the goal of knowledge - Blog - The Philosophy Of Freedom Steiner2024-03-28T10:22:04Zhttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/feed/tag/the+goal+of+knowledge12 Worldviews Summary Of Preface ׀ Rudolf Steiner Philosophy Of Freedomhttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/12-worldviews-summary-of-preface-rudolf-steiner-philosophy-of-fre2022-02-16T19:24:31.000Z2022-02-16T19:24:31.000ZTom Lasthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/00yzc179qgdki<div><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qHxSqOeMLQ8" width="650" height="366" frameborder="0"></iframe></p></div>#2 A Chapter Was Removed From The Philosophy Of Freedom In 1918https://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/a-chapter-was-removed-from-the-philosophy-of-freedom-in-19182017-11-13T12:30:00.000Z2017-11-13T12:30:00.000ZTom Lasthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/00yzc179qgdki<div><table border="0" cellpadding="20" style="width: 750px;">
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<p><strong>Contents of the original 1894 Philosophy Of Freedom<br /></strong> <span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293861214?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="600" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293861214?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="600" class="align-full" /></a>In the original 1894 edition of The Philosophy Of Freedom the first chapter was entitled “The Goal Of knowledge.” The opening sentences began with an undeniable description of individualist anarchism; rejecting authority and supporting individuality. The first two paragraphs written in The Philosophy Of Freedom may be the most inspiring words ever written about individualist anarchism.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916#c1">http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916#c1</a></p>
<p><span style="color: #993300;">[1] I BELIEVE one of the fundamental characteristics of our age is that human interest centers in the cultus of individuality. An energetic effort is being made to shake off every kind of authority. Nothing is accepted as valid, unless it springs from the roots of individuality. Everything that hinders the individual from fully developing his powers is thrust aside.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">The saying ‘Each one of us must choose his hero in whose footsteps he toils up to Mount Olympus’ no longer holds true for us. We allow no ideals to be forced upon us. We are convinced that in each of us, if only we probe deep enough into the very heart of our being, there dwells something noble, something worthy of development. We no longer believe there is a norm of human life to which we must all strive to conform. We regard the perfection of the whole as depending on the unique perfection of each single individual. We do not want to do what anyone else can do equally well. No, our contribution to the development of the world, however trifling, must be something that, by reason of the uniqueness of our nature, we alone can offer. Never have artists been less concerned about rules and norms in art than today. Each one asserts the right to express, in the creations of his art, what is unique in him. Just as there are playwrights who write in slang rather than conform to the standard diction grammar demands.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">[2] No better expression for these phenomena can be found than this, they result from the individual’s striving towards freedom, developed to its highest pitch. We do not want to be dependent in any respect, and where dependence must be, we tolerate it only on condition it coincides with a vital interest of our individuality.”</span></p>
<p>Then the chapter shifts from the individualist anarchist’s striving in life to an individualist anarchist’s pursuit of truth in the depths of human nature. He rejects the authority of outer truth and only embraces the inner truth that arises from within the individual.</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">[3] Truth, too, will be sought in our age only in the depths of human nature… Truth that comes to us from outside always bears the stamp of uncertainty. Each one of us is only convinced of truth when he recognizes it within his own heart.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293860577?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293860577?profile=original" class="align-full" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #993300;"><strong>Anarchism Comes Under Attack And The Philosophy Of Freedom Is Revised</strong></span></p>
<p>Anarchist communists become violent and ruin the reputation of all anarchists. Steiner renounces the violence of anarchists, <span style="color: #000080;">“It belongs to the very first principles of individualist anarchism to battle against things of that kind.”</span> John Henry Mackay’s friends warn him that he is in danger. They urge him to make a statement against the “tactics of violence” so he is not thrown in with the revolutionary communists. As mentioned earlier Steiner’s magazine subscribers are canceling and they have begun to ban his articles because he socialized with anarchists. Mackay blames the press:</p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">"To be sure, there is a dirty press (it strangely prefers to call itself the decent press), which continues to falsify ever anew even established facts that have become a matter of history. But any battle against it is not only pointless but degrading. It lies because it wants to lie."</span></p>
<p>A few years later Steiner stopped publishing his magazine and joined the Theosophical Society which was peaking in popularity at that time. Copies of The Philosophy Of Freedom became scarce. Eventually a second edition was published twenty-five years later in 1918, after being revised.</p>
<p>The new edition  of The Philosophy Of Freedom was revised to remove the most obvious references to individualist anarchism. The opening two paragraphs describing the life of an individualist anarchistic was completely removed. The whole first chapter which explains how he is approaching the topic of freedom (in an individualist anarchist kind of way) is placed at the back of the book as an appendix.</p>
<p><strong>Preface to the first edition, 1894; revised, 1918<br /></strong> Steiner adds a note to the revised edition to tell us why he removed the original first chapter and placed it at the back of the book as an appendix:</p>
<p><span style="color: #333399;"><span class="font-size-4">“In the following is reproduced, in all essentials, what stood as a sort of “introduction” in the first edition of this book. Since it shows the 'mood of thought' out of which I wrote this book twenty-five years ago, rather than having any direct bearing on its contents, I include it here as an appendix.</span>”</span></p>
<p>The Philosophy Of Freedom is a result of independent thinking so it does not adhere to any existing “ism” such as anarchism. But there is clearly a “mood” of individualist anarchism throughout the book that indicates how he is approaching the topic of freedom.</p>
<p><span style="color: #333399;" class="font-size-4">“I do not want to omit it altogether, because the opinion keeps cropping up that I need to suppress some of my earlier writings on account of my later ones on spiritual science. Only the very first opening sentences of this argument (found in the first edition) have been altogether omitted here, because today they seem to me quite irrelevant."</span></p>
<p>The opening sentences had become irrelevant because interest in anarchism had ended because it was discredited by violence. It had become dangerous to call yourself an anarchist. To be accused of associating with “anarchists” in Steiner’s time was like being accused of associating with “terrorists” today.</p>
<p>Despite the need for Steiner to walk away from individualist anarchism 100 years ago, times have changed again. According to research done this year, interest in individualistic practises and values has been increasing the past several decades throughout the world. The Philosophy Of Freedom may have been ahead of its time. It has patiently waited for individualists who are striving toward freedom by shaking <span style="color: #000080;">"off every kind of authority"</span> and asserting <span style="color: #000080;">"the right to express what is unique in him."</span></p>
<p>Reference<br />
John Henry Mackay letter to Rudolf Steiner<br />
<a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/individualist-anarchism">http://philosophyoffreedom.com/individualist-anarchism</a><br />
Brief Reflections on the Publication of the New Edition of The Philosophy of Freedom<br />
<a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/page/rudolf-steiner-reflections-on-the-publication-of-the-new-edition">http://philosophyoffreedom.com/page/rudolf-steiner-reflections-on-the-publication-of-the-new-edition</a></p>
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</div>Shake Off Every Kind Of Authorityhttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/profiles/blog/shake-off-every-kind-of-authority-12015-07-02T04:14:09.000Z2015-07-02T04:14:09.000ZEthical Individualisthttps://philosophyoffreedom.com/members/theethicalindividualist<div><p>*The first chapter in the original <em>Philosophy Of Freedom</em> was entitled The Goal Of Knowledge. In 1918, in later editions it was removed as the first chapter and placed at the back of the book as an appendix.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293857554?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293857554?profile=original" class="align-full" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Shake off every kind of authority</strong><br />
Chapter 1, The Goal Of Knowledge (in the original 1894 edition* of Rudolf Steiner's <em>The Philosophy Of Freedom</em>) begins with these two sentences:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;">“I BELIEVE I am indicating correctly one of the fundamental characteristics of our age when I say that all human interests tend to center in the culture of human individuality. An energetic effort is being made to shake off every kind of authority."</span> <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/hoernle-translation-1916" target="_blank">POF 0.0</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The path to freedom begins with a struggle to be free of oppression,<em> an energetic effort to shake off every kind of authority.</em> While the Philosophy Of Freedom is considered a path to "inner" freedom, the long journey to inner freedom begins in the second sentence of Steiner's freedom philosophy, with the struggle for "outer" freedom. From the earliest age when a toddler first shouts “No!” to authority, the human being strives to be free.<br />
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The violent outer suppression of people disrupts the long path to inner freedom, that at a later stage of development can no longer be suppressed. The support of inner freedom of the mind involves also the support of the outer freedom of action to allow the space for personal development and individual expression. It is interesting to see that mainstream churches are joining in the struggle to end the oppression of the Palestinian people.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293858619?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3293858619?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full" /></a><br />
<strong>Will the churches end the oppression of the Palestinian people?</strong><br />
This week the United Church of Christ (UCC) voted by an overwhelming 80% majority to divest from companies profiting from the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and to boycott all Israeli settlement goods. Joining the UCC in showing support to end Palestinian oppression are the Presbyterian Church, World Council of Churches United Methodist Church, the Church of England synod. Other churches are considering joining the <a href="http://philosophyoffreedom.com/ethical-activism" target="_blank">Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions</a> (BDS) movement.</p>
<p>“In approving this resolution, the UCC has demonstrated its commitment to justice and equality,” said Rev. Mitri Raheb, a Christian Palestinian. “For Palestinians living under occupation or facing systematic discrimination as citizens of Israel, enduring the destruction of their homes and businesses, the theft of their land for settlements, and living under blockade and siege in Gaza, this action sends a strong signal that they are not alone, and that there are churches who still dare to speak truth to power and stand with the oppressed.”</p>
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