GA 322

From AnthroWiki

The Boundaries of Natural Science

Grenzen der Naturerkenntnis

Eight lectures at the First Anthroposophical University Course, Dornach 27 September to 3 October 1920.

These lectures give an account of the anthroposophical path of knowledge as it is particularly suited to the scientist. Thinking disciplined by natural science comes up against the limits of cognition, which to overcome requires an extension of the cognitive faculty to imagination and intuition. The paths to be followed in this process will be explained in detail in the course of the explanations.

„We must begin by acquiring the discipline that modern science can teach us. We must school ourselves in this way and then, taking the strict methodology, the scientific discipline we have learned from modern natural science, transcend it, so that we use the same exacting approach to rise into higher regions, thereby extending this methodology to the investigation of entirely different realms as well.“

If only sensory phenomena are within the reach of scientific research, the doors are closed to those worlds from which the human being originates and where the creative forces of the world are found. Rudolf Steiner challenges us to develop organs of perception needed to go beyond these limits of perception, so that we can witness the spirit that is active in all natural phenomena.

Literature

German

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.