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This gives rise to the oft-quoted [[basic maxim of free people]]:
This gives rise to the oft-quoted [[basic maxim of free people]]:


<center>"Living in the love of action and letting live in the understanding of the will of others is the fundamental maxim of free men." {{GZ|4|p. 130}}</center>
<center>"Living in the love of action and let live in the understanding of the will of others is the fundamental maxim of free men." {{GZ||4|p. 130}}</center>


== Literature ==
== Literature ==

Revision as of 18:49, 17 March 2022

There is no generally accepted definition for the term free will or freedom of will, and whether or not freedom of will exists at all is disputed. Colloquially, free will is understood to mean something different than in legal or psychological usage. Even in philosophy, the term is not uniformly defined. In an interdisciplinary sense, freedom of will includes the subjectively perceived human ability to make a conscious decision when faced with various choices.

Rudolf Steiner's views on the freedom of will

According to Rudolf Steiner, to speak of the freedom of the will is pure nonsense. Rather, the freedom of the human being lies in the fact that he can recognise the laws of his actions and base his decisions on them. The starting point of freedom is therefore never the will, which reigns deep below the threshold of consciousness, but rather the freedom of thought, which man can attain in pure, sensuality-free thinking through moral intuition and thereby freely shape his actions. With good reason, therefore, Marquis von Posa says to King Philip II in Schiller's "Don Karlos": "Give freedom of thought!" - and not: "Give freedom of will!"

„Read in my "Philosophy of Freedom" what great importance I have attached to not asking about the freedom of will. It sits below, deep down in the unconscious, and it is nonsense to ask about the freedom of will; one can only speak of the freedom of thought. I have kept this apart in my "Philosophy of Freedom". Free thoughts must then impulse the will, and then man is free.“ (Lit.:GA 235, p. 46ff)

Freedom as freedom of thought - Rudolf Steiner's "Philosophy of Freedom"

→ Main article: The Philosophy of Freedom

Rudolf Steiner dealt with the question of human freedom in particular in his fundamental philosophical work "The Philosophy of Freedom" (CW 4).

The book consists of two main parts, each of which is divided into seven chapters. "The Science of Freedom", the first main part, poses the core question: "Is man in his thinking and acting a spiritually free being or is he under the constraint of a purely natural, iron necessity?" This question is more topical than ever at the beginning of the 21st century. Brain research, which has taken off in a big way in recent decades, declares - supported by a wealth of empirical evidence - not only human freedom but also the human "I" to be a mere illusion, rising like a bubble from largely unconscious brain processes that have gradually emerged in the course of natural evolution. That an action whose true reasons we do not see through cannot be free is evident. "But what about one whose reasons are known?" This raises the question of the nature and value of thinking, for without it no knowledge is possible, not even of the reasons that determine our actions.

Observation and thinking are the two starting points for all conscious human striving for knowledge. I may observe a horse for as long as I like, but the concept of the horse will never emerge of its own accord before I have formed it myself through thinking. Consciousness is the arena where concept and observation meet. Only in their union do I grasp the full reality.

Now, it is in the peculiar nature of thinking that we carry it out, but do not usually observe it, because we are completely devoted to the object we are thinking about. We have to create a state of exception, so to speak, if we want to observe our own thinking. Every human being can do this and it is the most important observation he can make, because now the consciousness is directed in continuous clarity exclusively towards his own mental activity. He grasps himself as a spiritual being and awakens to the actual "consciousness of his humanity" - this is the true meaning of the word "anthroposophy", which Rudolf Steiner used to describe the spiritual science he founded years later.

Contrary to popular opinion, thinking is not abstract and empty of content, but produces its own content, in which, however, the essence of the things I observe is revealed. Of course, we can make many mistakes and be subject to errors before we apply the right concepts to things. In the end, however, their lawfulness is expressed in them. Thus thinking is at the same time an actively working mental organ of perception. I can only recognise that a thrown stone follows an approximately parabolic path if I have formed the concept of the parabola through thinking. I can never gain it through external observation. It is present to me through intuition, through a purely spiritual experience of a purely spiritual content. The physicist Walter Heitler rightly said: "According to this, the law of nature would be an archetype, an "idea" - in the sense of the Greek word eidea - which nature follows and which man can perceive. This is then what is called the idea. Through this archetype, man is connected with nature."[1]

"The reality of freedom" is dealt with in the second main part of the "Philosophy of Freedom", in which Rudolf Steiner outlines the foundations of a future ethical individualism. Those who allow themselves to be guided in their actions only by their drives, by habits or by externally given commandments do not act freely. Only those who draw the reasons for their actions from pure thinking act freely and self-determinedly. He then acts out of moral intuition, through which he determines the lawfulness of his actions himself, adapts it to the given life situation through moral fantasy and implements it concretely through an appropriate moral technique. Nothing compels him, he acts out of insight and love for what he does. Misunderstanding is impossible between morally free people, since they draw their individual moral ideals from the world of ideas common to all.

This gives rise to the oft-quoted basic maxim of free people:

"Living in the love of action and let live in the understanding of the will of others is the fundamental maxim of free men." (Lit.:GA 4, p. p. 130)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

References

  1. ↑ Walter Heitler: Naturwissenschaft ist Geisteswissenschaft, Die Waage, Zurich 1972, p. 14
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