Philosophical Sources of Anthroposophy

* Article: Herbert Witzenmann’s Path to the Philosophical Sources of Anthroposophy. Part I. By Johannes Wagemann. RoSE (Research on Steiner Education), Volume 10 Number 2 pp. 20-28 Hosted at www.rosejourn.com

URL = pdf part 1; pdf part 2

Abstract

"This article is the written version of a lecture given in December 2017 at Alanus University as a contribution to the lecture series “The Philosophical Sources of Anthroposophy”. It pursues Herbert Witzenmann’s (1905-1988) struggle for the philosophical originality of Anthroposophy in the fields of tension and development of his biography and tries to show how this can be found in the relationship of individual appropriation movements to universal meaning structures. This core principle of Anthroposophy, described by Witzenmann himself as the basic structure, is outlined in exemplary aspects of his conscious development and his literary and artistic expression, especially in Witzenmann’s school and university education, his work in the family business, his commitment to the Anthroposophical society and his endeavour to make Anthroposophy connectable to academic forms of science. With his explanation of the double-sided, methodological and structural-logical source point of Anthroposophy, Witzenmann stands productively within Steiner’s unfinished work and at the same time points beyond its current manifestations – and encourages its further development"

Excerpt

Johannes Wagemann:

"In researching the philosophical sources of anthroposophy, it might seem strange at first glance to be speaking about an individual who was not a philosopher in the usual sense, and was neither a precursor nor a contemporary of Rudolf Steiner. This apparent confusion could, however, prompt us to turn the source metaphor around upon itself and inquire not only into the sources in the sense of external ‘origins’ in particular philosophers or schools of thought which ostensibly influenced Rudolf Steiner (genitivus objectivus), but into anthroposophy itself as a ‘spring’ feeding streams which took on philosophical and other forms (genitivus subjectivus). The question is whether, as various authors have suggested (Zander, 2007; Traub, 2011), Steiner’s anthroposophy can to any extent be regarded as simply the sum of its presumed parts; or whether as a whole it is more than the sum of all its verifiable points of reference within the history of philosophy – whether, in other words, it has a philosophical core of its own. Turning the metaphor around as suggested only makes sense in the latter case, for only from this perspective could anthroposophy been seen as having the requisite inherent potential to go beyond and further develop those philosophical territories staked out by Steiner’s precursors and contemporaries, and possibly even by Steiner himself. In the former case, simply providing a referenced account of its philosophical components would be sufficient to explain anthroposophy – rather like the contributions of Christianity, Plato and Aristotle to medieval scholasticism – and would rob it of any possibility of philosophical originality."

(http://rosejourn.com/index.php/rose/article/view/503/457)

More information

Wagemann, J. (2018). The Confluence of Perceiving and Thinking in Consciousness Phenomenology. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Art. 2313, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02313

Wagemann J., Edelhäuser, F., & Weger, U. (2018). Outer and Inner Dimensions of the Brain-Consciousness Relation – Refining and Integrating the Phenomenal Layers. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 14/4, S. 167-185, doi: 10.5709/acp-0248-2.

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