Sense of touch
The sense of touch (Latin: tactus) is one of the twelve physical senses of which Rudolf Steiner spoke in his theory of the senses. A distinction must be made between simple tactile perception, in which we only passively feel that we are being touched[1], and active and much more complex haptic perception (from the Greek: ἁπτός haptόs "tangible"), by means of which we specifically explore the objects of the external world through tactile "grasping". The sense of movement also plays an essential role in this. In 1892, the psychologist Max Dessoir coined the term haptics[2] for scientific research into the functions of the sense of touch.
The sense of touch is primarily directed towards the perception of the solid earth element. According to Rudolf Steiner, it only came into being during the evolution of the Earth and was not yet preformed at the earlier stages of world evolution.
„The sense of touch only developed with the mineral kingdom, but the mineral kingdom is a result of the earth's evolution. In the same sense in which we have developed the sense of touch on Earth through the mineral kingdom, it did not exist on the Moon; it had no sense there any more than the sense of life.“ (Lit.:GA 170, p. 120)
Literature
- Michael Pauen: Was ist der Mensch? Die Entdeckung der Natur des Geistes. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2007, ISBN 978-3-421-04224-8
- Siegler, Robert, Judy DeLoache und Nancy Eisenberg: Entwicklungspsychologie im Kindes- und Jugendalter, Spektrum, Heidelberg 2005
- Albert Soesman: Die zwölf Sinne. Tore der Seele. Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart 1995; 6. überarb. A. 2007, ISBN 978-3-7725-2161-4
- Rudolf Steiner: Das Rätsel des Menschen. Die geistigen Hintergründe der menschlichen Geschichte, GA 170 (1992), ISBN 3-7274-1700-5 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Mitteleuropa zwischen Ost und West, GA 174a (1982), ISBN 3-7274-1741-2 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
 |
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
- ↑ E. H. Weber: Die Lehre vom Tastsinne und Gemeingefühle auf Versuche gegründet, Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn 1851
- ↑ Max Dessoir: Über den Hautsinn, Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol., Physiol. Abt. 1892, S. 175–339.
