(A more detailed description of concrete activities emerging from Anthroposophy can be found under the Wikipedia heading "Rudolf Steiner".) Based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner's 'spiritual science', Anthroposophy (based on Greek words meaning man-wisdom) is a philosophy (or, as some opponents claim, a religion) that was born within the setting of Helena Blavatsky's Theosophy movement (but not born OF Theosophy, as Steiner, as stated by himself, always stayed true to his own insights, even while being active within the Theosophy movement)(re: the 'Discusson' section of this article). Anthroposophy is not to be confounded with Anthropology.
The Anthroposophical Society was formed in 1912 after Steiner left the Theosophical Society Adyar over differences with its leader, Annie Besant, (she intended to present to the world the young Jiddu Krishnamurti as the reincarnated Messiah, which Steiner did not accept as truth.) He was followed by a large number of members of the Theosophical Society's German Section, of which he had been president. Anthroposophy differs from Theosophy in its practical focus, emphasis on developing artistic impulses, theoretical base in Western esoteric (rather than Hindu and Buddhist) thought, and positive view of Christ, which however is still very different from the standard Christian view.
Steiner defined Anthroposophy as "a path of knowledge, to guide the Spiritual in the human being to the Spiritual in the universe." It advocates that people are not mere observers separated sharply from the outer world. According to Steiner, reality only arises at the juncture between the spiritual and the physical—i.e. "where concept and percept meet". This bears no small resemblance to René Descartes's assertion that imagination was what unified mind and body into a full being.
Both views share a focus on discipline: The anthroposophist's aim is to become "more human" by becoming more conscious and deliberate about one's thoughts and deeds. One may reach higher levels of consciousness through meditation, observation and openness over a lifelong "quest". Steiner described and developed numerous exercises for the attainment of spiritual experience.
Anthroposophists view human beings as consisting of three intermingling members: the body, the soul and the spirit. This view is thoroughly outlined in Steiner's books Theosophy, and An Outline of Occult Science. (Compare to Gnosticism, which has a somewhat similar three-fold view and which influenced this view within Theosophy. However, for Gnosticism, Christ is often primarily a mystical experience, whereas for Steiner the Incarnation was also a historical reality.) The Epistemic basis for Anthroposophy is contained in the seminal work, The Philosophy of Freedom, as well as in his doctoral thesis, Truth and Science. These and several other early books by Steiner anticipated 20th century continental philosophy's gradual overcoming of Cartesian idealism and of Kantian subjectivism. Like Edmund Husserl and Ortega y Gasset, Steiner was profoundly influenced by the works of Franz Brentano and had read Wilhelm Dilthey in depth. Through Steiner's early epistemological and philosophical works, he became one of the first European philosophers to overcome the subject-object split that Descartes, classical physics, and various complex historical forces had impressed upon the human mind for several centuries.
Medical doctors in the Anthroposophy movement use, amongst others, homeopathy as a part of their medical practices. In addition, Steiner gave several series of lectures to physicians, and out of this grew a medical movement that now includes hundreds of European M.D.s as adherents, and that has its own hospitals and medical universities.
Other practical results of Anthroposophy include work in: Architecture (Goetheanum ), Bio-dynamic Farming, Childhood Education (Waldorf Schools), Alternative Medicine (Weleda), Philosophy (The "Philosophy of Freedom"), Eurythmy ("movement as visible speech and visible song"), and centres for helping the mentally-challenged (Camphill Villages).
Anthroposophy is not uncontroversial, however. Critics have termed it a cult with similarities to New Age movements. If it is a cult, however, it is one that strongly emphasizes individual freedom. Still, some critics maintain that anthroposophists tend to elevate Steiner's personal opinions, many of which are at odds with views generally held in orthodox religions, current science and the humanities, to the level of absolute truths. If there is a degree of truth to this criticism, most of the blame arguably belongs not to Steiner, but to his students. Steiner frequently asked his students to test everything he said, and on many occasions even begged them not to take anything he said on faith or authority.
Another critique asserts that some anthroposophists seem to distance their public activities from the possible inference that Anthroposophy is based on esoteric religious elements, tending to present themselves to the public as a non-sectarian academic philosophy. A difficulty in evaluating this criticism is that it arguably contains hidden bias because it ignores or begs a question anthroposophy sought to raise and answer: Is it possible for one's thinking to be both scientific and spiritually cognitive at once? Anthroposophy claims that it is possible. The aforementioned criticism, on the other hand, assumes that it is not, and therefore finds a contradiction between a claim of non-sectarianism and a foundation in non-physical or spiritual experience. The critics consider spiritual experience to be "religious" rather than cognitive. Such critics then read any reticence on the part of anthroposophists about their spiritual experiences and ideas as an effort to "hide" a spiritual basis for their various public activities, such as Waldorf schools.
External links
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/ Article: Rudolf Steiner introduced by Owen Barfield. (Barfield's writings were a significant influence on C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, neither of whom were anthroposophists. At the end of the article, Barfield uses the Latin phrase, "homo imaginans et amans" which means "man imagining and loving".)
