{"id":45284,"date":"2023-02-24T16:28:13","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T15:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/?p=45284"},"modified":"2023-02-24T16:32:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T15:32:52","slug":"steiners-doctoral-thesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/steiners-doctoral-thesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Steiners Doctoral Thesis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marginalia on Rudolf Steiner’s Life and Work 24. In Memory of Friedwart Husemann.<\/strong><\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A few months before moving to Weimar where he was to publish most of \u2039Goethes Naturwissenschaftlichen Schriften\u203a [Goethe’s Scientific Writings] as part of the first Goethe Complete Edition, Rudolf Steiner began exploring his possibilities for a doctorate. On the one hand, he probably wanted to catch up with his future archive colleagues, who all had doctorates. The head of the archives, Bernhard Suphan, naturally assumed that Steiner was a doctor too, and referred to him as \u2039doctor\u203a in his letters in 1889. On the other hand, he wanted to acquire an academic degree because this was a prerequisite for his long-term goal: a lectureship in philosophy. In Austria, there was no possibility for him in this regard: \u00abI had officially finished Realschule [Secondary Schooling till Grade 10] [\u2026] That ruled out doctoral studies in Austria. I had grown into \u2039philosophy\u203a but had an official course of education behind me, which excluded me from everything in which the study of philosophy places people.\u00bb<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Even his regular university studies at the Vienna University of Technology<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> didn\u2019t give him the basis in Austria to acquire the only academic degree that existed there at that time \u2013 the doctorate. It was reserved for university graduates who had attended previously the Gymnasium [Secondary School till Grade 12] and thus acquired knowledge of classical languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To obtain basic information on how and where a doctorate would be possible for him, Steiner turned to Bertrand Clais\u00e9 (1834\u20131923) in Breslau in May of 1890. Clais\u00e9 was kind of a \u2039doctoral mediator\u203a who had been offering \u00abPromotio in ab-et praesentia\u00bb in newspapers since the 1870s, which one could \u00abacquire in a simple way at European universities [\u2026] in accordance with the regulations.\u00bb In exchange for \u00absending in a Curriculum Vitae and a fee of 10 florin\u00bb candidates could receive \u00abinstruction, advice, aid\u00bb according to their personal circumstances.<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Steiner wrote to him in June 1890: \u00abI want to emphasize [\u2026] once again that for the time being it is only a question of the right to be allowed to use the title of doctor socially. Therefore, if you could get it for me in the spirit of your letter without examination, that would be worth it to me. I would then ask for your mediation again a little later to obtain the exam-based title. However, for the time being, as I said, the title is important to me.\u00bb<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Rudolf Steiner’s letter to the faculty, requesting admission to the doctorate, Source: from Rudolf Steiner’s doctoral file \u00a9 University Archive Rostock<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In the letters, it becomes clear that he wanted to get the title before his entry into Weimar if possible, but that he certainly wanted to earn it the traditional way, that is, based on examinations.<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> In the end, the decision was made in favor of Rostock as the place for his doctorate, on the one hand probably because of the moderate doctoral fees, but on the other hand also because Steiner was reading a \u00abphilosophical work\u00bb at that time that \u00abcaptivated him extraordinarily. The work \u2039Seven Books of Platonism\u203a by Heinrich v. Stein, who was teaching philosophy in Rostock at that time.\u00bb<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> As can be seen from von Stein’s friendly reply of November 15, 1890, Steiner had contacted him by letter. Even though von Stein had initially suggested to Steiner \u2013 based on his previous literary works \u2013 to consider \u00abwhether the forum of German language and literary history [\u2026] would be more favorable to you than the actual philosophical one,\u00bb<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> he still accepted him as his doctoral student. A glance at the list of dissertations of the University of Rostock in the Faculty of Philosophy shows that at that time, only very few philosophy doctorates were being completed there. In the five years I reviewed<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span> in the period of Steiner’s dissertation, I found only three other doctorates in philosophy under von Stein \u2013 the vast majority of dissertations were in chemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Beginn der handschriftlich verfertigten Promotionsabhandlung, Quelle: Aus der Promotionsakte Rudolf Steiners \u00a9 Universit\u00e4tsarchiv Rostock<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Prelude<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Steiner graduated from the middle school as the best of his class in 1879 and had achieved excellent grades in the individual examinations at the Technical University. <\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> If he had only been interested in the title \u2013 perhaps even with a predicate \u2013 he could have sought an unproblematic, for example, philosophical-historical topic. Instead, his dissertation was to become a \u2039prelude\u203a to his \u2039Philosophie der Freiheit\u203a [Philosophy of Freedom,] a step on his inner path of thought. Out of all this arose conditions that made the receipt of a predicate for the doctorate very unlikely from the outset:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. As with most of the other doctoral students, he had not studied at the University of Rostock \u2013 and he was not a \u2039Latin scholar,\u203a given that he hadn\u2019t graduated from a Gymnasium. He therefore needed a dispensation from \u00a7 1a of the doctoral regulations, \u00abof which, however,\u00bb said von Stein, \u00abI may well assume that the faculty will grant you the same. I judge so according to the overall impression of your literary activity so far.\u00bb<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> He shared these two conditions however with the vast majority of the Rostock doctoral students.<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
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  2. He was known as a \u00abliterary writer,\u00bb that is, as a public author and not a scientist. Therefore, von Stein emphasized: \u00abSince you still have to submit a special doctoral thesis, I would like to ask you to give it a rigorous scientific form, since we have been setting our requirements quite high for a long time, especially on this side. I understand this to mean a reasonably complete, outwardly prominent examination of the literature of the subject in question, precise citations, and methodical arguments. The writings kindly sent to me seem to pursue more a general literary point of view than \u2039guild\u203a (sit venia verbo)<\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span> science.\u00bb<\/span>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
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  3. He had a study in another field behind him \u2013 even if all his study subjects were still counted towards the philosophical faculty at that time. Thus, he had to reckon with being, as it were, more critically appraised from the outset than a man of the guild.
    <\/li>
  4. On essential issues, he turned against the then generally highly esteemed Kant. Von Stein writes: \u00abBut, for example, your dissent from Kant, which is now being explored so inexhaustibly again, and rightly so, as I believe, in principle, you would have to discuss even more rigorously than has been the case up to now.\u00bb<\/span>15<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Doctor of Philosophy and Liberal Arts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Precisely for this reason, or to check the knowledge of his candidate on this issue, Heinrich von Stein chose Kant as the main topic of the oral examination: \u00ab[\u2026] in philosophy, the basic concepts of Kant are discussed in detail, then more briefly those of Spinoza and Leibniz.\u00bb<\/span>16<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Steiner regretted this: \u00abI wanted so badly to be asked about something in the oral exam that had something to do with the \u2039Sieben B\u00fcchern Platonismus\u203a [Seven Books of Platonism]; but not one question referred to it; all were taken from Kant’s philosophy.\u00bb<\/span>17<\/sup><\/a><\/span> On August 28, 1891, von Stein gave his expert opinion on Steiner’s submitted paper \u2013 basically positive, but with minor objections, as was to be expected from a \u2039lateral entrant\u203a from the natural sciences: \u00abIn the work submitted to us, as in his earlier achievements, the applicant shows himself to be a man of literary dexterity, of good, if perhaps not necessarily complete orientation, of striving for independent and well-founded evaluation. I don’t want to subscribe to every judgment of it, but the basic tendency to get beyond one-sided subjectivism is only to be approved of, and the execution is appropriate, even if not always as new or convincing as the author himself seems to presuppose. I can recommend admission to the exam, even with the granting of a dispensation.\u00bb<\/span>18<\/sup><\/a><\/span> On October 23, 1891, at 6 p.m. Steiner took the oral exam in three subjects, which he chose himself from the twenty or so subjects available at the faculty. In addition to philosophy, he was also tested \u00abin mathematics: fundamentals of differential and integral calculus, the geometry of conic sections\u00bb and \u00abin analytical mechanics: theory of moments of inertia, of the motion of rigid bodies, of the principle of living force\u00bb \u2013 both by the mathematics professor Otto Staude (1857\u20131928). At the end of the minutes of the oral examination, it says: \u00abThe doctorate was decided unanimously, a predicate was not requested.\u00bb<\/span>19<\/sup><\/a><\/span> In the \u2039rules of procedure for the doctorate at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Rostock\u203a of March 18, 1891, it says under \u00a7 8: \u00abSpecial grades \u2039cum laude\u203a, \u2039magna cum laude\u203a, and \u2039summa cum laude\u203a are awarded for particularly outstanding achievement.\u00bb<\/span>20<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Grades could be requested by the supervisor \u2013 in this case von Stein \u2013 but he rarely did this apparently: in the four doctoral files in philosophy that I looked through in the Rostock University Archives, I only found one work for which he had applied for a grade (\u2039magna cum laude\u203a for Lothar Volz’s work.) However, this was the applicant’s second thesis submitted after the first had been rejected. The candidate had then enrolled in Rostock for two semesters, studied philosophy with von Stein, and written a new doctorate, probably supervised by von Stein.<\/span>21<\/sup><\/a><\/span> In the application of the Faculty of Philosophy to the Grand Ducal Ministry of Mecklenburg for permission to receive a doctorate from the faculty, it is therefore stated that: \u00abAfter the faculty has accepted the paper submitted as a dissertation, and an oral examination in philosophy, mathematics, and analytical mechanics has been held with the applicant today, which he passed satisfactorily, the Faculty of Philosophy respectfully requests the High Ministry to grant the procuration required for the doctorate to the undersigned dean.\u00bb<\/span>22<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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    Beginning of the handwritten doctoral treatise, Source: from Rudolf Steiner’s doctoral file \u00a9 University Archive Rostock<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    Even if it sounds here as if only the examination was graded, \u00abthe quality of the dissertation and the examination were actually taken into account in the affirmation.\u00bb<\/span>23<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Therefore, there was no predicate for Steiner’s dissertation, but it was certified that he had passed the dissertation \u2039satisfactorily\u203a, that is appropriately: \u00abAn excellent man and scholar, the Austrian Rudolf Steiner, submitted a dissertation which, after rigorous examination, he passed properly, entitles him to be a doctor of philosophy and liberal arts.\u00bb<\/span>24<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The diploma was awarded only after 150 copies of the dissertation had been printed. Steiner then had the work published under the title \u2039Truth and Science\u203a.\u00a0Prelude to a \u2039Philosophy of Freedom\u203a\u00a0\u2013 extended by a preface and a \u00abpractical final consideration,\u00bb in which he was able to emphasize even more clearly what concerned him when writing: \u00abThe most important problem of all human thinking is this: to understand man as a free personality founded on himself.\u00bb<\/span>25<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Translation<\/strong> Monika Werner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Marginalia on Rudolf Steiner’s Life and Work 24. In Memory of Friedwart Husemann. A few months before moving to Weimar where he was to publish most of \u2039Goethes Naturwissenschaftlichen Schriften\u203a [Goethe’s Scientific Writings] as part of the first Goethe Complete Edition, Rudolf Steiner began exploring his possibilities for a doctorate. On the one hand, he probably wanted to catch up with his future archive colleagues, who all had doctorates. The head of the archives, Bernhard Suphan, naturally assumed that Steiner was a doctor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9190,"featured_media":44195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8846,8793],"tags":[11289,8814],"class_list":["post-45284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-philosophy","tag-2023-3-4-en","tag-musings"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45284","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\/9190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}