Bologna lecture

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The so-called Bologna Lecture was given by Rudolf Steiner on 8 April 1911 at the IV International Congress of Philosophy in Bologna. It was the first and only lecture in which Rudolf Steiner presented the epistemological foundations of Theosophy or Anthroposophy to an international philosophically and scientifically trained audience. The lecture was published under the title "The Psychological Foundations and the Epistemological Position of Theosophy"[1] (Lit.:GA 35, p. 111ff) in the official congress proceedings "Atti del IV Congresso Internazionale di Filosofia Bologna MCMXI", Genoa o. J.[1]. Although the lecture was followed by a lively discussion, Rudolf Steiner was aware that, in accordance with the contemporary scientific way of thinking, it would find little further resonance. Nevertheless, he attached great importance to this lecture, as it documented the epistemological foundations of anthroposophy (or theosophy) in a recognised scientific context.

Central ideas

In his auto-abstract entitled "A Word on Theosophy at the IV International Congress of Philosophy" Rudolf Steiner summarised the central ideas. At the same time he gives an extremely clear and compact overview of the anthroposophical path of spiritual training. Whereas all contemporary efforts at cognition are based on the present sensual, rational state of consciousness, anthroposophy, before it begins with the actual activity of cognition, strives through specific training for an expansion of the capacity of consciousness and cognition through imagination, inspiration and intuition, through which supersensible higher worlds would also open up to clear scientific cognition.

„Theosophy, however, in the sense in which the speaker represents it, must say of the soul that it can rise above the so-called normal state and thereby extend its powers of cognition from the realm of the sensuous and intellectual into that of the supersensible. However, by such a different state of the soul is not meant that which in ordinary psychology is called the 'subconscious' or 'unconscious', nor that of a vision, ecstasy or the like, but a state which can be reached under the strictest self-control of the soul. In order to attain it, the soul must subject itself to rigorous, intimate exercises. It must permeate itself with ideas, thoughts and sensations which do not bear the ordinary character of images of an externally real thing, but which have a more symbolic character. The soul must now exclude from its life all sensual, memory and intellectual impressions and contents, and in continual repetition become completely unified again and again with the characterised symbolic ideas. The result is a very specific experience which consists in the soul grasping itself as an inner reality which rests in itself independently of the body's organisation. Through this experience, the man knows that as a soul he can really live independently of his body. The exercises must continue from this point. Man must again remove the symbolic ideas from his soul-life and direct his inner sense only to his own activity, to that activity through which he has experienced the symbols in himself. Through this exercise a condensation of the soul independent of the body is achieved; and into this inner life now flows the content of a spiritual world in the same way as the sensuous content flows into sensuous perception when eyes and ears are directed towards the physical outer world. New stages of cognition are thus opened up; the first, in which the symbolic conceptions transform the life of the soul, may be called imaginative cognition, the second, which arises only when the symbols have again been removed from consciousness, cognition by inspiration. The speaker then went on to point out how the theory of science at present could not agree with such a description of the development of the soul, because from the outset it shifts the "I" of the human being into the bodily inner world. But an epistemology of the future will recognise that the I in truth already lies in the spiritual outer world and that the ordinary I is only reflected as its image in the bodily organisation. Such a theory of knowledge will be able to reconcile itself completely with Theosophy.“ (Lit.:GA 35, p. 152ff)

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. ↑ German: "Die psychologischen Grundlagen und die erkenntnistheoretische Stellung der Theosophie"
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