Intellectualism

Intellectualism (from the Latin: intellectus "to become aware of, to perceive, to know") refers on the one hand to an excessive and one-sided emphasis on the intellect over the will (cf. voluntarism) and all values of the mind and character. This does not lead to real knowledge. In fact, as Rudolf Steiner emphatically points out, the intellect is not there for cognition at all:

„Yes, natural phenomena spoke to the ancients in such a way that they revealed spiritual things to them. Spirit spoke from every spring, from every cloud, from every plant. By becoming acquainted with natural phenomena and natural beings in their own way, men came to know the spiritual. This is no longer the case. An intermediate state is only the state of intellectualism. For what is the deepest characteristic of this intellectualism? That with it, with pure intellectuality, one can recognise nothing at all. The intellect is not there for cognition. That is the great error to which man can succumb, that the intellect is there for cognition. Men will only know again when they enter into that which lies at the basis of spiritual-scientific research, which is at least mediated by imagination. People will only recognise again when they say to themselves: In ancient times spiritual and divine beings spoke out of natural phenomena. They do not speak for the intellect. For the higher, for the supersensible knowledge, natural phenomena will not speak directly, for nature as such works silently, but beings will speak to man which will appear to him in imaginations, which will inspire him, with which he will unite intuitively, and which he in turn will be able to relate to the natural phenomena. - Thus one can say: In ancient times the spiritual appeared to man through nature. In our intermediate state man has the intellect. Nature remains spiritless. Man will rise to a state where he can again recognise, where nature will no longer speak to him of the divine-spiritual, but where he will grasp the divine-spiritual in supersensible knowledge, and where he will thereby again be able to relate this spiritual to nature.“ (Lit.:GA 200, p. 86f)

„He who wants to find something in spiritual investigation out of the spiritual worlds must beware of mere combinations of concepts or associations of ideas. For what one conceives is usually the opposite of the truth, or at least something very different from the truth. It is precisely the deeper truths that appear paradoxical at first. They can only be found through real experience, through real experience.“ (Lit.:GA 203, p. 36)

In addition, intellectualism is a philosophical view according to which the intellect determines the good (ethical or moral intellectualism), can grasp everything that exists (epistemological intellectualism) and is understood as the ground of the world (metaphysical intellectualism). Representatives of this view were, among others, Socrates and Thomas Aquinas.

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Die neue Geistigkeit und das Christus-Erlebnis des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts, GA 200 (2003), ISBN 3-7274-2000-6 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Die Verantwortung des Menschen für die Weltentwickelung durch seinen geistigen Zusammenhang mit dem Erdplaneten und der Sternenwelt, GA 203 (1989), ISBN 3-7274-2030-8 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.