{"id":44646,"date":"2023-02-10T12:03:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T11:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/?p=44646"},"modified":"2023-12-18T10:00:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T09:00:19","slug":"how-can-we-define-anthroposophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/how-can-we-define-anthroposophy\/","title":{"rendered":"How Can We Define Anthroposophy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2022, Beer Verlag reissued a work by Ignaz Troxler in which his aphoristic fragments are summarized under the title \u2039The Certainty of the Spirit\u203a. The book constitutes an essential document for work on the sources and fundamental concepts of anthroposophy. Moreover, it makes it possible to bring back to the fore the too often forgotten early anthroposophist<\/strong> \u2013 Ignaz Troxler.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Defining anthroposophy isn\u2019t easy. Ignaz Troxler (1780\u20131866) can be regarded as a key figure in this field of research. The Swiss physician and philosopher can rightly be described as an \u2039anthroposophist\u203a because he endeavoured to formulate the meaning and basis of anthroposophy. Even though we generally define Rudolf Steiner as the founder of anthroposophy, Troxler’s historical figure challenges this statement because he lived before Steiner. It seems appropriate not to forget Troxler and his work if one wants to return to the origins of anthroposophy. Rudolf Steiner also mentioned Troxler repeatedly and regretted that his name had fallen into oblivion. In 1916, he emphasized that the presence of anthroposophy on Swiss soil wasn\u2019t a novelty, as it was already present before the Goetheanum settled there, and that it was to be found precisely in Ignaz Troxler, who knew how to formulate \u00aba beautiful, glorious definition of anthroposophy.\u00bb<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Original Anthroposophy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When the origins of anthroposophy are spoken of, they are usually thought to refer first to the artists and thinkers of Goethe’s time, to natural philosophy and the German idealists. However, the word \u2039anthroposophy\u203a is not found in Goethe, nor in Novalis, Schiller, Hegel, Fichte, and only marginally in Schelling. The term appears in various 19th century thinkers, but it is in the work of Ignaz Troxler that the idea and the word \u2039anthroposophy\u203a really take effect. Troxler was a student of Hegel and Schelling and even became friends with the latter. He had the opportunity to assimilate all the fruits of Goethe’s time, and he designed, as it were, a synthesis of them, which he called \u2039anthroposophy\u203a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collection, newly published by Frieder Sprich at Beer-Verlag, contains numerous aphorisms by Ignaz Troxler, which had already been collected and arranged by Willi Aeppli for the 1958 edition published by Verlag Freies Geistesleben. The order has been somewhat rearranged, and the fragments have been provided with numerous comments. An overview of the individual chapters reveals a thematic landscape typical of anthroposophy, starting with \u2039cognition of knowledge\u203a, continuing with the \u2039nature of man\u203a and \u2039pedagogy\u203a, and ending with \u2039Christology\u203a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Thinking to Clairvoyance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of his approach, Troxler focuses his attention and meditations on the capacity to think. What is philosophizing? What is recognition? What is thought? This is the central question that has moved philosophers from Descartes through Kant to Hegel, Fichte, and Schelling, and that will later be found in Steiner, Husserl, and other philosophers to this day. First, it is a matter of recognizing this mental activity of human nature in all its potential: \u00abThinking as an independent and free process of cognition is something far more powerful and glorious than one usually imagines it.\u00bb However, thought, usually used in an industrial civilization to understand and reshape the external world, remains the invisible, unobserved element in human activity. The point, then, is to focus attention on the thinking subject, on the thinking process as such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troxler makes a discovery: \u00abThe essence of thinking leads to thinking about essence.\u00bb Within the activity of thinking, Troxler experiences an essence, that is, a spiritual reality grounded in itself. A force that is aware of itself and has its cause in itself. Through this act of empirical observation of thinking consciousness, he observes that a transformation occurs: The action of thinking begins to rise to a qualitatively higher level. A dimension of \u2039contemplation\u203a arises: \u00abMental perception is the supreme and innermost fact of complete self-consciousness \u2013 and there is as little proof of this as there is to whether a human being can have their freedom and unconditional self-determination proven to them.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troxler sees in this \u2039thinking about thinking\u203a not only the foundation for a spiritual outlook, but also – and this is crucial: it is the place where freedom is exercised. This is not a matter of theoretical speculation, but of experience, an experience of consciousness, an experimental field, even though the nature of this experience makes it impossible to provide any external proof of it. How could one not recognize here the central experience which Steiner formulates in his \u2039The Philosophy of Freedom\u203a: \u00abOne who observes thinking, lives during this observation directly within a self-supporting, spiritual web of being. Yes, one can say that whoever wants to grasp the essence of the spiritual in the form in which it first presents itself to humanity can do so in thinking based on itself.\u00bb<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troxler describes this spiritual consciousness, which is developed on the basis of autonomous thinking observing itself, as clairvoyance: \u00abHowever, this philosophy is based on a higher, inner consciousness. I would like to say, on a self-conscious, free clairvoyance [\u2026]\u00bb Therefore, it is a development of thinking that reaches the degree of \u2039contemplative thinking\u203a or \u2039clairvoyant thinking.\u203a<\/p>\n\n\n

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Karl Friedrich Sprich (Hg.), Gewissheit des Geistes [Certainty of the Spirit.] Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler. Fragmente und Aphorismen \u00fcber die verborgene Natur des Menschen [Fragments and Aphorisms about the Hidden Nature of Humanity.] Beer Verlag, 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Basic Elements of Anthroposophy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In contrast to older spiritual approaches, the spiritual perception described by Troxler doesn\u2019t contradict the ability to reason but develops based upon rational consciousness. It is this development of consciousness that Troxler will call \u2039anthroposophy\u203a. Not primarily a collection of specific ideas, not an ideology. To this end, he offers an astonishing and inspiring definition of those he calls \u2039anthroposophists\u203a: \u00abAnthroposophists are the philosophers of perception and knowledge.\u00bb Troxler even speaks of a new \u2039organ\u203a of knowledge: \u00abThe completion of philosophy in anthroposophy requires nothing less than an entirely new point of view above all reflection and speculation, a peculiar, higher organ of consciousness and knowledge.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cognitive activity of this new knowledge organ doesn\u2019t lead to a solidified, cold, or dogmatic knowledge: \u00abAnthroposophy has the character of a creative, invigorating, and animating principle.\u00bb Troxler certainly has a new spiritual-science in mind: \u00abBut the time will come \u2013 and it is near \u2013 when anthroposophy will explain the natural phenomenon of the spirit realm to the spirit in human beings, just as physics explains the rainbow to the face and the aeolian harp to the ear.\u00bb He also sees that this spiritual-science has the potential to comprehensively change the sciences and practical activities of human life: \u00abAnd the theologian and philosopher, the lawyer and politician, the physician and pedagogue will turn to this actual study of spiritual sources and draw from them guiding ideas and maxims. But for this very reason anthroposophy must also embrace all fields of these sciences and efficacies.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a matter of bringing human consciousness and the potential for the freedom it contains back into focus. The human being is neither only an externally determined physical being, nor only a completely free and autonomous spiritual being, our reality rather lies in the connection of these two elements: This is what anthroposophy points out and describes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human Nature<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In human beings, spirit and matter unite. Anthroposophy wants to explore the human being and thereby overcome this division. \u00abThe spirit immaterial and the body thought of as mere matter is the reason for all disunity and the decomposition of the human being into ghost and corpse, whereby all development and transformation are made impossible.\u00bb It is crucial to understand and perceive the interactions between body and mind. Troxler succeeds in distinguishing between several members of the being. Beyond \u2039body\u203a and \u2039spirit\u203a he sees the need to recognize a \u2039soul\u203a as well. However, he discovers this isn\u2019t enough: \u00abVegetable life or organic activity, which presents the formation of the whole body, can no more be explained by external mechanical or chemical natural forces than by the soul and its faculty.\u00bb Therefore, he must also distinguish the plant element, the actual living one, and he will call it a specific \u2039body\u203a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his meditative contemplation, Troxler thus arrives at that fourfold division of humans: flesh, body, soul, and spirit, which he calls the \u2039Tetractys\u203a. He points out however that another element must be added that ensures the unity of the whole. He describes this fifth element as the \u2039quintessence\u203a: \u00abHenceforth, I may speak only of physical, soul-body and spiritual life, and must accept as the quintessence or the being common to all this life, the divine-human unity, the pneuma-somatic and soma-pneumatic, the primordial foundation and consummation of human nature, which Jesus-Christ revealed bodily in his transfigurations and resurrection.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At various points, Steiner comments on these tetractys and Troxler’s view and connect them precisely with his own descriptions of the \u2039essence\u203a of human beings. Thus, it becomes clear how, based on spiritual empirical research, Troxler already arrives at basic concepts that make it possible to think organically about the connection between mind and body. He summarizes this in the sentence: \u00abSpirit is the cause, the primordial ground and primordial goal, the center is made the soul, the body is the tool and effect.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pedagogical Perspective<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Based on this path of knowledge which does justice to the full potential of human freedom, Troxler pays special attention to the pedagogical question. For him, the pedagogical concepts of his time are problematic: \u00abIn no area have more experiments been done than in the field of education. However, in hardly any subject have more errors been spread, grosser and more harmful mistakes made than in the pedagogical one. This was bound to happen, for as long as the essence of human nature was misunderstood, its conditions distorted, and the true destiny of humanity disregarded.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His anthroposophical perspective on human nature leads him to promote an education of the whole person: \u00abIf you want to educate the whole person, choose whole people as teachers.\u00bb In doing so, he outlines some ideas that we can clearly find in the principles of Waldorf education. He emphasizes that education should not be focused only on the head: \u00abConsider that knowledge which dwells only in the head, and not as knowledge in the heart, is deaf fruit.\u00bb He recognizes the peculiarity of the child’s consciousness and the necessity of not spoiling it too early: \u00abAll children are prophets and poets, and we disturb too early the free, pure natural course of development by reversing the direction of life and by working into it \u2013 it dreams, but certainly of a future world.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ignaz Paul Vital Troxlers von Fr. Buser. Engraving by J. Siebert, c. 1850. Austrian National Library, Public Domain Mark 1.0.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The goal is to educate free people who stand on a secure foundation within themselves: \u00abFormation of mind is as important as formation of spirit. But as little as the latter consists in the communication of true and false, equally little does the latter consist in the formation of good or evil. We must educate the mind to consciousness and self-knowledge, the soul to free activity and willpower \u2013 character formation \u2013 which is morally and legally good. To realize this is another matter \u2013 a matter of the spirit. However, to want, to be able, and to do this is a matter of the mind. The highest character is that of the enlightened self-thinker and the well-meaning, free-willed person.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Freedom of Spiritual Life<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Troxler’s reflections on pedagogy lead him to present some approaches to the social organism. Troxler also dealt with politics and contributed significantly to the development of the political structure of modern Switzerland.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> In his conception of the social organism, Troxler emphasizes the central importance of a free spiritual life. It is necessary, he said, to separate the school from church and state: \u00abAbove all, the school, like the church and the state and the home, a separate area with autonomy and independence \u2013 neither imperialist nor papist, and not state nor ecclesiastical, Catholic or Protestant.\u00bb He also regarded it as the greatest sacrilege \u00abwhen the secular or spiritual ruler presumes power or authority over the free development of the mind in education and school.\u00bb This applies not only to schools but also to higher education: \u00abThe universities are there neither for the states nor for the church.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And like Steiner, Troxler sees in this free spiritual life the potential for revitalizing all social life, because from such a free educational organization \u00abwill emanate the light and power that the promise of the spirit has to rejuvenate the world.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Creature to Creator<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Anthroposophy recognizes humanity\u2019s absolute potential for freedom and makes it possible to understand them no longer as a creature but as a creator. In contrast to the old view, which saw in the human being only the creature of a God standing outside them, and in contrast to the modern view, which sees in them only the result of external, material, or environmental causes, anthroposophy recognizes in the human being this active spiritual dimension, this \u2039archae\u203a (beginning,) this origin, which has its cause in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troxler describes how his philosophy (anthroposophy) leads to this creative dimension at the level of knowledge: \u00abNothing enlightens the philosopher’s intellectual outlook to which they aspire, like the imaginative or poetic representation, which emanates from the fantasy potentiated to creative genius.\u00bb Therefore, the forms of knowledge to which such an anthroposophical approach lead also have the character of imagination and poetry: \u00abThe actual philosophy of Sophia, revealed from within and without, is the mother of thinking and poetic poetry, germinating and taking root on sensuality and primordial imagination. Therefore, perception and knowledge (image and concept) lie united and undivided, in the first spiritual references, as in the oldest documents of the human race.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perspectives of a Christology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Due to its nature and logical and empirical development, anthroposophy leads to an understanding of Christ as a universal human experience. It is not a matter of an external influence of the divine on humanity, but of the autonomous and free expression of the spiritual made possible by this connection of material and spiritual existence in the human being: \u00abThe so-called supernatural is the higher inner nature of humanity, not an external, alien influence upon nature, not a mere influence of the divine upon the human, but the physical and metaphysical unity of both as revealed in and through Christ, and the image of God is and remains latent in all of humanity unless awakened by the homogeneous inspiration of the God-human.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Christology doesn\u2019t spring from faith but from an activity of knowledge that can see a unique moment in the evolution of humanity: \u00abThe divine is innate to us, but could only be revealed and become effective through the influence of a God-Man. This is He alone. But just as all things have a divine reason, human beings have a divine spark within them, which lies dormant in their latent supernature.\u00bb A view that foreshadows how the Christ event forms the universal basis for humanity’s potential for freedom \u2013 the moment when the creature can become the creator, in which the divine principle (archae) appears within humans. \u00abThe doctrine of Christ reverses everything,\u00bb Troxler writes. We can initially perceive here how an anthroposophical approach opens not only a new insight into the human being, but also an insight into the spiritual development of humanity and cosmology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Definition?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As we\u2019ve skimmed through this collection of aphorisms, we\u2019ve tried to show how inspiring the study of Troxler as a historical personality and as an anthroposophist can be. The force of this which emerges in these fragments can be very helpful in grasping more precisely the core concepts of the anthroposophical approach. They can also help to better understand the extremely simple definition that Rudolf Steiner gave to the Oxford dictionary: \u00abAnthroposophy is a knowledge produced by the Higher Self in man.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Translation <\/strong>Monika Werner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book<\/strong> Karl Friedrich Sprich (Hg.), Gewissheit des Geistes [Certainty of the Spirit.] Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler. Fragmente und Aphorismen \u00fcber die verborgene Natur des Menschen [Fragments and Aphorisms about the Hidden Nature of Humanity.] Beer Verlag, 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2022, Beer Verlag reissued a work by Ignaz Troxler in which his aphoristic fragments are summarized under the title \u2039The Certainty of the Spirit\u203a. The book constitutes an essential document for work on the sources and fundamental concepts of anthroposophy. Moreover, it makes it possible to bring back to the fore the too often forgotten early anthroposophist \u2013 Ignaz Troxler. Defining anthroposophy isn\u2019t easy. Ignaz Troxler (1780\u20131866) can be regarded as a key figure in this field of research. The Swiss […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17570,"featured_media":43930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9183,8813],"tags":[11287,8798],"class_list":["post-44646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-anthroposophy","category-retrospective","tag-2023-1-2-en","tag-deepening"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17570"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}