Rudolf Steiner: Part 1 Philosophy Of Freedom

Added: May 25, 2008

From: freedomphilosophy

Duration: 6:35

http://www.philosophyoffreedom.com "The Philosophy Of Freedom" by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) Chapter 14 Individuality and Type The view that people are capable of free individuality seems to be contradicted by the facts. We appear as a member of a natural whole (race, ethnicity, nationality, family, and gender) and act within a whole(state, church, etc.). We show the general characteristics of the group to which we belong. Our actions are determined by the place we occupy within the group. In view of all this, is individuality still possible? Can we regard the individual as a self-contained whole if we emerge from one group and join another? Group Characteristics Of Individual All who belong to an ethnic group bear the characteristics determined by the nature of the group. Through this the physiognomy and behavior of the individual person takes on a quality common to the group. The ethnic group explains why something about the individual appears as it does. Group Qualities - A Medium For Individual Expression As members of one human race we free ourselves from typical group qualities. We develops qualities and activities of our own, whose source can be found only in ourselves. Common group characteristics serve only as a means or medium through which we express our own individual being. Individual Capacities And Inclinations We see too much of the general character of the others gender and too little of what is individual. A persons position within society should be determined by individual capacities and inclinations, rather than what is generally considered to be a gender's natural tasks and needs. Individual Decision What a person is capable of, according to their nature disposition, must be left to the individual to decide. People must be allowed to decide for themselves what is in accordance with their nature. Unique Content Of Individual Racial, ethnic, national, and gender characteristics are the subjects for academic study. Only people who wish to live merely as examples of a group type could fit the general picture derived from such academic study. None of these sciences are able to advance to the unique content of the self-determined individual. Individual Conceptual Content The conceptual content of ones thinking cannot be fixed once and for all and handed down in finished form to humanity. Individuals must gain their concepts through their own individual intuition. Individual Goals It is not possible to determine from ones group characteristics what concrete aims the individual may choose to set themselves. To understand the individual we must find our way into their own particular being and not stop short at typical characteristics. In this sense every single human being is a separate problem. Knowledge Of An Individual We can only 'know' an individual when they tell us their way of viewing the world and by the knowledge we get from the wishes and intentions of an individuals acts of will. Freedom Of Knowing To understand a free individual we must take in those concepts by which the individuality defines itself. People who immediately mix their own concepts into every judgment of others, can never understand an individuality. Freedom From Group Characteristics Only to the degree that a person gradually frees itself from the common urges of animal life and the controlling decrees of human authorities can it be said they are a free spirit within a community. Individual Ethical Conduct That part of our nature unable to achieve freedom lives by copying others or by obeying their commands. Only that part of our conduct that springs from our 'intuitions' has ethical value in the true sense. Individual Ethical Intuitions It is from individual ethical intuitions and their acceptance by human communities that all moral activity of humankind originates. The moral life of humanity is the sum total of the ethical intuitions of free individuals. http://www.philosophyoffreedom.com rudolf steiner anthroposophy biodynamic waldorf school eurythmy goetheanum philosophy free will anthroposophic

Channel: Education

Tags: anthroposophic  anthroposophy  biodynamic  eurythmy  free  goetheanum  philosophy  rudolf  school  steiner  waldorf  will 

Rating: 4.75 (16 ratings)    Views: 3055' favoriteCount='25    Comments: 4

Edit banner_sidebar.html to put advertisement here.