The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity: A Modern Philosophy of Life Developed by Scientific MethodsSteiner, Rudolf
Religion
The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity: A Modern Philosophy of Life Developed by Scientific Methods
Steiner, Rudolf
Anthroposophy; Free will and determinism; Knowledge, Theory of; Life
seeing that the essential nature of Matter is quite alien to Mind? Or
how in these circumstances should Mind act upon Matter, so as to
translate its intentions into actions? The most absurd hypotheses
have been propounded to answer these questions. However, up to the
present the Monists are not in a much better position. They have tried
three different ways of meeting the difficulty. Either they deny Mind
and become Materialists; or they deny Matter in order to seek their
salvation as Spiritualists; or they assert that, even in the simplest
entities in the world, Mind and Matter are indissolubly bound together,
so that there is no need to marvel at the appearance in man of these
two modes of existence, seeing that they are never found apart.
Materialism can never offer a satisfactory explanation of the
world. For every attempt at an explanation must begin with the
formation of thoughts about the phenomena of the world. Materialism,
thus, begins with the thought of Matter or material processes. But,
in doing so, it is ipso facto confronted by two different sets
of facts, viz., the material world and the thoughts about it. The
Materialist seeks to make these latter intelligible by regarding them
as purely material processes. He believes that thinking takes place
in the brain, much in the same way that digestion takes place in the
animal organs. Just as he ascribes mechanical, chemical, and organic
processes to Nature, so he credits her in certain circumstances
with the capacity to think. He overlooks that, in doing so, he is
merely shifting the problem from one place to another. Instead of
to himself he ascribes the power of thought to Matter. And thus he
is back again at his starting-point. How does Matter come to think
of its own nature? Why is it not simply satisfied with itself and
content to accept its own existence? The Materialist has turned his
attention away from the definite subject, his own self, and occupies
himself with an indefinite shadowy somewhat. And here the old problem
meets him again. The materialistic theory cannot solve the problem;
it can only shift it to another place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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