Anthroposophy: A Fragment

Description

“This remarkable work by Rudolf Steiner concerns the human senses, the life processes, and the forming of the human body; and it provides a basis for an anthroposophical understanding of the human being. It is also an indispensable foundation for the development of a spiritual psychology that adheres to an anthroposophical mode of thought. Rudolf Steiner himself indicated that the study of the human soul follows from an examination of the senses, and from there it is necessary to move to a study of the human spirit.” ―Robert Sardello (foreword)

This written attempt to create a spiritual anthropology was found among Rudolf Steiner’s unpublished works after his death.

Although fragmentary, this key work on “Anthroposophy” is of enormous interest and importance. It is work whose time has finally arrived. Here are the first steps toward the development of a true psychology of spirit, using a phenomenological approach to the human senses, the life processes, the “I”-experience, the human form, and the human relationship to higher spiritual worlds. Steiner struggled to express the concepts related in this book, since many of the terms used in neurology, psychology, and cognitive studies did not yet exist in 1910. Since then there has been much progress, and this translation benefits from more than eighty years of development in the study of the human senses, cognition, and, neurology.

Steiner’s Anthroposophy lies halfway between anthropology and theosophy, serving as a means to study the whole human being. By contrast, anthropology studies the human being with the physical senses and an empirical scientific method, while theosophy recognizes the spiritual nature of the human being based on inner experience and attempts to understand human nature in the realm of spirit.

Anthroposophy takes the middle way, studying human beings as presented to physical observation, while also trying to derive indications of the spiritual foundations of phenomena through a process of “phenomenological intensification.” The results of such “intensification” are vitally important and constitute the first steps toward a truly cognitive psychology.

This volume includes an introduction by neurologist Dr. James Dyson, an anthroposophic doctor; a foreword by Robert Sardello, co-founder and co-director of The School of Spiritual Psychology; and a translator’s preface by Detlef Hardorp.

This is not an easy text, but Anthroposophy (A Fragment) is essential for understanding Steiner’s view of the human body―especially its formation and function in relation to spirit.

Anthroposophy (A Fragment) is a translation from German of Anthroposophie: Ein Fragment aus dem Jahre 1910 (GA 45).

Product Details
ISBN: 9780880104012
Paperback. 224 pages
Publisher: Steiner Press, Published: April 1, 1996
Size: 5 x 0.5 x 8 inches, Weight: 0.60

Author –     Rudolf Steiner
(1861 – 1925)

Born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner’s multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.

Robert Sardello, PhD, is cofounder (with Cheryl Sanders-Sardello, PhD, in 1992) of the School of Spiritual Psychology. At the University of Dallas, he served as chair of the Department of Psychology, head of the Institute of Philosophic Studies, and graduate dean. He is also cofounder and a faculty member of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, as well as author of more than 200 articles in scholarly journals and cultural publications, and is a former faculty member of the Chalice of Repose Project in Missoula, Montana. Having developed spiritual psychology based in archetypal psychology, phenomenology, and the spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner from more than thirty-five years of research in this discipline, as well as holding positions in two universities, Dr. Sardello is now an independent teacher and scholar, teaching throughout the US, Canada, and the UK, as well as the Czech Republic, Philippines, and Australia. He is a consultant to many educational and cultural institutions and a dissertation adviser at numerous academic institutions. He is author of several books, including Facing the World with Soul (2003) and Love and the World (2001).

Dr. James A. Dyson, MRCS, LRCP, co-founded Park Attwood Clinic, an anthroposophic residential and out-patient medical facility, where he practiced as a physician from 1979 to 2003. He has also worked as medical advisor in many Steiner Waldorf Schools, Camphill Schools, and centers for social therapy. In addition to his medical diplomas, Dr. Dyson studied at the Institute of Psychosynthesis in London between 2003 and 2008 and holds a Master’s degree in Psychosynthesis Psychology from Middlesex University. He co-founded the Association for Anthroposophic Psychology in North America, where he teaches as a core faculty member.

Detlef Hardorp was born in 1955 in Germany. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton in mathematics, which he taught at Rudolf Steiner Schools in Hessen and Bavaria. He currently speaks on politics and education at Rudolf Steiner Schools in Berlin and Brandenburg.

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