Editing Rudolf Steiner (section)

=== Goethean science <!--linked from 'Goethean science'-->===
{{See also|Goethean science}}
In his commentaries on Goethe's scientific works, written between 1884 and 1897, Steiner presented Goethe's approach to science as essentially [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenological]] in nature, rather than theory or model-based. He developed this conception further in several books, ''The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World-Conception'' (1886) and ''Goethe's Conception of the World'' (1897), particularly emphasizing the transformation in Goethe's approach from the physical sciences, where experiment played the primary role, to plant biology, where both accurate perception and imagination were required to find the biological archetypes (''Urpflanze''). He postulated that Goethe had sought, but been unable to fully find, the further transformation in scientific thinking necessary to properly interpret and understand the animal kingdom.<ref name="Hemleben">Johannes Hemleben, ''Rudolf Steiner: A documentary biography'', Henry Goulden Ltd, 1975, {{ISBN|0-904822-02-8}}, pp. 37–49 and pp. 96–100 (German edition: Rowohlt Verlag, 1990, {{ISBN|3-499-50079-5}})</ref> Steiner emphasized the role of evolutionary thinking in Goethe's discovery of the [[intermaxillary segment|intermaxillary bone]] in human beings; Goethe expected human anatomy to be an evolutionary transformation of animal anatomy.<ref name=Hemleben/> Steiner defended [[Goethe's theory of color|Goethe's qualitative description of color]] as arising synthetically from the polarity of light and darkness, in contrast to [[Isaac Newton|Newton]]'s particle-based and analytic conception.

{{blockquote|Particular organic forms can be evolved only from universal types, and every organic entity we experience must coincide with some one of these derivative forms of the type. Here the evolutionary method must replace the method of proof. We aim not to show that external conditions act upon one another in a certain way and thereby bring about a definite result, but that a particular form has developed under definite external conditions out of the type. This is the radical difference between inorganic and organic science.|author=Rudolf Steiner|source=''The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World Conception'', Chapter XVI, "Organic Nature"}}

{{blockquote|1=As noted by Hammer, this means that anthroposophy harbors extensive empirical claims on "the most diverse subjects: matters normally defined as belonging to the domain of science, yet made immune to scientific critique because of Steiner’s radical dichotomy—agronomy, chemistry, pharmacology, physiology, anatomy, developmental psychology, astronomy, physics etc." (Hammer 2004, 227).|2={{harvnb|Hansson|2022}}}}

A variety of authors have termed Goethean science [[pseudoscience]].<ref name="Storr-Einstein" /><ref name="FlynnDawkins2007">{{Cite book |last=Dugan |first=Dan |url=http://www.waldorfcritics.org/articles/Anthroposophy.html |title=The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief |publisher=Prometheus Books, Publishers |year=2007 |isbn=9781615922802 |editor-last=Flynn |editor-first=Tom |pages=74–75 |quote=Anthroposophical pseudoscience is easy to find in Waldorf schools. “Goethean science” is supposed to be based only on observation, without “dogmatic” theory. Because observations make no sense without a relationship to some hypothesis, students are subtly nudged in the direction of Steiner’s explanations of the world. Typical departures from accepted science include the claim that Goethe refuted Newton’s theory of color, Steiner’s unique “threefold” systems in physiology, and the oft-repeated doctrine that “the heart is not a pump” (blood is said to move itself). |editor-last2=Dawkins |editor-first2=Richard |accessdate=21 June 2015}}</ref><ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32">{{Cite book |last=Dugan |first=Dan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC&pg=PA32 |title=The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-57607-653-8 |editor-last=Shermer |editor-first=Michael |pages=31–33 |quote=In physics, Steiner championed Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s color theory over Isaac Newton, and he called relativity “brilliant nonsense.” In astronomy, he taught that the motions of the planets were caused by the relationships of the spiritual beings that inhabited them. In biology, he preached vitalism and doubted germ theory. |editor-last2=Linse |editor-first2=Pat |issue=v. 1}}</ref> According to Dan Dugan, Steiner was a champion of the following pseudoscientific claims:

#Goethe's [[Theory of Colours]];<ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32" />
#"he called [[theory of relativity|relativity]] 'brilliant nonsense'";<ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32" /><ref name="Sven Ove">{{Cite journal |last=Hansson |first=Sven Ove |year=1991 |title=Is Anthroposophy Science? |trans-title=Ist die Anthroposophie eine Wissenschaft? |url=http://www.waldorfcritics.org/articles/Hansson.html |journal=Conceptus: Zeitschrift für Philosophie |volume=XXV |issue=64 |pages=37–49 |issn=0010-5155}}</ref>
#"he taught that the [[Celestial mechanics|motions of the planets]] were caused by the relationships of the spiritual beings that inhabited them";<ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32" />
#[[vitalism]];<ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32" />
#doubting [[germ theory]];<ref name="Shermer Linse 2002 p. 32" />
#non-standard approach to physiological systems, including claiming that the heart is not a pump.<ref name="FlynnDawkins2007" />{{sfn|Hammer|2021|p=228 fn. 102}}

According to Rudolf Steiner, mainstream science is [[Ahriman]]ic.<ref name="Ahrimanic">Sources for 'Ahrimanic':{{Bulleted list|{{Cite book |last=Steiner |first=Rudolf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfOUcjMD-WUC&pg=PT34 |title=Karma of Materialism: 9 Lectures, Berlin, July 31–Sept. 25, 1917 (CW 176) |publisher=SteinerBooks |year=1985 |isbn=978-1-62151-025-3 |page=unpaginated |chapter=1. Forgotten Aspects of Cultural Life |quote=The whole content of natural science is ahrimanic and will only lose its ahrimanic nature when it becomes imbued with life. |access-date=15 March 2024 |chapter-url=https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA176/English/AP1985/19170731p01.html}}|{{cite book | last1=Steiner | first1=Rudolf | last2=Meuss | first2=Anna R. | title=The Fall of the Spirits of Darkness | publisher=Rudolf Steiner Press | year=1993 | isbn=978-1-85584-010-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgc6fjIeFVUC&pg=PA161 | access-date=16 March 2024 | pages=160–161}}|{{cite book | last1=Steiner | first1=Rudolf | last2=Barton | first2=Matthew | title=The Incarnation of Ahriman: The Embodiment of Evil on Earth | publisher=Rudolf Steiner Press | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-85584-278-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qR9FDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 | access-date=16 March 2024 | pages=53–54}}|{{cite book | last1=Wachsmuth | first1=Guenther | last2=Garber | first2=Bernard J. | last3=Wannamaker | first3=Olin D. | last4=Raab | first4=Reginald E. | title=The Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner: From the Turn of the Century to His Death | publisher=SteinerBooks | year=1995 | isbn=978-1-62151-053-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UE_Dfrpi4-wC&pg=PT445 | access-date=15 March 2024 | page=unpaginated | quote=and all external science, to the extent that it is not spiritual science, is Ahrimanic.}}|{{cite journal | last=Al-Faruqi | first=Ismail Il Raji | journal=Biosciences Communications | publisher=S. Karger | volume=3 | issue=1 | year=1977 | title=Moral values in medicine and science | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09hEAAAAYAAJ | access-date=15 March 2024 | pages=56–58 | issn=0302-2781 | quote=Medical science is Ahrimanic in that it treats the body solely as a mechanism, having no knowledge of or concern with the etheric structure, that invisible field of force and energy which all too often is found to be the seat of disease.}}|{{cite book | last=Prokofieff | first=Sergei O. | title=The Case of Valentin Tomberg: Anthroposophy Or Jesuitism? | publisher=Temple Lodge | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-904693-85-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-9Rq81-xGwC&pg=PA118 | access-date=15 March 2024 | page=118}}|{{cite book | last=Younis | first=Andrei | title=Islam in Relation to the Christ Impulse: A Search for Reconciliation between Christianity and Islam | publisher=SteinerBooks | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-58420-185-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5X95CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT57 | access-date=16 March 2024 | page=unpaginated | quote=Steiner emphasized that, when this deadened wisdom of Gondishapur began to spread in Europe, an ahrimanic, or ahrimanically inspired, natural science began to emerge.}}|{{cite book | last=Selg | first=Peter | title=The Future of Ahriman and the Awakening of Souls: The Spirit-Presence of the Mystery Dramas | publisher=Rudolf Steiner Press | year=2022 | isbn=978-1-912230-92-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ei1qEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 | access-date=16 March 2024 | page=12}}|{{cite journal |last1=Beck |first1=John H. |date=February 2007 |editor1-last=Spiegler |editor1-first=Mado |title=Christ and Sophia: Anthroposophic Meditations on the Old Testament, New Testament, and Apocalypse by Valentin Tomberg SteinerBooks, 2006, 432 pgs. Review by John H. Beck |url=https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/nyrud/id/387/download |journal=Rudolf Steiner Library Newsletter |pages=7–12 |quote=Science is Ahrimanic in so far as it is objective; Christian mysticism is Luciferic in so far as it is subjective.}}}}</ref>