend of scientific thought."

A. P. Shepherd, A Scientist of the Invisible.

"That the academic world has managed to dismiss Steiner's works as inconsequential and irrelevant, is one of the intellectual wonders of the twentieth century. Anyone who is willing to study those vast works with an open mind (let us say, a hundred of his t.i.tles) will find himself faced with one of the greatest thinkers of all time, whose grasp of the modern sciences is equaled only by his profound learning in the ancient ones."

Russell W. Davenport, The Dignity of Man.

"Steiner's gift to the world was a moral and meditative way to objective vision, a way appropriate to the psychological and physiological const.i.tution of Western man. If accepted in the spirit of humility, altruism and truthfulness in which it was given, it could bridge the existing cleft between a man's religious conviction and his intellect and will. It could add comprehension to our existing knowledge and thus revive the vision without which our generation will hardly find the solution to its problems."

Franz Winkler, M.D., Man the Bridge between Two Worlds.