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{{Anthroposophy}}

'''Anthroposophy''' is a [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritual]]<ref name="Staudenmaierthesis">{{Cite thesis |title=Between Occultism and Fascism: Anthroposophy and the Politics of Race and Nation in Germany and Italy, 1900–1945 |last=Staudenmaier |first=Peter |date=2010 |degree=PhD |publisher=Cornell University |url= https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/17662/Staudenmaier%2C%20Peter.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/17662/Staudenmaier%2C%20Peter.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |hdl=1813/17662 |oclc=743130298}}</ref> [[new religious movement]]<!-- see also: <ref name="Robertson 2021 p. 57"/><ref name="Gilmer 2021 p. 41"/><ref name="Layton 1980 p. "/><ref name="Quispel van Oort 2008 p. 1"/><ref name="Livak 2018 p. 58"/><ref name="Metzger Coogan 1993 p. 256"/><ref name="Diener Hipolito 2013 p. 77"/><ref name="Gardner"/><ref name="Eliade 1987 p. "/><ref name="Steiner Seddon Goodrick-Clarke 2004 p. 7"/> --><ref name="newreli">Sources for 'new religious movement':{{Bulleted list|{{cite book | first1=Alex | last1=Norman | editor-last1=Cusack | editor-first1=Carole M. | editor-last2=Norman | editor-first2=Alex | title=Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production | publisher=Brill | series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion | year=2012 | isbn=978-90-04-22187-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aRyJ-vbrJsC&pg=PA213 | access-date=1 January 2024 | page=213 | quote=[...] continue to have influence beyond the institutional reach of Anthropospophy, the new religious movement he founded.}}|{{cite book | first1=Liselotte | last1=Frisk | editor-last1=Cusack | editor-first1=Carole M. | editor-last2=Norman | editor-first2=Alex | title=Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production | publisher=Brill | series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion | year=2012 | isbn=978-90-04-22187-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aRyJ-vbrJsC&pg=PA204 | access-date=1 January 2024 | page=204 fn. 10, 208 | quote=Thus my conclusion is that it is quite uncontroversial to see Anthroposophy as a whole as a religious movement, in the conventional use of the term, although it is not an emic term used by Anthroposophists themselves.}}|{{cite book | first1=Carole M. | last1=Cusack | editor-last1=Cusack | editor-first1=Carole M. | editor-last2=Norman | editor-first2=Alex | title=Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production | publisher=Brill | series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion | year=2012 | isbn=978-90-04-22187-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aRyJ-vbrJsC&pg=PA190 | access-date=1 January 2024 | page=190 | quote=Steiner, of all esoteric and new religious teachers of the early twentieth century, was acutely aware of the peculiar value of cultural production, an activity with which he engaged with tireless energy, and considerable (amateur and professional) skill and achievement.}}|{{cite book | first1=Sælid | last1=Gilhus | editor-last1=Bogdan | editor-first1=Henrik | editor-last2=Hammer | editor-first2=Olav | title=Western Esotericism in Scandinavia | publisher=Brill | series=Brill Esotericism Reference Library | year=2016 | isbn=978-90-04-32596-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGpyDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 | access-date=6 February 2024 | page=56}}|{{cite journal | last=Ahlbäck | first=Tore | title=Rudolf Steiner as a religious authority | journal=Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis | volume=20 | date=2008-01-01 | issn=2343-4937 | doi=10.30674/scripta.67323 | page=| doi-access=free }}|{{cite journal | last=Toncheva | first=Svetoslava | title=Anthroposophy as religious syncretism | journal=SOTER: Journal of Religious Science | volume=48 | issue=48 | date=2013 | doi=10.7220/1392-7450.48(76).5 | pages=81–89| url=http://vddb.library.lt/fedora/get/LT-eLABa-0001:J.04~2013~ISSN_1392-7450.N_48_76.PG_81-89/DS.002.1.01.ARTIC }}|{{cite book | last=Toncheva | first=Svetoslava | title=Out of the New Spirituality of the Twentieth Century: The Dawn of Anthroposophy, the White Brotherhood and the Unified Teaching | publisher=Frank & Timme GmbH | publication-place=Berlin | year=2015 | isbn=978-3-7329-0132-6 | pages=13, 17 | issn=2196-3312 | url=https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9783732998463_A34278232/preview-9783732998463_A34278232.pdf}}|{{cite journal | last=Clemen | first=Carl | title=Anthroposophy | journal=The Journal of Religion | volume=4 | issue=3 | date=1924 | issn=0022-4189 | doi=10.1086/480431 | pages=281–292| s2cid=222446655 }}}}</ref> which was founded in the early 20th century by the [[Western esotericism|esotericist]] [[Rudolf Steiner]]<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/anthroposophy Anthroposophy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208022011/https://www.britannica.com/topic/anthroposophy |date=2021-02-08 }}, 1998?, Encyclopedia Britannica online. "Anthroposophy, philosophy based on the premise that the human mind has the ability to contact spiritual worlds. It was formulated by Rudolf Steiner (q.v.), an Austrian philosopher, scientist, and artist, who postulated the existence of a spiritual world comprehensible to pure thought but fully accessible only to the faculties of knowledge latent in all humans."</ref> thatwho postulatesdefined theAnthroposophy existenceas of"a anpath objectiveof knowledge, intellectuallyto comprehensibleguide the [[spirituality|spiritual]] world,in accessiblethe human being to humanthe spiritual in the experienceuniverse. Followers(Philosophy of anthroposophyFreedom, aimchapter to5). engage

Unlike inthe spiritualcritically-ideal discoveryviews throughof aphilosophers modesuch ofas thought[[Immanuel independentKant]], ofwhich sensoryregard experience.<refthoughts name="Essential">{{citestrictly bookas |last1=Steinermodels |first1=Rudolfand |editor1-last=McDermottrepresentations. |editor1-first=RobertAnthroposophists |title=Thepresent essentialtheir Steinerideas :under basicthe writingsjustification ofset Rudolfout Steinerin |date=1984the |location=SanEpistemological Franciscowork |publisher=Harper'Goethean &Science' Row|isbn=0-06-065345-0(GA1), |edition=1st}}</ref>{{rp|3&ndash;11where, 392&ndash;5}}<ref>Steiner characterizes the [http://library.eb.com/eb/article-9007798 "Anthroposophy"[spirituality|spiritual]], Encyclopædiaworld Britannicaas online,accessible accessedto 10/09/07</ref>human Thoughexperience proponentsthrough claimthe tofaculty presentof theirIntuition. ideasHe inadvocated aGoethe's mannerview that "thinking is.. verifiablean byorgan rationalof discourseperception and[like] saythe thateye theyor ear.. as the eye seekperceives precisioncolours and claritythe comparableear tosounds.. thatthinking obtainedperceives byideas." [[scientists]](Goethean investigatingScience, GA1).

Anthroposophy does not belong to the study of the physical worldsciences, manyany ofmore thesethan ideasPlato's haveMetaphysics beenshould termedbe [[pseudoscientific]]considered byPhysics experts— indoing so would be [[epistemologypseudoscientific]] and debunkers of pseudoscience.<ref>Sources for 'pseudoscience':{{Bulleted list|<!--{{harvnb|Staudenmaier|2008}}|{{harvnb|Staudenmaier|2010}}|{{harvnb|Dugan|2002|p=32}}|{{harvnb|Dugan|2007|pp=74–76}}|{{cite book |editor1-last=Clement |editor1-first=Christian |title=Schriften über Mystik, Mysterienwesen und Religionsgeschichte |date=2013 |publisher=Frommann-Holzboog |location=Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt |isbn=978-3-7728-2635-1 |page=xlii |language=de}}-->{{cite news |last1=McKie |first1=Robin |last2=Hartmann |first2=Laura |title=Holistic unit will 'tarnish' Aberdeen University reputation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/apr/29/holistic-unit-tarnish-aberdeen-university-reputation |access-date=1 October 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=28 April 2012 |language=en}}|{{harvnb|Gardner|1957|pp=169, 224f}}|{{cite book | last=Regal | first=Brian | chapter=Astral Projection | title=Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia: A Critical Encyclopedia | publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-313-35508-0 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c6PACQAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 | access-date=31 January 2022 | page=29 | quote=The Austrian philosopher and occultist Rudolf Steiner (1861 - 1925) claimed that, by astral projection, he could read the Akashic Record. ... Other than anecdotal eyewitness accounts, there is no evidence of the ability to astral project, the existence of other planes, or of the Akashic Record.}}|{{cite book | first=David H. | last=Gorski | editor-last1=Kaufman |editor-first1=Allison B. |editor-last2=Kaufman |editor-first2=James C. | title=Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science | publisher=MIT Press | year=2019 | isbn=978-0-262-53704-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLT4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA313 | access-date=31 January 2022 | page=313 | quote=To get an idea of what mystical nonsense anthroposophic medicine is, I like to quote straight from the horse's mouth, namely Physician's Association for Anthroposophic Medicine, in its pamphlet for patients:}}|{{cite book | last=Oppenheimer | first=Todd | title=The Flickering Mind: Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology | publisher=Random House Publishing Group | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-307-43221-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WrTQtLgxZeQC&pg=PA384 | access-date=31 January 2022 | page=384 | quote=In Dugan's view, Steiner's theories are simply "cult pseudoscience".}}|{{cite book | first=Michael | last=Ruse | editor-last1=Pigliucci | editor-first1=Massimo | editor-last2=Boudry | editor-first2=Maarten | title=Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=2013b | isbn=978-0-226-05182-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pc4OAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 | access-date=31 January 2022 | page=227 | quote=It is not so much that they have a persecution or martyr complex, but that they do revel in having esoteric knowledge unknown to or rejected by others, and they have the sorts of personalities that rather enjoy being on the fringe or outside. Followers of Rudolf Steiner's biodynamic agriculture are particularly prone to this syndrome. They just know they are right and get a big kick out of their opposition to genetically modified foods and so forth.}}|{{cite book | last=Mahner | first=Martin | editor-last1=Gabbay |editor-first1=Dov M. |editor-last2=Thagard |editor-first2=Paul |editor-last3=Woods |editor-first3=John |editor-last4=Kuipers |editor-first4=Theo A.F. | title=General Philosophy of Science: Focal Issues | publisher=Elsevier Science | series=Handbook of the Philosophy of Science | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-08-054854-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUMuFaXjNjEC&pg=PA548 | access-date=3 February 2022 | page=548 | quote=Examples of such fields are various forms of “alternative healing” such as shamanism, or esoteric world views like anthroposophy ... For this reason, we must suspect that the “alternative knowledge” produced in such fields is just as illusory as that of the standard pseudosciences.}}|{{cite book | last=Carlson | first=Maria | title=No Religion Higher Than Truth: A History of the Theosophical Movement in Russia, 1875-1922 | publisher=Princeton University Press | series=Princeton Legacy Library | year=2015 | orig-year=1993 | isbn=978-1-4008-7279-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jrl9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA136 | access-date=14 August 2024 | page=136 | quote=Both turned out to be "positivistic religions," offering a seemingly logical theology based on pseudoscience.}}|{{cite book | last=Pattberg | first=Thorsten J. | title=Shengren: Above Philosophy and Beyond Religion | publisher=LoD Press, New York | year=2012 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nbh_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA125 | access-date=15 August 2024 | page=125 | quote=Worse, he couldn't be a real ''philosopher'' either; his theosophy and anthroposophy and the Waldorf humanism in particular were considered pseudoscience or at best pedagogy, not a philosophical system. Steiner's credentials were not university-level professional work. [...] German mainstream scholarship called him an 'autodidact, with a poor teacher' and 'gypsy-intellectual.'{{sup|144}} Not uncommon for practitioners at the fringes of society, he was accused of class treason.}}|See also {{cite web | last=Hansson | first=Sven Ove | title=Science and Pseudo-Science | website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | date=20 May 2021 | orig-date=3 September 2008 | url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-science/ | access-date=15 August 2024 | issn=1095-5054}}}}</ref>. As the sub-title of Steiner's epistemology suggests, 'result of introspective observation, following the methods of natural science' — the subject is more of a psychological investigation of the human psyche. Because of this, Steiner did not call his work Natural Science, but qualified it as 'Spiritual'. Followers of anthroposophy aim to engage in spiritual discovery through a mode of thought independent of sensory experience.<ref name="Essential">{{cite book |last1=Steiner |first1=Rudolf |editor1-last=McDermott |editor1-first=Robert |title=The essential Steiner : basic writings of Rudolf Steiner |date=1984 |location=San Francisco |publisher=Harper & Row|isbn=0-06-065345-0 |edition=1st}}</ref>{{rp|3&ndash;11, 392&ndash;5}}<ref>[http://library.eb.com/eb/article-9007798 "Anthroposophy"], Encyclopædia Britannica online, accessed 10/09/07</ref>

Anthroposophy has its roots in [[German idealism]], Western and Eastern esoteric ideas, various religious traditions, and modern [[Theosophy]].<ref>Sources for 'Theosophy':{{Bulleted list|{{harvnb|Staudenmaier|2008}}|{{harvnb|Dugan|2002|p=32}}}}</ref> Steiner chose the term ''anthroposophy'' (from Greek ἄνθρωπος {{Lang|grc-latn|anthropos-}}, 'human', and ''σοφία [[Sophia (wisdom)|sophia]]'', 'wisdom') to emphasize his philosophy's [[humanist]]ic orientation.<ref name="Essential"/><ref>Rudolf Steiner, ''Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy'', Anthroposophic Press 1995 {{ISBN|0880103876}}</ref> He defined it as "a scientific exploration of the spiritual world",<ref>{{Cite book|last=Steiner |first=Rudolf|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNAOAAAAIAAJ&q=Philosophie+und+Anthroposophie,++Rudolf+Steiner|title=Philosophie und Anthroposophie: Gesammelte Aufsätze, 1904–1918|date=1965|publisher=Verlag der Rudolf Steiner-Nachlassverwaltung |language=de}}</ref> others have variously called it a "philosophy and cultural movement",<ref>{{Cite book |title=Handbook of new religions and cultural production|date=2012|publisher=BRILL |editor=Carole M. Cusack |editor2=Alex Norman |isbn=978-90-04-22648-7|location=Leiden |oclc=794328527}}</ref> a "spiritual movement",<ref>{{Cite book|last=Phillips|first=D. C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84StBAAAQBAJ&q=phillips+encyclopedia+of+educational+theory+and+philosophy|title=Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy|date=2014-05-19|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4833-6475-9 |pages=847|language=en|access-date=2021-04-10|archive-date=2021-06-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601024947/https://books.google.com/books?id=84StBAAAQBAJ&q=phillips+encyclopedia+of+educational+theory+and+philosophy|url-status=live}}</ref> a "spiritual science",<ref>{{Cite book|last=Steiner|first=Rudolf|title=What is anthroposophy?: three perspectives on self-knowledge|date=2002|publisher=Anthroposophic Press|others=Christopher Bamford|isbn=0-88010-506-2|location=Great Barrington, MA|oclc=49531507}}</ref> "a system of thought",<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Weiner|first1=Irving B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=be0VYic5iWwC&q=Corsini%20encyclopedia%20of%20psychology|title=The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, Volume 1|last2=Craighead|first2=W. Edward|date=2010-01-19|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-17025-0|pages=86|language=en|access-date=2021-04-10|archive-date=2021-06-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601024948/https://books.google.com/books?id=be0VYic5iWwC&q=Corsini+encyclopedia+of+psychology|url-status=live}}</ref> or "a spiritualist movement".<ref name="m378">{{cite journal | last1=Herzig van Wees | first1=Sibylle | last2=Ström | first2=Maria | title="Your child will have a bird brain!": Vaccination choices and stigma among vaccine enquirers in Sweden: A qualitative study | journal=Social Science & Medicine | volume=349 | date=2024 | doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116893 | page=116893| pmid=38663145 | doi-access=free }}</ref>