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The Rudolf Steiner Archive

a project of Steiner Online Library, a public charity

Meditatively Acquired Knowledge of Man

These lectures are the first 4 of 9 lectures in the lecture series entitled, Education and Instruction ..., published in German as, Erziehung und Unterricht aus Menschenerkenntnis, And the second lecture in the lecture series entitled, Social Questions and their Spiritual Background. published in German as, Geisteswissenschaftliche Erkenntnis und Soziales Verstandnis.

Speaking to the teachers at the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Steiner asserts that the unfortunate presence of dishonesty and alienation in society today cannot be addressed without a completely renewed and holistic education. He states fact that successful teaching requires a living synthesis of the “spiritual gymnast,” the “ensouled rhetorician,” and the “intellectual professor.” Of these, the formative effect of the rhetorician's cultivation of artistic speech is the most important.

Also the second of 15 lectures given at Dornach in the Fall of 1919. It is from the lecture series entitled, Social Questions and their Spiritual Background, published in German as, Soziales Verstaendnis aus Geisteswissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis. Die geistigen Hinterfruende der sozialen Frage. Band III.

Meditatively Acquired Knowledge of Man
I.The Pedagogy of the West and of Central Europe: The Inner Attitude of the Teacher September 15, 1920
II.The Three Fundamental Forces in Education September 16, 1920
III.Spiritual Knowledge of Man as the Fount of Educational September 21, 1920
IV.The Art of Education Consists of Bringing Into Balance the Physical and Spiritual Nature of the Developing Human Being September 22, 1920
Social Understanding through Spiritual Scientific Knowledge
V.Social Understanding Through Spiritual Scientific Knowledge October 04, 1919