New Panels and Papers

Panel: Practices of Spiritual Formation (5 papers)

Illuminations on Rudolf Steiner as a Spiritual Teacher. Unpublished Materials from the Rudolf Steiner Archive 

Presenter(s): Angelika Schmitt

In his comprehensive study on the history of anthroposophy in Germany, Helmut Zander (2008, I: 716) points out that the history of Steiner's impact as a spiritual teacher is largely unwritten. This talk aims to make a modest contribution to this huge topic from both the early theosophic and the early anthroposophical periods of Steiner's esoteric teaching. For this purpose, some unpublished, in part only recently discovered, materials from the Rudolf Steiner Archive (RSA) will be examined, including: hectographed diagrams in Steiner's handwriting, and meditative drawings by the Russian symbolist writer Andrei Bely (1880-1934) and the Russian graphic artist Asya Turgeneva (1890-1966). From Steiner's early theosophical teaching practice, there exist small colored cards with pentagrams and hexagrams and hectographed diagrams, which probably served as meditation templates, handed out to the members of the ES. These materials illustrate how Steiner, as a spiritual teacher of the Theosophical movement, amalgamated various elements of different Eastern and Western occult traditions, and how he strived to relate the different traditions to each other.

Furthermore, the RSA's collection contains 124 meditative drawings by Andrei Bely and four meditation albums by Asya Turgeneva. Many of them bear the date of creation and a commentary, made by Steiner, who, from the summer of 1912 until 1914, closely mentored the meditation progress of the couple. These meditative drawings by Bely and Turgeneva from the last three years of Steiner's activities as spiritual teacher within the ES show no connections to Eastern occult traditions, but on the contrary demonstrate the inclusion of Christian mystic tradition elements. Through Andrei Bely, Steiner's esoteric teaching practice had a huge impact on Russian literature, as Bely integrated his spiritual experience into his writing practice and developed a new style, called “ornamental prose,” which significantly influenced Russian literature throughout the 20th century.

Inclusive Living Thinking: Spiritual Formation and Camphill Communities

Presenter(s): Elizabeth Sanders

This paper explores how the intersection of practical theology and anthroposophical spiritual science can reframe inclusive community as a process of shared spiritual formation. While much of disability theology emphasizes “metaphorical reversal”—subverting dominant norms through the symbolic revaluation of disability—this paper argues that such reversals must be matched by practical methodologies of transformation. Drawing from Camphill communities and Rudolf Steiner’s methodological writings, I propose a framework in which inclusive communities (potentially) function as sites of embodied and transformative pneumatology rather than as institutions of care provision and individual development. In short, I propose that inclusive community living is itself an incarnated or embodied practice of the "living thinking" that Steiner develops throughout his Goethean and later anthroposophic methodological works.

Religious Education in Rudolf Steiner's Educational Thinking

Presenter(s): Carlo Willmann

Religion certainly plays a significant role in Rudolf Steiner's educational thinking. This is because Steiner considers religiousness to be a constitutive potential of the human being, which must be fostered in education in accordance with the psychological developmental stages of the child and adolescent. The task is therefore to gradually enable adolescents to determine their religious existence freely and consciously.
Under the aspect of a holistic education, religious elements therefore find their place in the Waldorf school curriculum. Steiner is primarily concerned with an education of feelings and will, which can serve as a foundation for all religions. As a general religious education, it honors all religions and seeks to promote their common spiritual values under the banner of freedom of thought, tolerance, and mutual recognition. 
Such concepts can also be found to some extent in reform-oriented religious education in Steiner’s contemporary German-speaking environment, for example in the Munich Method, which represented a catechetical upheaval. Like Steiner, it also sought to harmonize religious education with the development of the child and to give it a theological foundation by referring to the image of God. While the former operates in the field of ecclesiastical-Christian understanding, Steiner focuses on aspects of training as he had previously described them in his theosophy, later supplemented by his anthroposophical understanding of Christ and the Trinity. This contribution aims to provide a critical insight into the rationale and didactics of religious education at Waldorf schools and its strengths and weaknesses. Can a religious education really be replaced by an education of feelings and will? Can it contribute in a global multi-religious context - even outside the original Christian roots - to a modern and dialogical religious education so that religions will not be in competition with each other, but rather in cooperation to give humanity lasting spiritual dignity? A few examples may shed some light.

Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy as a Secularized Religiosity

Presenter(s): Zohar Maor

In this paper I wish to examine Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy as a secularized religiosity. By this term I refer to de-traditionalized substitutes of religions, catering for the needs of modern Europeans who renounced religions but still yearned for a source of meaning, identity and a non-scientific worldview. 
Steiner ventured to balance religious sources of inspiration and secular challenges and demands. This paper aims to explore Steiner’s ambivalent attitude to religion and his modern uses of religious traditions. Through the case of Anthroposophy, I argue, some basic features of secularized religions could be elucidated, namely a declared syncretism; the dichotomous separation between the “inner” and "outer" layers of religion; the turn to worldliness and the recurring preoccupation with questions of identity. 

Epistemology as Meditation

Presenter(s): Marcelo da Veiga

This paper explores the relationship between philosophy and meditation, focusing on their historical development and practical dimensions. Philosophy is understood here as the love of wisdom—a pursuit that seeks not only critical distance but also closeness and insight into the essence of reality.
In European history, philosophy emerged as a response to, and eventual replacement for, mythical consciousness. It developed into a rational, dialectical method aimed at understanding nature, human behavior, and social structures. In contrast, the older wisdom traditions of India and China emphasize contemplation and meditation as essential paths to realizing deeper understanding of reality and higher states of consciousness. A culminating concept in these traditions is Brahmavidya—a form of knowledge (vidya) that seeks to embrace (Brahma) the highest manifestation of reality.

These traditions became known in the West only in the context of British colonialism, and even then, they were often misunderstood or marginalized. Rooted in a pre-European conception of science, they were largely neglected by the Eurocentric framework that came to dominate Western understandings of knowledge. To this day, Western academia tends to ignore or dismiss the idea Brahmavidya and related forms of spiritual science as inferior, despite the existence of European mysticism and the reemergence of ancient wisdom during the 19th century, notably through the Theosophical movement.
In the 20th century, Rudolf Steiner—initially connected to the Theosophical movement—offered a detailed account of meditative practice grounded in epistemological reflection. His approach involves a specific form of observation that engages the spiritual dimension within subject-object consciousness. This pioneering work laid the foundation for a renewed integration of philosophy and meditation into a holistic practice that addresses both the rational and spiritual aspects of human experience. Steiner's approach to meditation, however, goes beyond the popular contemporary practices aimed at stress reduction (MBSR), and remains challenging for many, due to the complexity and abundance of his detailed descriptions of spiritual phenomena.

Panel: Steiner and Christianity (4 papers)

"Christianity as Mystical Fact" within the Theosophical Context: Steiner’s Innovative Approach to Esoteric Christian History

Presenter(s): Camden Roy

This paper examines Rudolf Steiner’s early work, Christianity as Mystical Fact (1902) within the context of Theosophical interpretations of early Christian history. Contemporary Theosophists such as Annie Besant and G. R. S. Mead constructed narratives of Christian history which emphasized the decline from an original mystery tradition, either through the rise of an exclusivist Catholic Church or the decline of suitable initiates. Steiner, by contrast, presents early Christian history as one not of decline, but of evolutionary development. Drawing on similar sources as Besant and Mead, Steiner develops a dual-trajectory model of Christian initiation that embraces both esoteric and gnostic currents which continue from the pre-Christian Mysteries and a uniquely Christian universalizing faith-based path inaugurated by Christ.

Steiner’s dual-trajectory model of the Christian Mysteries is an innovative intervention within the Theosophical discourse surrounding early Christianity at the turn of the century. In the esoteric current of his model, he embraces the diversity of early Christian belief identified by Mead in Fragments of a Faith Forgotten (1900) and allows for its continued development by the Christian mystics whom Besant had identified in Esoteric Christianity (1901). Steiner’s attention toward the universalizing aspects of early Christian history moves beyond Theosophical approaches, allowing him to embrace controversial figures such as St. Augustine within his lineage. 

This study builds upon Helmut Zander’s work on Rudolf Steiner’s Christology to offer new perspective on Steiner’s relationship to Theosophy as it pertains to discourse surrounding Christianity. Through a comparative study of Mead, Besant, and Steiner’s constructions of early Christian history, Steiner’s continuities with and radical departures from the Theosophical Society’s views are highlighted. Even at this early date, Steiner had already innovated upon the existing Theosophical models and provided the basis for his later, more extensive, Anthroposophical perspectives on Christianity.

Intersection of Esotericism and Human Transformation in Rudolf Steiner’s Christology

Presenter(s): Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu

This study explores the transformative potential of Rudolf Steiner's esoteric Christology, where Christ is revealed as a cosmic reality that intersects with human evolution and spiritual growth. Steiner's spiritual science offers a profound understanding of Christ's role in shaping human consciousness, facilitating inner transformation, and awakening higher states of awareness. Through an in-depth analysis of Steiner's works, this research examines the esoteric dimensions of Christ, including the Christ impulse, the Mystery of Golgotha, and the Resurrection. It highlights the significance of Christ as a catalyst for human transformation, enabling individuals to transcend limitations and realize their spiritual potential. The intersection of esotericism and human transformation is explored through the lens of Steiner's Christology, revealing the potential for individuals to experience spiritual rebirth, inner awakening, and a deeper understanding of their place within the cosmic order. This study demonstrates how Steiner's esoteric Christology offers a powerful framework for personal transformation, spiritual growth, and self-realization. By examining the cosmic dimensions of Christ in Steiner's work, this research provides new insights into the transformative power of the Christ impulse and its relevance to contemporary spiritual seekers. It offers a rich foundation for those seeking to explore the mysteries of the human condition, the nature of consciousness, and the potential for spiritual evolution. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of Steiner's spiritual science and its applications for personal transformation, spiritual growth, and esoteric knowledge.

Rosicrucian Principles as a Lens for the Mystery of Golgotha

Presenter(s): Mary Graham

This paper traces background elements belonging to the creation of the Eucharist service of the Christian Community. Steiner mentioned Rosicrucians often and their principles can be traced throughout his work. Because the Rosicrucian approach to Christianity was similar to his own, this paper uses two Rosicrucian principles as a lens to look at the centerpiece of his Christology: the Crucifixion/Resurrection process that he called the Mystery of Golgotha. Steiner’s interpretation/experience of this Mystery of Golgotha was foundational in his creation of the Eucharist service for the Christian Community. Steiner saw the Mystery of Golgotha as the Old Mysteries becoming a historical fact, but one that has reverberations through time. One such after-effect that also displays traces of the Rosicrucian principles of transmutation and of macrocosm-microcosm is what Steiner called the etherization of the blood. According to him, this was one way for the individual to tune into the resurrected Christ. The Eucharist service of the Christian Community, which presents another way of cultivating a connection to the Risen Christ, is a ritual of offering that finds its archetype in the Mystery of Golgotha. Steiner maintained that the original Christian Mass reflects an initiation rite of the mystery schools, which suggests a triadic source for his creation of The Christian Community’s liturgy: the Traditional Mass, initiation, and the Mystery of Golgotha.

In the Circle of Twelve: Rudolf Steiner as Bodhisattva

Presenter(s): Kevin Dann

From 1904 until 1924, in dozens of lectures and books, Rudolf Steiner repeatedly described the Principle of the Twelve as a central aspect of nearly all the ancient Mystery streams – both East and West – and made stunning new revelations about this principle within the context of Christian–Rosicrucian mystery teachings. He also actively integrated this principle in his development of new impulses for pedagogy, natural science, and the arts.
Though he gave over 100 lectures (most between 1909 and 1912) that touched on the nature and role of the Bodhisattvas, Rudolf Steiner never spoke of his own position within Earth’s most significant Circle of Twelve – the Twelve Bodhisattvas around the Logos, who, incarnating century–after–century, perform deeds of service to Christ in order to advance the divine plan of world evolution.
This paper will discuss Rudolf Steiner’s role as the Aries Bodhisattva – the Bodhisattva of thinking who bears the Sun Archangel Michael – through his previous incarnations and also within the context of the other members of the Circle of Twelve Bodhisattvas who incarnated in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Panel: Social Threefolding, Politics, Economy, and Community I (5 papers)

Belonging in Camphill: Spiritualized Disability and Staggered Knowledge Systems as an Anti-Statist Communal Alternative

Presenter(s): Katie Horan

In this chapter, I consider how people with different relationships to disability, practicality, science, spirituality, religion, and philosophy cultivate belonging within a Biodynamic garden. I argue that Camphill communities cultivate a twofold sense of belonging, primarily by employing Biodynamic Agriculture’s staggered knowledge system such that people with conflicting relationships to Spiritual Science can coexist amicably. The possibility of a spiritual reality, whether taken seriously or viewed with incredulity, is grounded in practical behaviors that unifies residents. Thus, belonging itself is rooted in shared behaviors that are postured towards spiritual reality. Since the setup of knowledge builds upward from practical insight, everyone who is a participating member of the community has satisfied the knowledge requirement to belong. A secondary argument I make is about disabled belonging. The concept of spiritual reality provides a lens for positively interpreting the behavior of residents with disabilities when they do not complete material tasks or satisfy standards by presuming they have strong spiritual capabilities. Since nondisabled Coworkers are predisposed towards taking spiritual reality seriously in the garden, so too they are prepared to affirm the spiritual capacity of their disabled neighbors. This fosters belonging by extending the criteria through which someone can be “competent,” creating a strong precedent to dignify Villagers. I will consider how the practice of Biodynamic Agriculture connects with people of different identities and relationships to the technique. By outlining four profiles of my research participants, I will demonstrate how belonging is cultivated across dis/ability distinctions and different resonances with the Biodynamic approach to knowledge. Each profile closely follows the experience and opinions of a resident of Camphill and their interview responses.

Anthroposophical Anarchism and the Decentralization of the Spirit

Presenter(s): Oliver Ray

This paper argues that Rudolf Steiner’s political and philosophical trajectory, particularly through The Philosophy of Freedom and the praxis of Social Threefolding, represents a spiritually grounded, anti-statist form of democracy rooted in ethical individualism and anarchist thought. Contrary to interpretations that view Steiner as retreating into esotericism or turning away from democratic engagement, I contend that his work constitutes a radical rethinking of both democracy and statehood from a non-materialist, anti-authoritarian standpoint.
Drawing on overlooked biographical and theoretical intersections—such as Steiner’s friendship with individualist anarchists like Benjamin Tucker and John Henry Mackay, and his declared alignment with Stirnerian egoism—this paper introduces the term anarcho-anthroposophy to situate Steiner within a wider spectrum of anarchist traditions. This reframing challenges prevailing assumptions that anarchism must be materialist or atheist, and asserts that Steiner’s insistence on monism, spiritual freedom, and non-coercive social evolution positions him within a lineage of anarchist thinkers who oppose both state authority and metaphysical absolutism. The paper also addresses Steiner’s nuanced critique of Marxism—not as a dismissal of proletarian struggle, but as a rejection of economic determinism and the Party as authoritarian structure. His work with working-class education in Berlin, his rejection of party dogma, and his critique of social democracy as a new form of power all support this interpretation. Rather than offering a blueprint for a utopian state, Steiner's concept of Threefolding—which separates cultural-spiritual life, legal-political life, and economic life—can be read as an effort to dismantle the monolithic stateand foster decentralized, freely associated communities. Finally, this paper addresses the core paradox often raised by both critics and adherents: How can Steiner’s supersensible insights be compatible with anarchist principles that reject authority? By examining Steiner’s distinction between a guideand an authority, and his repeated insistence that no spiritual teaching be accepted on faith or coercion, I suggest that Steiner’s esotericism is, at its core, a form of radical epistemological liberty. Through this analysis, the paper positions Anthroposophy not as a bourgeois spiritual retreat but as a latent revolutionary philosophy—one that envisions the self-aware, morally imaginative individual as the foundation for a post-statist, community-based society.

Rudolf Steiner and Democracy — Understanding His Relationship to the Democratic Impulse Through the Organizations He Helped Design

Presenter(s): Seth Jordan

Rudolf Steiner’s relationship to democracy can be easily confusing. At times he seems to articulate a political vision akin to direct democracy (“the truly political element… must allow the judgment and feelings of every single responsible adult to come to expression”), while at other times he ridicules the modern faith in parliaments and rejects the basic tenets of Western-style democracy (“[Central European political development] should not be the imitation of Western European so-called democracy”). This research explores this confusion and how it can be resolved through a deeper analysis of his threefold sociology. 
Fundamental to this analysis is an understanding of the basic social laws he articulated, especially his “fundamental sociological law” (or “law of individualism”) and his “fundamental social law” (or “law of socialism”). These two laws demonstrate the inevitable tension between the individual and the collective, a balancing act that Steiner resolves by showing how individual freedom is the guiding star of cultural life, and how collective solidarity (meeting everyone’s needs) is the guiding star of economic life. When it then comes to political life, we find the collectivist (democratic) element has its rightful place in making laws concerning that which every adult citizen is equally fit to judge, and the individual element has its rightful place in refraining from making laws wherever individual expertise is required. 
The research then turns to the organizations that Steiner consulted. We see how every institution, because of its circumstances and purpose, balances these competing interests differently. In the “college of teachers” at the first Waldorf school, for instance, some decisions were made democratically while others were made according to mandates given to individuals. This was understood to be a balance between democracy and aristocracy — what Steiner referred to as a “republic.”

Rudolf Steiner’s Bodily Co-operation as Value Co-creation in Economics Fraternity

Presenter(s): Karim Ullah

In this commentary, I interpret how the Steiner’s co-operation binds social ecosystem to co-create value at multiple bodily encounters of individuals. Value is a perceived collective benefit of and for the agents in an economic ecosystems and it is determined by the beneficiaries as collective expression. Steiner’s co-operation promotes mutuality, and it invites the economic agents to co-create value through bodily interactions, rather than producing and then selling such value to others for profit. Such value is both co-created and co-consumes by the individuals in an ecosystem with zero waste of the ecosystem as a whole and for the sustainability thrive. The motive of value for profit create excess use of resources and their flow and is found to be a common pre-text of most of the financial crises that this World has faced. 
Steiner’s stance of awareness of each other needs in co-operation is central to self-sustainability in the ecosystem. Such awareness triggers the co-operator’s mind to cognize temporal and spatial needs and consequent adaptation in corresponding behaviours to make these fit well with the set of behaviours emerging during encounters. The Steiner’s idea of need awareness is also embryonic to the realization of value in these encounters as and when experienced, unlike the Adam Smith’s economics of production and then exchange of value. The ecosystemic view of value co-operation as expression of individuals may appears humanistic if taken bodily (physical, etheric, astral, and self) and spiritual if taken as lightened up through a deepened niche of knowing in individuals.

From Conflict to Connection, Social Healing Through Waldorf-Inspired Practices

Presenter(s): Eyal Bloch, and Thom Schaefer

Three decades of field work in conflict zones have revealed the transformative potential of social healing initiatives rooted in Waldorf education principles. This paper presents "A Walk as a Social Healing Impulse," drawing on experiences from diverse conflict environments and inspired by Rudolf Steiner's holistic educational philosophy—focusing on imagination, creativity, and community building—to foster resilience, empathy, and democratic engagement among children and communities living amidst strife.
Our central case study is the "Peace Olympics"—festivals organized by the AllinPeace movement founded by Eyal Bloch—which brought together over 250 children from eight conflict-affected regions, including Kosovo, Belgrade, Israel-Palestine, Cyprus, Turkey, China, Greece, and France. These events created neutral spaces for children of diverse backgrounds to encounter one another beyond conflict boundaries, planting seeds of possible futures. The profound wisdom emerging from these encounters is captured in participants' poetry: "We are different but the same/In our hearts a common flame/Through our games and art we see/The world as it could truly be." Such authentic expressions reveal children's capacity to transcend deeply entrenched societal divisions when given the appropriate environment.
Our work is grounded in the conviction that social healing begins with transforming memories of past traumas into impulses for a better future. The Peace Olympic festivals integrate Waldorf-inspired practices like Spacial Dynamics, experiential learning, and social artistry, enabling participants to encounter the "other" and develop empathy. As one 11-year-old Palestinian participant wrote: "Yesterday enemies, today friends/Where hatred ends, healing begins." Longitudinal research, including Schaefer's Master's thesis, documents significant reductions in negative stereotyping (83%) and increases in self-esteem and tolerance among participants.
The initiative's impact extends beyond children to institutions, exemplified by partnerships with military organizations like the Greek Air Force repurposed as vehicles for peace. Additionally, the festivals' celebration of marginalized leaders—such as Blind Zulu who ran from Olympia to Delphi—has spawned the extrAbility movement, redefining heroism and leadership. In the words of a young Greek participant with disabilities: "Not by sight but by heart I ran/Showing others what truly can/Be achieved when we dare to dream/Beyond limits, beyond what seems."
We present this "From Conflict to Connection, Social Healing Through Waldorf-Inspired Practices" as a proven, adaptable model for conflict transformation and democratic education, offering practical insights for policymakers, educators, and civil society actors seeking to address community conflict and strengthen democracy in the 21st century.

Panel: Social Threefolding, Politics, Economy, and Community II (5 papers)

Social Injustice: LEF vs DEI

Presenter(s): Daniel Joseph Polikoff

Rudolf Steiner worked with a heightened sense of spiritual as well social emergency in the wake of the turmoil bred by WWI. In 1917, in answer to a request by a German diplomat, Steiner sketched the first draft of his own “social justice” theory—the Threefold Social Organism. When the window for its practical implementation closed, Steiner—always responding to initiatives from others—turned his attention to other endeavors. Yet Waldorf education, the formation of a Youth Branch, and the founding of the Christian Community all can be understood as movements answering to the urgent call for social renewal. In related yet distinct ways, each reveals Steiner’s firm belief that a vital and cohesive social life depends upon a reawakening of the spiritual capacities of the human being. 
Over the last decade or so, modern “critical social justice theory”—a movement originating outside anthroposophical circles—has exerted a profound influence on Waldorf education. The adding of an eighth foundational principle to the AWSNA “charter” of Waldorf education exhibits the ideological as well as practical force of the movement carried forward under the aegis of the concepts of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Yet while we hear a great deal about DEI, Steiner’s own social theory, one premised upon a different triad of founding principles, has been largely neglected. The two triadic sets of terms, while superficially analagous, are profoundly different in kind. Whereas the ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, as elaborated in the context of Social Threefolding, represent a social theory firmly grounded in Anthroposophy generally and Steiner’s Philosophy of Freedom in particular, the concepts of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—as conceived and applied today—represent an anti-anthroposophical counterforce that effectively undercuts the spiritual ground of Waldorf education. The cause of social justice calls for critical review of contemporary trends and renewed attention to Steiner’s own social theory.

Rudolf Steiner's Aesthetic Culture, Ecology and Economics

Presenter(s): Nathaniel Williams

This paper is a contribution to a better understanding of a narrow facet of Rudolf Steiner’s work, namely the significance of his understanding of aesthetic culture and its connection with ecological sensibilities and economics. While aesthetics has largely been narrowed in conventional usage to refer to beauty and art, it was introduced by Alexander Baumgarten in the 18th century as a term that could denote knowledge gained through perception. While Steiner did not explicitly draw on Baumgarten’s philosophy he did embrace the role of aesthetic judgement as it was developed in Goethe’s natural scientific method of delicate empiricism as intuitive understanding, and by Schiller in his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Mankind. Steiner explicitly situates his associative economics, first articulated at the end of his life, within this legacy of aesthetic judgement. Steiner presents the concept of economic association, a transformation of Goethe’s notion of intuitive understanding, within a cooperative framing, as capable of facilitating valid economics judgements, or true price. Steiner’s notion of aesthetic culture can be seen as encompassing not only the arts and humanities, but also the natural sciences and economics. The paper is a contribution toward a deeper understanding of the argument put forward by Dan McKanan in Eco-Alchemy: Anthroposophy and the History and Future of Environmentalism, which frames the influence of anthroposophy as central to the emergence of the modern environmental movement and social-cooperative economics. The paper develops an interpretation that can help explain important ways that Steiner’s comprehensive notion of aesthetics facilitated this influence. The portrayals of Rudolf Steiner’s economic theory and orientation, as they have appeared in the works of Peter Staudenmaier, are also reviewed in this light revealing the limits of an excessively critical approach to understanding.

Anthroposophy`s Contributions to Sustainable Development

Presenter(s): Johannes Kronenberg

This contribution explores anthroposophy’s historical and contemporary contributions to sustainable development. For over a century, anthroposophically inspired initiatives—such as biodynamic agriculture, Waldorf education, complementary medicine, inclusive social development, the arts, and more—have offered practical responses to ecological and social challenges across cultures and continents. Steiner’s concept of anthroposophy as a “path of knowledge” connecting the spiritual in the human being with the spiritual in the universe laid the foundation for a spiritual science rooted in both sensory and supersensory understanding.
In light of current socio-ecological crises, the search for culturally and spiritually grounded responses to sustainability challenges is gaining interest. Technocratic approaches often dominate sustainable development discourses, leaving deeper cultural-spiritual dimensions aside. Meanwhile, recent scholarship challenges the dominant historical narrative of the crisis’ origins, tracing global-scale injustice and ecological breakdown not merely to industrialisation but to colonial expansion since 1492. In this trend of widening and deepening the understanding of sustainable development as a meta-discipline, Steiner offered an integral worldview which extends the current definition of sustainable development.
This presentation builds on the publication On the Earth We Want to Live – Anthroposophy’s Contributions to Sustainable Development (Kronenberg & Lammerst van Bueren, 2025), comprising over 75 authors. Some 28 contributions come from anthroposophically inspired enterprises and 16 papers explore worldview and transdisciplinary foundations. The contribution seeks to engage professional and academic communities in an inclusive dialogue, highlighting anthroposophy’s integral approaches to sustainable development and inviting critical reflection. Can Rudolf Steiner be recognised as a pioneer of sustainable development who bridged conceptual insight with practical application? What unfulfilled potential does anthroposophy hold for the future of sustainable development? These guiding questions inform the session and point towards possible educational and research pathways. The paper is presented by the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum, representing its ongoing work at the intersection of anthroposophy and sustainable development.

The Dialogue of Social Creation: Rudolf Steiner and the Beloved Community

Presenter(s): Christopher Schaefer

Steiner described a conversation, a human encounter, as the archetypal social phenomenon. If one ponders this statement and combines it with inner experiences of being in dialogue with another then the following insights can emerge:

1)The natural world is a divine creation but we, human beings, are the creators of the social world. Families, shops, schools, companies, towns and nations are our creation, reflecting our nature, consciousness and values.
2) The archetypal social phenomenon through which the social world is created is the meeting and dialogue between two or more people.
3) What is revealed through dialogue is the mutuality of our karma; we find ourselves through our meeting with others.
4) Not only do we awaken to our destiny through others, it is in dialogue that we experience the spirit directly, through our mutual presence as ego beings and through the reality of spiritual inspiration in conversation.
5) Dialogue and encounter is one of the best methods of transforming evil in our times for we must overcome anti-social forces in ourselves to truly listen to another, to develop interest, empathy and to practice love, which Steiner defined as acts to serve the needs of the other, the group or the community.
6) In conversation we also have three soul-spirit experiences which form the basis of a healing social life in ourselves and in society. In western societies we desire freedom in our thought life, to express our opinions without interruption or judgement; a sense for equality of participation in our feeling life, and an opportunity to contribute to the result of the conversation or project with our deeds. Having a sense for freedom in our thoughts, experiencing our equality with others in the realm of rights, and being able to contribute to the wellbeing of others and the community is essential to the experience of our humanity. It is also the basis of a healing society which Steiner described as The Threefold Social Order.

These statements paraphrase many of Steiner's social insights and reveal how our relationships with others can be seen as a modern mystery school in everyday life. They also describe central elements of the Beloved Community, an imagination for our time first described by Josiah Royce in the early 20th century, then made the basis of the civil-rights movement and non-violence by Martin Luther King Jr., and finally applied to all life forms, to the world of inter-being, by King's friend and the proponent of engaged Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh.

Bernard Lievegoed and Gudrun Burkhard as Second-Generation Interpreters of Rudolf Steiner

Presenter(s): Angela Assis

Rudolf Steiner bequeathed a developmental sketch—septennials, fourfold anthropology, cosmic rhythms—whose practical application he left largely uncharted. This paper probes how two pivotal second-generation figures, Dutch psychiatrist Bernard Lievegoed (1905–1992) and Brazilian physician Gudrun Burkhard (1929–2022), transformed that open framework into influential therapies and leadership tools, thereby igniting debates over doctrinal fidelity and institutional authority within anthroposophy.
Drawing on newly consulted NPI archives (Driebergen), Artemisia records (São Paulo), and 2024 oral-history interviews, the study combines intellectual history with organisational-studies analysis. Close readings of Steiner’s GA 183, 293, 298, Lievegoed’s Phases (1968/1979), and Burkhard’s Biographical Work (2002) are triangulated against correspondence, and training manuals.

The paper identifies four axes of contestation:
1. Hermeneutic authority—textual fidelity versus experiential innovation;
2. Institutional autonomy—NPI and Artemisia operating beyond Goetheanum governance;
3. Expansion of the septennial model—from corporate lifecycles to elderhood beyond age 63;
4. Geographical translation—Dutch pragmatism and Brazilian spiritual egalitarianism shaping reception.
 By testing Sergei O. Prokofieff’s charge that “psychologising” drains Steiner’s supersensible core, the analysis shows instead how Lievegoed and Burkhard preserved esoteric intent while extending its social reach. Their contested biographies reveal anthroposophy’s capacity for plural, transregional reinvention—an insight that complements recent critical editions and Anglophone scholarship highlighted by this centenary conference.
In situating therapeutic and organisational practice within a century-long struggle over Steiner’s legacy, the paper invites fresh dialogue on who may speak for anthroposophy in the twenty-first century and how its ideas migrate across cultures, professions, and generations.

Panel: Historical Roots of Anthroposophical Medicine, Education, and Social Therapy (5 papers)

Educating Children with Complex Destinies: Locating Steiner’s Paradigm and the Lauenstein Prototype in the Contested Space Between Humanistic Social Pedagogy and Eugenic Child Psychiatry in 1920s Europe

Presenter(s): Jan Goeschel

In 1924, Rudolf Steiner gave his course on supportive (curative) education to a group of young people engaged in the anthroposophical youth movement, who established an educational home for children with developmental disabilities in Jena (Germany). Based on a hermeneutic review of primary sources and secondary literature, this presentation examines how Steiners paradigmatic orientation towards the established profession of “Heilpädagogik” and the practice prototype established at the Lauenstein Institute are located in the contested space between an existing humanistic and progressive social-pedagogic conception of the field, as exemplified by Heinrich Marianus Deinhardt (1821-1880) and Johannes Trüper (1855-1921), and the eugenic medical-psychiatric attempts to appropriate the “Heilpädagogik” term gaining ascendancy at the time. The findings are also discussed in terms of their relevance for anthroposophically oriented supportive and inclusive education practices today.

Unique Features of Steiner’s Last Book and the Value of the Anthroposophic View of the Human Being

Presenter(s): Michaela Glöckler

Anthroposophic medicine (AM) exists on all continents; as medical practices and therapy centers offering various treatment-modalities and in Central Europe even in the form of some recognized regional hospitals. Besides conventional methods this medical approach includes specific anthroposophic medicinal products, nursing techniques and external applications, artistic therapies, healthy lifestyle and nutrition counselling, body work, therapeutic eurythmy, and meditative practices. The basis for this therapeutic direction is Steiner's final book, which he was able to complete shortly before his death in collaboration with the Dutch physician Dr. Ita Wegman (1876–1943) entitled: Fundamentals of Therapy, an Extension of the Art of Healing through Spiritual Knowledge (FoT).

The worldwide presence of AM confirms its integrative medical approach that goes well beyond “tolerant cooperation” of different complementary modalities. AM, as presented in Steiner/Wegman’s book, is based on a rigorous anthropological-philosophical method of understanding that encompasses active principles of any spiritual, psychosomatic and natural science-based healing method. Because all ancient and modern medical systems are either partly or entirely based on five principles: the materially tangible processes and facts, the laws of life, which manifest through rhythmic processes, the dynamics of soul and mind, personality formation and finally the fifth essential principle in the being of man, named by Aristotle pempte ousia, the fifth essential.

Steiner explained and redefined all the five, making them imaginable and thus observable and practicable for daily use. This not only gave rise to the anthroposophic understanding of man. It provides the opportunity for mutual understanding of the different medical systems. But it also accounts for the fact that, unlike animals which are controlled and driven in their development by instincts, humans must compensate for their instinctive insecurity and “physiological imperfection” through learning processes – through self-consciously controlled thinking, feeling, and willing. According to Steiner/Wegman, this particular physical-mental constitution predisposes humans to illness.

The Faculties of the Mind in Waldorf Education: the Epistemological Foundations of the Theory for the Enlightenment of the Practice

Presenter(s): Natalia Golovanova

Waldorf Education's spiritual view of the human being, and of the child in particular, clearly distinguishes it from other progressive educational movements. This distinction necessarily comes to the fore in teacher training. One of the pillars of the education based on Steiner's philosophy is the threefold nature of the human being: the founder of the pedagogy believed that there are three active faculties in every student — thinking, feeling, and willing — which develop gradually and progressively, passing through a seven-year stage until they are fully activated at the age of 21. The sources of this theory are obviously esoteric and spiritual, although it is possible to draw parallels between this doctrine and other theories of the child’s development that also involve several stages until the full development of all faculties.
At the same time, the roots of this conception can be found in Steiner’s philosophical period. I would thus like to return to the origins of these ideas in the writings of the young Steiner and to their roots in the philosophical tradition, as well as to address the question of the shift in epistemology that occurred in Steiner's work between the 1890s and the 1920s, particularly with regard to the theory of faculties. This work is based on my doctoral dissertation defended in 2025 at the University of Upper Alsace (Mulhouse, France), which seeks to articulate the philosophy of education on which Waldorf education is based. I will offer for discussion some findings regarding the role of the other faculties in the pedagogy, as well as the changes in the concept of thinking in Steiner's later work. This will provide a better understanding of the meaning of the intellect and intellectual education in the pedagogy based on Rudolf Steiner's conception of the human being.

The Sacred and Profane (Intercultural) Roots of Waldorf Education

Presenter(s): Matthias Fechner

In my contribution I would try to explain that Steiner did not create the idea of ‘Waldorfschule‘ in 1919 as an hermetic, inalterable entity, but rather as an ongoing and dynamic project to which some of his more experienced teachers, namely Robert Killian, were able to contribute substantially. 

Killian, who joined ‘Waldorfschule‘ Uhlandshöhe in 1920, had previously taught at state schools in Alsace and at ‘Landerziehungsheim‘ Haubinda, founded by Hermann Lietz. Hence, many pedagogical concepts, which from the 1890s onwards were initially put into practice at German ‘Landerziehungsheime,‘ could later be found at Uhlandshöhe and other schools, transfered by dedicated teachers like Killian. Moreover, I try to argue that these concepts were not merely transplanted by individual teachers, but rather adapted to the specific needs of a school, drawing on the strong current of reform education and contemporary educational trends. E.g., ‘Epochenunterricht‘ was, arguably, introduced first at Berthold Otto’s ‘Hauslehrerschule‘ before it caught on at Haubinda mainly for organizational reasons, until it was geared to students’ needs at Odenwaldschule and, at long last, experienced a spiritual transformation within the Waldorf movement.
This transfer of knowledge worked, in fact, both ways. During the Third Reich, after most Steiner schools had been closed, Waldorf teachers like Robert Killian, Karl Ege or even René Maikowski found a means to survive working at ‘Landerziehungsheime‘ bringing valuable spiritual insights to otherwise fairly profane institutions. In the case of Odenwaldschule personal ties even strengthened the transfer of knowledge. Robert Killian would strongly support headmaster Heinrich Sachs, not only during the Second World War, but also in 1945/6 following the latter’s controversial removal by the US military administration. And after Sachs’ untimely death in 1946, his wife Elisabeth would meet Karl Ege again, while founding a Camphill community in Hillsdale, NY. 
Finally, I would like to draw attention to the fact that educators, and especially Waldorf teachers, have – hopefully – never acted as uncreative automata, but rather as agents of change. Thus, it certainly seems instructive to henceforth take a closer look at their biographies (and their estates), in order to gain more valuable insights into the dynamic processes within many educational institutions and concepts.

Translating Anthroposophical Curative Education to Israel: Challenges and Adaptations

Presenter(s): Ron Eilon

This paper tracks anthroposophical social initiatives in Israel in the mid-20th century. It follows the migration and transfer of anthroposophical ideas, people, and texts and the transnational translation of social work knowledge and practice from European culture to Israel in its first decades.
Archival material was collected from official, institutional, and private archives in Israel, Switzerland, Britain, and Germany, and some data was obtained through oral history interviews. Transnational correspondence between anthroposophists in Palestine, later Israel, and those in Europe and Britain up to the late 1960s reveals efforts to tackle the newly founded state’s most burning struggles in order to adjust, realize, and embed an anthroposophical practice of care. The paper proposes that transnational translation of anthroposophical curative education played a significant role in the reception of anthroposophy in Israel, through a process in which European cultural aspects of anthroposophy were adjusted, and its universal human aspects were prioritized.

Panel: Historical, Textual, and Empirical Reflections on Anthroposophy, “Race,” and Racism (5 papers)

The Conduct of Anthroposophical Doctors, Pharmacists, and Educators during the Nazi Era (1933–1945)

Presenter(s): Peter Selg

A comprehensive study conducted between 2016 and 2025 examined the behavior of anthroposophical doctors, pharmacists, and curative educators during the Nazi era. The study explored how these professionals operated within a biopolitical dictatorship that, on one hand, sought to exterminate those deemed “unworthy of life” based on racial ideology and, on the other, aimed to optimize the “desirable” life. Critics of anthroposophy have argued that its proponents benefited from the Nazi regime’s support of “natural medicine” and alleged ideological similarities. However, this was not substantiated by the historical analysis.
Instead, the research revealed that anthroposophical doctors, pharmaceutical producers, and curative education institutions demonstrated significant resistance to Nazi policies. The study highlighted that, while individual behaviors ranged from resistance to conformity, the broader picture showed the inherent incompatibility between National Socialism and anthroposophy. This was particularly evident in the contradictions between the racial ideology of the Nazis and the humanistic, individualized approach of anthroposophic medicine.
Anthroposophic medicine as such, grounded in Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual science, was never accepted within the Nazi system. Despite some high-ranking Nazi officials privately using anthroposophic remedies or consulting anthroposophic doctors, the regime considered anthroposophy a threat. In 1941, a report from the Reich Security Main Office stated: “If one accepts the totality of ideological thinking and its effect on the overall opinion and attitude of human beings, there can be no doubt that followers of anthroposophy must inevitably become opponents of National Socialism, or at least remain alien to it.”¹

Note
1. Quoted in Uwe Werner, Anthroposophen in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus (Munich: Piper, 1999), 383.

Organic Thinking as a Prerequisite for Discussions on Race with a Special Emphasis on India-Britain

Presenter(s): Gopi Krishna

Racism is emotionally charged, due to its being present at the nexus of power, prejudice and morality. While this emotion is certainly grounded in a desire to value the core of humanity, the reasoning process that accompanies emotion does not always have a clear grounding. In this presentation, I will be examining the differentiations in the reasoning process, including the processes of defining, stereotyping and categorizing strengths and weaknesses, thinking about moral actions of individuals and groups, as well as moral judgment. With the help of examples drawn from both mathematics and botany, I will show the critical importance of a systematic development of organic thinking which forms a prerequisite especially for deciding on the crucial question of whether Steiner’s work is a ‘spiritualization of prejudices’. Drawing on the history of relations between the races in the Indian subcontinent (beginning with the British conquest of India up to the relation between Annie Besant and Krishnamurthi), both successes and failures in the reasoning process will be highlighted through the study of specific events, such that the need for organic thinking will be shown to be a critical part of a genuine evaluation of this relationship. The continued repercussions of the failures in the reasoning process echoing into the 21st century will be described, showing how the historic experience can shed light on the approach to race relations today.

Decoupling Racial Stereotypes from the Body of Knowledge Utilized in a Network of Organizations Managed by Meditation Practitioners in Brazil

Presenter(s): Rogerio Calia

In a network of organizations managed by meditation practitioners in Brazil, how to decouple racial stereotypes from its body of knowledge? How to more effectively respect the rights of black individuals interacting with anthroposophical organizations without racially discriminatory stereotypes being reinforced in Brazil? Are there alternatives to Dan McKanan’s (2017) field observations of “hermeneutics of veneration” causing study groups to uncritically accept stereotypical sentences in books authored by Rudolf Steiner? An organizational science action-research methodology was performed following the approach of Otto Scharmer’s “Theory U”, in order to find some steps towards answering these questions. Dialogue interviews with black individuals in the context of anthroposophical organizations and a contemplative inquiry meditation for mental receptivity to insights were instrumental to create simple potential solutions to be tested in focused social experiments (“prototypes”). In the first prototype, a group of decision makers in Brazil accepted the recommendation to decouple racial stereotypes from two books. A second prototype proposed a change management communication plan to be tested, which was based on Robert Livingston's approach for racial equality in organizations and based on the implementation of Steiner's “ethical individualism” concept applied as practical criteria for the change management process. In this communication plan, a change management coordinating team is recommended to ask key questions individually to meditation practitioners representing anthroposophical humanism in Brazil, in order to invite them to support the decision above to decouple racial stereotypes from the two books. Evaluation of resulting answers and reactions to those key questions will provide additional data for checking to what extent the ideas of “ethical individualism” can be applied as practical criteria to a new evidence based change management process, in order to decouple racial stereotypes from the body of knowledge of a network of organizations managed by meditation practitioners in Brazil.

Facing Contradictions: Navigating Race and Diversity in Rudolf Steiner's Spiritual Science

Presenter(s): Cory Eichman

Distinguishing between a Seer’s spiritual vision and the cultural context from which it arose can be a tangled, divisive thread. Rudolf Steiner’s work is no exception. Although he strove to develop a ‘universal’ spiritual science, he was looking at the spirit world through the lens of a European male of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Socially progressive for his day, and in some respects ours as well, Steiner was still part of a world outlook embedded within the globalization rooted in European colonialism. Nowhere is this perspective more evident than in his descriptions of race and peoples. His frequent emphasis on the individuality, regardless of gender, race, nationality, or religion, lead many to insist he had no racist views. However, there are enough references in his work to the ‘white’ race being the most progressive that they cannot be ignored.
Steiner’s views changed through the course of his public life. He eventually broke away from Theosophy’s declaration that Aryans are the leaders of modern humanity. His spiritual research revealed a breaking apart of humanity well before the end of the Ice Age, with one group emerging as central. In the Age of Social Darwinism, it seems he assumed this division was the conventionally identified races with the central position held by Indo-Europeans. I believe his vision instead pointed to the multiple Hominid species living simultaneously, the evidence of which didn’t emerge until after Steiner’s death. All Homo sapiens, that is all peoples, carry human evolution forward. Reinterpreting his spiritual research potentially opens up a decentralized, multi-cultural perspective on spiritual science, the seeds of which can be found in what Steiner was striving for. The issues of race and diversity highlight how our times are defined by the ongoing challenges around ‘de-personalizing’ truth.

Completing the Circle: Rethinking Cultural Evolution Beyond Eurocentrism

Presenter(s): Chiaki Uchiyama Ed.D.

This proposal explores Rudolf Steiner’s evolutionary framework of human consciousness through the lens of cultural epochs and reconsiders its implications for contemporary understandings of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Drawing from Steiner’s lectures—particularly At the Gate of Spiritual Science and Egyptian Myths and Mysteries—the Western European epoch is situated not as the culmination of human development but as a midpoint in a larger arc of evolution. While this stage represents the rise of intellectual materialism, individuality, and freedom, it is intended to be followed by a re-spiritualization of consciousness that integrates these qualities with cosmic and universal wisdom.
Contrasting with Hegel’s view of Western consciousness as the apex of human freedom, the anthroposophical model foregrounds a more balanced and cyclical view of evolution. Without this broader understanding, Steiner’s insights risk being misinterpreted as Eurocentric or hierarchically biased. The paper argues that such misreadings overlook the inclusive and forward-looking nature of Steiner’s vision, which recognizes the essential contributions of all cultural streams.

Importantly, when considering the latter half of evolution, Africa emerges not as a lesser point of origin but as a future bearer of deep spiritual potential, symbolizing both the beginning and the end of the evolutionary circle. This perspective reframes human history as a dynamic interplay of spiritual and material qualities across all peoples. It challenges the notion of cultural superiority and instead presents each race and epoch as holding a unique evolutionary task. Ultimately, the evolution of consciousness points toward a future where individuality and spiritual unity coexist. Recognizing the spiritual contributions of all cultures allows for a more holistic and inclusive vision of human development—one that transcends hierarchy and affirms the sacred diversity of the human journey.

Panel: Steiner’s Philosophical Outlook I (4 papers)

Rudolf Steiner Discovers History: Transitions between Philosophy and Theosophy

Presenter(s): Dr. Ansgar Martins

This paper examines Rudolf Steiner’s intellectual transition from philosophy to theosophy between 1899 and 1904, drawing on lectures and texts recently published in new volumes of his Gesamtausgabe. It identifies three central transformations: the emergence of a historical consciousness, Steiner’s engagement with ancient philosophy and mystery traditions, and the influence of Jewish philosophy on his evolving conception of the "post-Atlantean cultural epochs." First, Steiner’s late 1890s writings, notably Welt- und Lebensanschauungen, mark a shift from epistemology to intellectual biography, signaling a growing historical awareness. This development continues in Mysticism at the Dawn of the Modern Age and Christianity as Mystical Fact, where Steiner’s interest in ancient spiritual cultures becomes increasingly pronounced. Second, the paper highlights Steiner’s openness around 1900, a period characterized by exploratory engagements with historiography and philosophy. Rather than offering fixed systems, Steiner’s work at the turn of the century reflects a search for a worldview capable of integrating scientific knowledge and spiritual life. This dynamic is particularly evident in his portrayal of Philo of Alexandria as a foundational figure for Christianity, underscoring the critical role of Jewish mysticism. Third, the paper traces how Steiner’s understanding of Jewish traditions evolved, illuminating the complexity behind his development of the "post-Atlantean cultural epochs." Initially emphasizing a distinct "Jewish cultural epoch," Steiner later reconfigured this phase within a broader "Chaldean-Egyptian cultural epoch," demonstrating a gradual shift in his cultural-historical models. Rather than framing this period as either rupture or continuity, the paper analyzes Steiner’s transitional phase as a creative and experimental response to the philosophical challenges of his time.

Philosophical Implications of Steiner’s Waldorf Pedagogy. A Critique of Ideological Criticism

Presenter(s): Jost Schieren

Waldorf education is one of the world's most successful models of alternative education. With 1,283 schools and 1,922 kindergartens, the education founded by Rudolf Steiner with the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart in 1919 is now represented on all continents and in over 71 countries (cf. Waldorf World List 2024.) However, the practical success of Waldorf schools is counteracted by a widespread critical attitude towards the theories based on Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy. These are considered to be ideologically charged, in that they are not scientifically justified on the one hand and are not considered to be scientifically justifiable on the other. 

Despite the fact that since around 2000 there has been an increased (educational) scientific debate about Waldorf education the ideological criticism of Waldorf education remains unbroken. The current media (in Germany) unanimously attest to Waldorf education as an esoteric, obscure, unscientific ideology. A rather reflexive apologetic response to the existing accusations of ideology, as is sometimes the case on the Waldorf side, is not helpful, as it rejects the offer of critical self-reflection, which in itself is fruitful. After all, not all accusations of ideology are unfounded; against the background of a revelation-like reception and representation of anthroposophy and a rather ‚fossilized‘ (versteinert in German) Waldorf culture that has been adopted as a recipe, they are quite justified. Therefore, this contribution does not pursue a strategy of defending Waldorf education, but rather takes a self-critical look at Waldorf education as well as the ideological criticism that is leveled against it. The central question pursued is aimed at examining and questioning the ideological content of Waldorf education against the background of current ideological (unspoken consensual) assumptions. This ideological content is currently being sharply criticized as an ideological doctrine of faith. In the eyes of its critics, Waldorf education thus undermines the standard of a scientifically based pedagogy and is denied participation in an academic debate on an equal footing.

From Nature to Spirit: Rudolf Steiner’s Impulse for a New Understanding of Goethe

Presenter(s): Iris Hennigfeld

This paper explores how Goethe’s approach to nature reaches a threshold where consciousness turns from the external object toward itself — a movement made explicit only through Rudolf Steiner’s work. As Steiner himself puts it in his foreword to the 1918 new edition of "Goethe’s Theory of Knowledge: An Outline of the Epistemology of His Worldview" (1886), Goethe’s epistemology — which is not explicitly articulated in Goethe’s own texts — “speaks of a nature of knowing that paves the way from the sensory world into a spiritual one.” This insight epistemologically underpins the transition from the science of nature to the science of spirit. Steiner revealed the implicit spiritual dimension in Goethe’s natural philosophy and laid the foundation for a science of the spirit, addressing non-sensory phenomena. 
Goethe’s method seeks the inner core of reality accessible only to the spirit, relying on what Steiner refers to as the productivity of consciousness. Central to Goethe and Steiner’s epistemology is the idea that consciousness must not only focus on its contents but also detach from them and, as Steiner states in "The Philosophy of Freedom" (1894), observe itself in its own activity. Steiner highlights this self-observation as essential for genuine spiritual knowledge. This process, described as a methodically guided inner training, cultivates new cognitive or spiritual faculties — “fully conscious imagination” (bewusste Imagination) — which Steiner identified as a crucial future task for humanity.
Adopting an immanent-critical approach grounded in phenomenology and its call “back to the things themselves,” this paper seeks to understand Goethe and Steiner on their own terms, resisting reductive interpretations that impose external philosophical categories. Ultimately, Steiner’s development of Goethe’s sensorial imagination into conscious imagination offers not only a new epistemological method but also a path toward cultural renewal. Contrary to narratives of cultural decline, this approach envisions perception and knowledge as active, formative forces constituting reality — pointing toward a Goethe who is truly “yet to come.”

Rudolf Steiner's Nietzschean Phenomenology: Philosophy as the Art of Thinking

Presenter(s): Jeffrey Hipolito

This paper contends that Rudolf Steiner’s philosophical writings offer, in response to the Marburg Neo-Kantian school then ascendant, a highly original synthesis of other nascent philosophical currents: a Nietzschean emphasis on philosophy as an art of self-overcoming, a development of Franz Brentano’s approach to phenomenology, and his own invention of a Goethean philosophy as a means to provide them an epistemological ground. I take a brief look at each branch in turn. The work of Nietzsche resonates most obviously in Philosophy of Freedom, in which Steiner defines the philosopher as an “artist in the realm of concepts.” I show how this view is central to his book, and how it had already been anticipated in Steiner’s book about Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom. The second part of this paper shows how the Nietzschean emphasis on freedom as an artistic activity harmonizes with Steiner’s development of the phenomenology of Franz Brentano, some of whose lectures Steiner attended: though philosophy is an art form, it is a precise one. This section of the paper establishes that the primary significance of Brentano for Steiner is the former’s attempt to establish a rigorously scientific phenomenology of thinking itself, thereby paving the way to Steiner’s own concept of “spiritual science” as a phenomenology of spiritual experience. Much of anthroposophy is an expansion of the method established and practiced with too much self-limitation by Brentano. The paper’s final section takes up Steiner’s early book, A Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe’s Worldview. If Nietzsche showed that the philosopher is an artist of concepts and Brentano showed that that art is also a precise science, Goetheanism establishes what concepts are while navigating the pitfalls post-Kantian idealism. The book’s final section, on aesthetics, returns us to our beginning: the art of philosophy.

Panel: Steiner’s Philosophical Outlook II (4 papers)

Steiner’s Trinitarian View and the Philosophy of Mind. A Critique of Robert Lawrence Kuhn’s Landscape of Consciousness Taxonomy

Presenter(s): Terje Sparby

In a recent taxonomy of different philosophies of mind, Robert Lawrence Kuhn classified Rudolf Steiner’s view as a mind-body dualism. We argue that this classification is incorrect. Rather, Steiner’s view is trinitarian and represents a unification of monism and dualism. Hence the trinitarian conception of the human being in Steiner not only challenges Kuhn’s taxonomic placement of Steiner’s view but indicates a potential fundamental limitation of the whole taxonomy. Furthermore, since other thinkers (such as Whitehead, de Chardin, and others) may potentially be classified as trinitarian, Kuhn’s taxonomy arguably needs revision. In fact, the dualism vs. monism debate mirrors limitations in current ways of thinking. The trinitarian view offers a different approach to “hard problem of consciousness”, understanding the differentiation between mind and body, and the philosophic problems that arise from this differentiation, as part of human development.

Beyond Aulasaukaulala - The Philosophical Approach to Anthroposophy in the Critical Edition (SKA)

Presenter(s): Christian Clement

Dr. Clement’s presentation will provide a summary of the history, reception, and conceptual framework of the Critical Edition of Rudolf Steiner's Writings (SKA), which has been published by frommann-holzboog in Stuttgart since 2013 under his editorship. The focus will be on the question of why, and to what extent, the accompanying introductions and commentaries in this edition place anthroposophy primarily within a philosophical context and seek to understand Steiner's life’s work from that particular perspective—despite criticism from the academic community and despite Steiner’s own views on the limitations of philosophy.

The Philosophy of Freedom as an Inner Schooling Path: Results from a Worldwide Annual Training Program

Presenter(s): Andreas Schmitt, David Martin

The Philosophy of Freedom (PoF) stands at the heart of Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual-scientific œuvre. While its philosophical rigor is profound, many modern readers find it difficult to access its spiritual potential. In response, we developed a seven-month global training program based on PoF that supports individuals in cultivating inner freedom through structured, meditative thinking. Participants engage daily with curated quotations (“thought-cards”) from PoF, supported by weekly guidance, monthly peer exchange, and a dedicated app. Since 2020, nearly 2,000 participants from over 35 countries have completed the program.
This contribution presents results from the 5th cycle (2023–2024), including both quantitative and qualitative data. Over 50–80% of participants reported clear improvements in concentration, insight, clarity, intuition, emotional stability, and spiritual well-being. While these findings were not statistically significant—due to the cross-sectional design—we are implementing a full pre-post longitudinal evaluation in the next cycle.
We propose that PoF—when approached as a living inner practice—can serve as a valid path of contemporary spiritual schooling. At the Conference of December 14-16th 2025 in Harvard we will be able to additionally present the fresh analysis of the 2024-2025 cycle with 748 participants. Our findings suggest new perspectives on how Steiner’s epistemology of freedom might be integrated into modern adult education and interdisciplinary research on contemplative development.

Emotion, Epistemology & the Unclassified Residuum: Steiner’s Challenge to James

Presenter(s): Christopher Germann

In his 1893 essay The Hidden Self, William James introduces a category of anomalous mental experience—ecstatic trance states, somnambulism, subconscious personalities—which he calls the "unclassified residuum." These cases, James argues, demand a broadening of psychology’s scope and a loosening of its physiological constraints. He proposes that a proper understanding of the self must include these "exceptional mental products," even though they defy the current limits of empiricism.
Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual science picks up precisely where James hesitates. Whereas James classifies these cases, Steiner integrates them. Steiner’s view—that the "soul-spiritual" is ontologically primary—allows for a richer metaphysical interpretation of the same phenomena. For Steiner, trance states and altered consciousness are not pathological or peripheral, but signs of a supersensible dimension accessible through disciplined inner development.
This paper argues that James's notion of the "hidden self" gestures toward what Steiner fully articulates: a layered ontology of the human being, including spiritual, soul, and physical dimensions. Where James catalogs the evidence, Steiner interprets it. Both thinkers emphasize inner experience, but Steiner offers a method to move beyond the empiricist limits that James himself acknowledges. The dialogue between these two thinkers—though separated by discipline and intent—opens critical space in the study of emotion and selfhood. Their shared concern is not just what the self is, but how it can be known—a question that links psychology with epistemology and metaphysics. This paper explores that link, arguing that Steiner’s approach provides a necessary philosophical supplement to James’s empirical sensitivity, especially in our contemporary efforts to integrate emotion, cognition, and consciousness studies.