anthroposophy - Blog - The Philosophy Of Freedom Steiner2024-03-28T17:47:59Zhttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/feed/tag/anthroposophyRudolf Steiner | Advancing From Critical Social Justice To Freedomhttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/rudolf-steiner-advancing-from-critical-social-justice-to-freedom2022-03-23T16:13:13.000Z2022-03-23T16:13:13.000ZTom Lasthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/00yzc179qgdki<div><p>Application of a Science Of Freedom.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wjuTW1698po" width="650" height="366" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Transcript of the video <strong>Rudolf Steiner | Advancing From Critical Social Justice To Freedom<br />
</strong><strong>Video link: </strong><a href="https://youtu.be/wjuTW1698po">https://youtu.be/wjuTW1698po</a><strong><br />
</strong>Contrasting the ideas of Critical Social Justice with the ideas of Rudolf Steiner in The Philosophy Of Freedom.</p>
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<br />
Tom Last March 2022<br />
<a href="http://www.philosophyoffreedom.com">www.philosophyoffreedom.com</a></p>
<p><strong>TRANSCRIPT</strong></p>
<p><strong>Critical Social Justice Ideas</strong><br />
Materialistic View<br />
Group Identity<br />
Academic Knowledge<br />
Social Construction Of Human Being<br />
Conflict Theory<br />
Microaggression<br />
Woke Projection<br />
Social Construction Of Truth<br />
Absurd Ideas<br />
Systems Of Oppression<br />
Lived Experience<br />
Political Correctness<br />
Accusations Of Racism<br />
Disadvantage And Privilege<br />
Anti-Racist Training<br />
Pessimism For Cultural Activism<br />
Social Justice Studies</p>
<p><strong>Materialistic View</strong></p>
<p>In this video I will go through The Philosophy Of Freedom chapter by chapter to contrast the critical Social Justice view of the human being with Rudolf Steiner's view of the human being. It can be used as a reference to show how Critical Social Justice Theory and its Critical Race Theory has very little to offer Waldorf Education or any other Anthroposophical initiative. A link to the transcript will be in the video description box.</p>
<p>The view of the human being, according to Critical Social Justice, has gained a following because it gives a simplistic description of the most visible aspects of human nature that many people can relate to. These common human characteristics express our well known undeveloped state. But there is more to the human being that requires more effort to recognize.</p>
<p>"The concept of the human being is not complete unless it includes the free spirit as the purest expression of human nature." TPOF 9.11</p>
<p>Critical Social Justice Theory does not include an understanding of the human Free Spirit. This is why it is a Materialistic view of the human being. The cognitive and ethical states of Critical Social Justice Theory are found throughout The Philosophy Of Freedom because Rudolf Steiner uses this as the starting point and then advances to higher levels of development.</p>
<p><strong>Group Identity</strong></p>
<p>For example, in Chapter 14 Individuality And Type, it begins with a description of a person who identifies as a member of an ethnic group.</p>
<p><em>"How the single member is constituted and his general behavior will be determined by the character of the ethnic group. If we ask why a particular thing about a person is like this or like that, we are directed away from the individual person and toward his group type." TPOF 14.1</em></p>
<p>The thoughts and behavior expressed by someone who identifies as a group member are determined by the group which directs us away from their unique individual characteristics. From this starting point Chapter 14 advances from Group Identity to learning how to recognize a Free Spirit, our True Self. It is more difficult to identify unique individual characteristics because you have to get to know each person individually.</p>
<p>It is the same in each chapter of The Philosophy Of Freedom. Each chapter advances from the undeveloped immature human being understood by Critical Social Justice to the mature Free Individuality. A study of The Philosophy Of Freedom will remove the blinders of the Materialistic View and open the eyes to our True Self.</p>
<p><strong>Academic Knowledge</strong></p>
<p>Now lets go through The Philosophy Of Freedom chapter by chapter. In the original introduction to The Philosophy Of Freedom, The Goal Of Knowledge, we advance from the outer truth of Academic Knowledge to the facts we know from direct experience and the inner truth that intuitively springs from within. Academic Knowledge comes from the outside, it raises doubts within us.</p>
<p><em>"Truth that comes to us from the outside always brings with it uncertainty. We are only convinced by what appears to each of us inwardly as truth... We do not want the kind of knowledge that has been encased in rigid academic rules, and stored away as valid for all time." TPOF 0.1</em></p>
<p>Social Justice Theory is outer truth formulated in the universities by ivory tower professors and then crammed into the heads of students. It is not education, it is re-education. You do not learn how to think, you learn what to think.</p>
<p>The Philosophy Of Freedom presents a science of freedom to bring the student to a recognition of the truth being presented. Proper study of The Philosophy Of Freedom brings conviction because its truths can be verified within through reasoned examination and introspective observation.</p>
<p><em>"Only truth can give us certainty in the development our individual powers. Whoever is tormented by doubts finds his powers weakened. If baffled by a world full of riddles he can find no goal for his creative activity." TPOF 0.2</em></p>
<p>In this video we will see how Social Justice truths weaken a person while the truths of The Philosophy Of Freedom empower a person to set life goals that will be achieved.</p>
<p><strong>Social Construction Of Human Being</strong></p>
<p>Chapter 1, Conscious Human Action, begins with the question:</p>
<p><em>"Is a human being free in thought and action, or compelled by the unyielding necessity of natural law?" TPOF 1.0</em></p>
<p>Social Justice Theory answers the question of freedom with a resounding no to freedom. A key foundation principle of Critical Social Justice is the social construction of the human being: Cultural Determinism. We are not free but rather constructed by the inescapable necessity of social and cultural influences. This is why Group Identity is central to Social Justice and individuality is dismissed as an illusion.</p>
<p>The Philosophy Of Freedom begins with this undeveloped state and advances to an independent thinking individualist who overcomes Cultural Determinism.</p>
<p><strong>Conflict Theory</strong></p>
<p>Chapter 2, The Desire For Knowledge, describes how once we begin to have thoughts we become critical and are dissatisfied with the world. This primal dissatisfaction is resolved on the inner path to true knowledge.</p>
<p>Critical Social Justice remains in our unreconciled critical nature. It is based on Marxist Conflict Theory. Conflict Theory is a way of thinking that sees the world as a never-ending conflict between Oppressor and Oppressed groups that fight each other for control of limited resources and opportunity. This, again, is a one-sided Materialistic view that tries to explain the human condition on external world circumstances.</p>
<p>Conflict Theory replaces a healthy desire for knowledge with Confirmation Bias. It seeks out information to confirm the one-sided conflict theory narrative. It ignores the fact that the primal conflict exists within our own consciousness.</p>
<p>Before we can heal the world, we need to heal our self. The only way to resolve this inner conflict is to overcome bias by grasping the true nature of the world. We are unable to create a better world if we are unable to understand the existing world.</p>
<p><em>"We must seek out this essence of Nature in us, and then we will discover our connection with her once more... We can find nature outside us only if we first know her within us. What corresponds to nature within us will be our guide." TPOF 2.9</em></p>
<p><strong>Microaggression</strong></p>
<p>In Chapter 3 we advance from passive feeling to becoming an active thinker that can learn about the world. Feelings just happen to us while thinking requires effort. Experiencing a Microaggression is a feeling that just happen to us. As part of the unhealthy focus on Group Identity and Oppression Critical Social Justice teaches people to become more sensitive to and aware of slight Microaggressions.</p>
<p>A Microaggression happens to someone who identifies as a member of a group. Then whenever small slights or messages negative to the group are read into a situation the group member experiences hurt feelings of anxiety and stress.</p>
<p>In chapter 3 we learn that being offended tells us nothing about the world or other people, it only tell us about our own personality.</p>
<p><em>"When I am reflecting about an event, I am not concerned with how it affects me. I learn nothing at all about myself by knowing the concepts corresponding to the observed change in a pane of glass caused by a stone thrown against it. But I learn a great deal about my personality when I know the feeling that an event arouses in me." TPOF 3.2</em></p>
<p>Our feeling reactions merely tell us about our own personality. To learn about the world or other people or even to learn about our own feeling reactions requires that we think.</p>
<p><strong>Woke Projection</strong></p>
<p>Chapter 4 is a study of the perception process. We learn about Perception Bias and how the perceived world can merely be a psychological projection. To advance we must continually correct our world-pictures.</p>
<p>Critical Social Justice holds onto a single world-picture of oppression and racism. When you become "Woke" you are able to see a world full of injustice. Seeing injustice everywhere is simply a Woke projection inserted between the real world and the contemplating mind.</p>
<p><strong>Social Construction Of Truth</strong></p>
<p>Chapter 5 is called Knowing The World. We advance from Perception Bias to an awakened state of thinking. Knowing the world requires developing true judgment.</p>
<p><em>"If I wish to say anything about [life], I can do so only with the help of thinking... If my thought does not apply to the world, then my result is false. Between a perception and every kind of judgment about it there intervenes thinking." TPOF 5.2</em></p>
<p>Critical Social Justice rejects the idea that knowledge gives us truths about reality. Instead it believes knowledge is a social construction that is only true relative to a particular culture. All truth is merely subjective and relative.</p>
<p>Truth is not something to be discovered. Truth is to be established by controlling a narrative. Censorship and cancel culture are tools to establish truth by controlling the social narrative. This social justice view is proven false by the fact that universal truths are discovered that all cultures will embrace. This is what makes science international.</p>
<p><strong>Absurd Ideas</strong></p>
<p>We know the world by discovering the concepts that are inseparably connected with the observed event. The concept parabola is indivisibly bound up with the flight of a ball. The concept explains a thing and makes it understandable.</p>
<p>In Chapter 6, Human Individuality, the conceptual knowledge that grasps the world is individualized into a Reality-Based idea. Good ideas are Reality-Based. Bad ideas are not.</p>
<p>Critical Social Justice comes up with bad ideas because its narrow worldview blinds them to knowing the world. The result is absurd ideas such as abolish the police, abolish education, cultural appropriation and equity based on the belief that differences in group outcomes can only be explained by discrimination.</p>
<p><strong>Systems Of Oppression</strong></p>
<p>Chapter 7 asks whether their are limits to knowledge. It begins with a Hypothetically-Assumed World Principle and advances to a scientific view that seeks the natural laws that explain the observed world.</p>
<p><em>"Every kind of reality that is assumed to exist outside the realm of perception and conception must be assigned to the limbo of unverified hypotheses. It is not surprising that the Dualistic thinker is unable to find a connection between his hypothetically-assumed world principle and the facts given in experience." TPOF 7.1</em></p>
<p>Critical Social Justice is constructed on a Hypothetically-Assumed World Principle that everything —every action, every person, every institution, and every outcome— is based on race and power. Even though this Assumed World Principle does not match up with the facts you are not allowed to question it. This Assumed Principle sets insurmountable limits to our knowledge. The task is not the pursuit of truth, but to find stories that support the injustice narrative.</p>
<p><strong>Lived Experience</strong></p>
<p>In Chapter 8, The Factors Of Life, we learn about the error of using the Naive Knowledge of feeling and willing as the sole means of knowing reality. Critical Social Justice attempts to verify their assumption of Systems Of Oppression with "Lived Experience".</p>
<p>Lived Experience is not merely a report of personal life experience. It is experience that has been "interpreted" as an example of Oppression. You are not allowed to challenge a person's claim of Oppression.</p>
<p>The Philosophy Of Freedom realizes that Naive Experience is not science. Lived Experience needs the same evidential and analytical scrutiny as anything else for it to be taken seriously.</p>
<p><strong>Political Correctness</strong></p>
<p>In chapter 9, The Idea Of Freedom, we advance from social conformity to free community. Critical Social Justice attempts to build a new social order by demanding conformity to the rules of Political Correctness and Identity Politics.</p>
<p>Those who disobey are publicly shamed, censored or de-platformed. If you do not tweet the right tweet or share the right slogan your whole life can be ruined.</p>
<p><em>"The Moralist believes that a social community is possible only if all are united by a common moral order. He fails to see that the world of Ideas that inspires me is none other than the one inspiring my neighbor." TPOF 9.10"</em></p>
<p>The Philosophy Of Freedom advances from moral conformity to a social order based on free thinking and expression. Because we share the same world of universal ideals it is possible to build a free community based on a Harmony Of Intentions.</p>
<p><em>"If our source truly is the world of Ideas, and we do not obey any external impulses (physical or spiritual), then we can only meet in the same striving, in the same intentions." TPOF 9.10"</em></p>
<p><strong>Accusations Of Racism</strong></p>
<p>Chapter 10 discusses moral authority. We are free when we are the moral authority of our own life and obey our own ethical impulses. We are not free when we obey our animal instincts or the moral dictates of others.</p>
<p>To bring about change Critical Social Justice considers it each person's duty to call out another person's racist behavior. "It is not enough to be non-racist, you must be anti-racist” by correcting the behavior of others. If the accused person denies being a racist they are next accused of White Fragility.</p>
<p>Chapter 10 establishes a process for calling out another persons improper behavior. It requires the accuser to identify the specific person, policy or institutional practice that drove the person to act in an improper way.</p>
<p><em>"If someone claims that the action of another person is done unfreely, then he must identify the thing or the person or the institution within the perceptible world, that made this person act." TPOF 10.6"</em></p>
<p>It is not acceptable for the accuser to make general claims such as "all white people are racist" or "all institutions are systemically racist". It is not acceptable for the accuser to claim that another person is controlled by unknown unconscious motivations. If the cause that motivated the alleged racism can't be identified the accusation must be rejected.</p>
<p><em>"If the claimant bases his assertion upon motivating causes of action lying outside the real world that is accessible to the human being through his senses and intellect, then Monism must reject such an assertion." TPOF 10.6"</em></p>
<p><strong>Disadvantage And Privilege</strong></p>
<p>Critical social justice sees each person's destiny set at birth according to privilege or disadvantage. People of color will have less successful outcomes than white people who have a much greater chance of success because of privilege.</p>
<p>We advance from this view in Chapter 11 Life Purpose by realizing that our life is not set on a fixed route. We chose our own destiny at every moment.</p>
<p><em>"What is one's task in life? Monism can only answer: The task he sets himself. I have no predestined mission in the world; it is at every moment the one I choose. I do not set out on life's journey confined to a fixed route." TPOF 11.7</em></p>
<p><strong>Anti-Racist Training</strong></p>
<p>In chapter 12, Moral Imagination, we learn about a free deed. We are free when we act on our own ideas and unfree when we act on ideas that someone else has implanted in our head.</p>
<p>Critical Social Justice is not only against actions, it is especially against impure thoughts. The Woke mob, tech giants, employers and the government act together as thought-police to control thought.</p>
<p>When accused of impure thought a person is expected to publicly confess their racism. Anti-Racist Training sessions may also include the public confession of racism. This practice is an attempt to enslave the human spirit.</p>
<p><em>"A community does not produce genuine slaves until its teachers regard themselves as advisers of conscience, and the believers must come to them (to the confessional) to receive the motives for their actions from them." TPOF 12.12</em></p>
<p>Anti-Racist Training in schools, businesses and other institutions enslave people when the trainers become advisers of conscious and implant their motives into the heads of the participants.</p>
<p><strong>Activism For Cultural Progress</strong></p>
<p>Critical Social Justice presents a Pessimistic view of the world in an attempt to motivate selfless activism for cultural progress. Instead, its followers develop anxiety disorders. Young people no longer want to bring children into a world filled with oppression, hate and environmental doom.</p>
<p>In chapter 13 The Value Of Life we advance from pessimism to the pleasure of striving for our individual goals. The Ethical Individualist is motivated by the driving force of the human spirit. It is not necessary to indoctrinate a person into a particular "cause" in order for them to do good works. Cultural progress depends on the all-around development of the human being who will then be a contributor to society.</p>
<p><em>"What is called 'the Good' is not what a person ought to do, but what he wants to do when he expresses his fully developed true human nature." TPOF 13.11</em></p>
<p><strong>Social Justice Studies</strong></p>
<p>In Chapter 14 Individuality And Type we learn how useless Social Justice degrees are for learning about actual people. You will learn nothing about an actual human being in a university Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies or Women's Studies program. Please don't hire them.</p>
<p><em>"The characteristics of race, ethnicity, nation and sex are the subjects of specific branches of study. Only a person who wishes to live as nothing more than an example of a type could possibly fit the general picture that emerges from this kind of academic study. None of these branches of study are able to reach the unique character of the single individual." TPOF 14.5</em></p>
<p>Today's Academic study of the human being merely produces a picture of a stereotype. You could call The Philosophy Of Freedom "Individuality Studies" where you will learn what to look for, how to know and how to become a unique individuality.</p>
<p>As we can clearly see the way of thinking and the moral order of Critical Social Justice Theory has little to offer other than a picture of the undeveloped state of human nature.</p>
<p>These are just a few examples. The Philosophy Of Freedom can be opened to any page and more examples can be found because Critical Social Justice Theory truly is the opposite of what Rudolf Steiner intended.</p>
<p>If you take the path to real freedom described in The Philosophy Of Freedom you will attain what you seek to achieve in life and much more and you will be the source of real cultural progress.</p>
<p><em>"Freedom is the only word which has a ring of immediate truth today… If, instead of such slogans as peace founded on justice, or peace imposed by force, people would only speak of peace based on freedom, then this word would echo round the world and kindle in the hearts of all a sense of security."</em><br />
<br />
<em>1918 From Symptom To Reality in Modern History Lecture VI: Brief Reflections on the Publication of the New Edition of 'The Philosophy of Freedom'</em></p></div>Conceptual World Of Idealshttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/conceptual-world-of-ideals2015-08-25T01:40:53.000Z2015-08-25T01:40:53.000ZTom Lasthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/00yzc179qgdki<div><p>An important concept in The Philosophy Of Freedom is the existence of a universal world of ideals. Mathematics shows that there is a universal conceptual world of ideals we can perceive within and a particularized world that expresses those ideals without. Because we gain knowledge in two ways, thinking and observation, we face a duality. But thinking reconciles the separation when it adds the conceptual ideal, such as circle, to a particularized circle in the world. It is easy to see this in mathematics, but this also applies to everything else.</p>
<p><iframe width="650" height="366" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nmXFf27ygb4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p></div>Top 5 Reasons To Study The Philosophy Of Freedomhttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/top-5-reasons-to-study-the-philosophy-of-freedom2015-08-13T00:10:13.000Z2015-08-13T00:10:13.000ZTom Lasthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/00yzc179qgdki<div><table border="0" style="width: px;">
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<p style="text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293846730?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293846730?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" /></a><span class="font-size-3">Top 5 Reasons To Study The Philosophy Of Freedom</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>1. It is Science</strong><br />
Rudolf Steiner's <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916" target="_self">Philosophy Of Freedom</a> is the result of introspective observation of the human mind following the methods of science. The subtitle is <span style="color: #000080;">“A Modern Philosophy Of Life Developed By Scientific Methods”</span>.</p>
<p>The Philosophy Of Freedom is not philosophy as such, but rather a description of Rudolf Steiner's experiences on the way to freedom. It does not give a definition of freedom that we merely memorize, but points to a place where freedom originates --the conceptual realm of universal concepts-- where free thinking, pure and unbiased, can be experienced.</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">“What I was really trying to do in The Philosophy of Freedom, was to locate freedom empirically, and thus put it on a solidly scientific basis.”</span></p>
<p><strong>2. It is Freedom</strong><br />
Steiner divides the question of freedom into free thinking and free morality. Intellectual freedom is achieved when we bridge the gap between our perception (the outer appearance of the world) and our conception (the inner working of the world) with knowledge.</p>
<p>Moral freedom is achieved when we bridge the gap between our perceptible unfree nature (built up by nature, society and religion) and the concept of free individuality (ethical individualism) through the course of one's development with the expression of our ideals in life. To become a free individuality we need to have a clear understanding of what free individuality is. <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916#10c" target="_blank">POF 9-11</a></p>
<p>True freedom is only achieved when knowledge and morality are united. (morality informed by knowledge) <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/lipson-translation-1995#c11" target="_blank">POF 10</a>-1918 Addition</p>
<p><strong>3. It is Thought Training</strong><br />
Incomprehensible!…. Baffles the experts!….. You’ll never finish it!….. It’s a tangle of thought!….<br />
These are the comments on the disappointing experience of readers when Rudolf Steiner first published The Philosophy of Freedom in 1894.</p>
<p>The book is intentionally composed in a certain way to broaden and deepen the readers thinking. Each chapter expresses a variety of views leaving the reader free to arrive at their own conclusions. It is independent thinking so we cannot rely on familiar terms and images but must instead make an effort to “intuitively” grasp the universal concepts pointed to by the words. This training in the realm of universal thought is the thought training required to attain freedom.</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">“The primary purpose of my book is to serve as thought training, training in the sense that the special way of both thinking and entertaining these thoughts is such as to bring the soul life of the reader into motion in somewhat the way that gymnasts exercise their limbs.”</span><br />
<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293848022?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293848022?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" /></a> <strong>4. It is Humanism</strong><br />
Rudolf Steiner's philosophy of life recognizes the <span style="color: #000080;">"human individual as the source of all morality and the center of all life"</span> POF <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916#10c" target="_blank">9.12</a> and that <span style="color: #000080;">“if we all really draw from the world of ideas, and do not follow physical or spiritual impulses”</span> we find that we all share the same ideals and can get along within a harmony of intentions. <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916#10c" target="_blank">POF 9.10</a></p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">“A personal God is nothing but a human being transplanted into a Beyond.”</span><br />
POF The Consequences Of Monism</p>
<p><strong>5. It is not Anthroposophy</strong><br />
The Philosophy Of Freedom is independent of the speculations of Anthroposophy. It is a Science Of Mind that is verifiable to any normal person who can recall their thinking processes and think about thinking. Anthroposophy is different. It is a Science Of Spirit that requires extremely rare clairvoyant thinking capacities to verify its findings.</p>
<p>Near the end of his life, Steiner suggested that The Philosophy of Freedom would outlive all his other works. It stands on its own completely independent of his later spiritual research and organizations,</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">“You will find nothing at all in The Philosophy of Freedom that is derived from clairvoyant communications of spiritual science.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">“this book occupies a position completely independent of my writings on actual spiritual scientific matters... What I have said in this book may be acceptable even to some who, for reasons of their own, refuse to have anything to do with the results of my researches into the spiritual realm.”</span> POF, 1918 Preface to the Revised Edition</p>
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</div>Pop-Up Steiner, See The New Study Guidehttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/pop-up-steiner2015-07-31T15:32:30.000Z2015-07-31T15:32:30.000Zwatsup?https://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/watsup<div><p>See New <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/page/course-objective" target="_self">Study Guide</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293847779?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293847779?profile=original" width="450" class="align-full" /></a></p>
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</div>Why is The Philosophy Of Freedom Steiner's Most Important Work?https://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/why-is-the-philosophy-of-freedom-steiners-most-important-work2015-07-18T06:40:32.000Z2015-07-18T06:40:32.000ZTom Lasthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/00yzc179qgdki<div><table border="0">
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293858693?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293858693?profile=original" width="250" class="align-left" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Steiner's most important work</strong><br />
The Wilson translation of The Philosophy Of Freedom is being published by Wilder Publications (SMK Books). The interesting thing is the ebook image cover, which says in bold type, “STEINER'S MOST IMPORTANT WORK”.</p>
<p>I think this website can take some credit for the bold text pronouncement as we have been broadcasting this message since 2005. Before that, the standard repeated message was that <em>The Philosophy Of Freedom</em> was one of 4 basic books of Anthroposophy that also included <em>Theosophy</em>, <em>Knowledge Of The Higher Worlds</em>, and <em>Occult Science</em>.</p>
<p>Wilder Publications is a rogue publisher that is not controlled or associated with Anthroposophy. For them to proclaim The Philosophy Of Freedom to be "Steiner's most important work" means that this has become part of main stream public knowledge established outside of the PR outlets of Anthroposophy. Mission accomplished!</p>
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<p><strong>Why is it Steiner's most important work?</strong><br />
The next point that needs to enter the public domain is why it is Steiner's most important work? Anthroposophy's talking points always direct the attention away from the freedom philosophy, and directs it toward Steiner's later clairvoyant spiritual science, Anthroposophy. Whenever the philosophy is mentioned the talking point is,</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">"The Philosophy of Freedom forms the philosophical basis for his later writings."</span> (later writings are Anthroposophy) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner#Spiritual_research" target="_blank">wiki link</a></p>
<p>This statement is the death of any interest in The Philosophy Of Freedom. Nobody wants to read an abstract philosophy that gives you nothing other than philosophical support for something else.</p>
<p>The title was even changed to <em>Intuitive Thinking As A Spiritual Path</em> to make it sound more spiritualistic.</p>
<p><strong><br />
It is about science, ethics and how to change the world</strong><br />
If you read the book you find that it is about science, attaining certainty in knowledge rather than belief in doctrines, groups or spiritual leaders. It is about ethical individualism and how to change the world. It is not abstract philosophy but gives descriptions of cognitive processes and life experiences that lead one to free thinking and free action. Rather than being told what to think by an organization, it shows how to stand on your own feet and think for yourself.</p>
<p>The Philosophy Of Freedom is written in an individualist anarchist mood that emphasizes the individual and their will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. This is obvious in the original first chapter, <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916#c1" target="_self">"The Goal Of Knowledge"</a> that Steiner considered the preface. Is this why any institution or leadership would surely have little interest in this book?</p>
<p><strong><br />
Its not about clairvoyance</strong><br />
There is nothing to be found in it to directly support the clairvoyant ability to perceive spiritual worlds, and certainly nothing to support the content of Anthroposophy. You can make a stretch by calling the intuition commonly involved in acquiring knowledge "clairvoyance".</p>
<p>The link that is commonly made to relate it to Anthroposophy is the recognition of a non-physical universal world of ideas that could open the possibility of some kind of higher knowledge. This is true. True, just as the discovery of quantum randomness opens the possibility of free will. My point is that its support of Anthroposophy is not why The Philosophy Of Freedom is Steiner's most important work.</p>
<p><strong><br />
It is a philosophy of life</strong><br />
Most people (99.999%?) will never have an interest in understanding the philosophical basis of Anthroposophy, but each of us have a life and we want a better world. In 1918, while immersed in Anthroposophy, Steiner gives the intended purpose,</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">"The purpose of The Philosophy Of Freedom is to lay the foundations of ethical individualism and of a social and political life." <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/page/rudolf-steiner-reflections-on-the-publication-of-the-new-edition" target="_self">link</a></span></p>
<p>This is the point that this website (philosophyoffreedom.com) will be declaring to the world until it becomes part of the public domain of knowledge. This is something that will bring The Philosophy Of Freedom the interest it deserves.</p>
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</div>Rudolf Steiner Is Not Our Master, We Are Fellow Scientistshttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/rudolf-steiner-is-not-our-master-we-are-equal-as-scientists2015-07-08T23:18:34.000Z2015-07-08T23:18:34.000ZTom Lasthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/00yzc179qgdki<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293859242?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293859242?profile=original" width="600" class="align-full" /></a></p>
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<p><em>The Philosophy Of Freedom</em> is the result of applying the methods of science to introspection observation. For us Rudolf Steiner is not some mystical clairvoyant master with psychic powers authoritatively handing down deep truths we can only accept on faith. For us who study <em>The Philosophy Of Freedom</em> he is a fellow scientist of the mind who describes inner experiences that are within our capacity to recognize. <em>The Philosophy Of Freedom</em> is written for us, normal people with normal abilities. It is not even really a philosophy book, philosophy is merely used by Steiner to describe human experience. </p>
<p>We have the level of competence to evaluate what he called a science of freedom as peers when we turn within to observe our thoughts, feelings and willing. A "science" of freedom requires peer review. That is something we can do. You can see how you are qualified to be a peer of Rudolf Steiner by going to the "<a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/page/observation-exercises" target="_blank">Thought Exercises</a>" page where you will find over 70 exercises related to the descriptions found in <em>The Philosophy Of Freedom</em>. </p>
<p>Here is a new exercise that has been added called "An Exploration Of Motives" by Tim Nadelle. You can see it is not hard to create your own exercises if you want to fully experience what is being discussed in the book. </p>
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<p><span style="color: #993300;"><strong><span class="font-size-6">An Exploration of Motives</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">The following exercise and its sequel were inspired by the content of the first chapter of the Philosophy of Freedom. Pertinent quotes from chapter one are as follows:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="color: #000080;" class="font-size-3">“If there is a difference between a conscious motive of action and an unconscious urge, then the conscious motive will result in an action which must be judged differently from one that springs from blind impulse. Hence our first question will concern this difference, and on the result of this enquiry will depend what attitude we shall have to take towards the question of freedom proper.”</span> <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916#c2" target="_self">POF 1.5</a></p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;" class="font-size-3">“The question is not whether I can carry out a decision once made, but how the decision comes about within me.” <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916#c2" target="_self">POF 1.7</a></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong><span class="font-size-4">An Exploration of Motives</span></strong></span><br />
<span class="font-size-4" style="color: #800080;">1. Look into your recent past and identify two different actions which you took…</span><br />
<span class="font-size-4" style="color: #800080;">- one which resulted more from impulse</span><br />
<span class="font-size-4" style="color: #800080;">- one in which you were, to a greater extent, conscious of the motive for your action</span><br />
<span class="font-size-4" style="color: #800080;">2. In each case, how did the decision to act unfold within you?</span><br />
<span class="font-size-4" style="color: #800080;">3. How did the character of the motive behind the two actions differ?</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #800080;" class="font-size-4">Sequel:</span></strong><br />
<span style="color: #800080;" class="font-size-4">Over the course of the day, make an effort to become aware at times when you are about to take action arising from an unexamined motive. Pause before acting and recognize the motive. Consider whether a different motive might more appropriately meet the needs of the situation.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">By Tim Nadelle</span><br />
<span class="font-size-3">http://www.philosophyfreedom.ca/</span></p>
</div>Freedom Diagramhttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/freedom-diagram2013-08-04T15:00:00.000Z2013-08-04T15:00:00.000ZTom Lasthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/00yzc179qgdki<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293849933?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293849933?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center" /></a></p>
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</div>Types of thinking discussed in Rudolf Steiner's Philosophy Of Freedomhttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/types-of-thinking-discussed-in-rudolf-steiner-s-philosophy-of-fre2013-07-14T18:30:00.000Z2013-07-14T18:30:00.000ZTom Lasthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/00yzc179qgdki<div><div style="margin-left: 20px;">
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<p>Here are names for the kinds of thinking discussed in the first 7 chapters in Rudolf Steiner's Philosophy Of Freedom. With every shift in the level of consciousness, what we call thinking undergoes a change. In chapter 1 a rational debate occurs about whether we are free or not. In chapter 7 various theories of cognition are discussed, then Monism is show to remove all the limitations of cognition making wholistic thinking possible.  </p>
<p>Chapter 1 Conscious Human Action<br />
RATIONAL THINKING Level of consciousness - will<br />
Rational debate is a discussion about what we should believe. Both sides give arguments for some belief and defend that belief from objections.</p>
<p>Chapter 2 Desire For Knowledge<br />
SPECULATIVE THINKING Level of consciousness - feel<br />
Speculative thinking expresses human curiosity about the world. It transcends experience, but the chapters one-sided views lack experience of the world or the inner connection.</p>
<p>Chapter 3 Thinking in Understanding The World<br />
REFLECTIVE THINKING -Level of consciousness - thought<br />
Reflective thinking is reflection on thinking itself, on the mind and its activities. It is based on contemplation and introspection.</p>
<p>Chapter 4 The World As Perception<br />
REACTIVE THINKING Level of consciousness - perception<br />
Thinking immediately reacts to our observation by adding a preconception, and we consider the object and the preconception as belonging together forming our world of first appearance.</p>
<p>Chapter 5 Knowing The World<br />
CRITICAL THINKING Level of consciousness - concept<br />
We refute our initial impression of the world with critical thinking to discover the concept that corresponds to our perception.</p>
<p>Chapter 6 Individuality<br />
INDEPENDENT THINKING Level of consciousness - mental picture<br />
Independent thinking individualizes the universal concept by forming mental pictures.</p>
<p>Chapter 7 Are There Limits To Cognition?<br />
WHOLISTIC THINKING Level of consciousness - cognition<br />
Wholistic thinking endeavors to remove the limits of cognition in order to integrate all the parts into a whole.</p>
<p> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293849548?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293849548?profile=original" width="644" class="align-full" /></a></p>
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