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
It is usual to apply the title of "Naïve Realism" to the theory
which accepts as self-evident and indubitable the reality of the
world-picture which is immediately given to us. The opposite theory,
which regards this world as merely the content of our consciousness, is
called "Transcendental Idealism." Hence, we may sum up the outcome of
the above discussion by saying, "Transcendental Idealism demonstrates
its own truth, by employing the premises of the Naïve Realism which it
seeks to refute." Transcendental Idealism is true, if Naïve Realism is
false. But the falsity of the latter is shown only by assuming it to be
true. Once we clearly realise this situation, we have no choice but to
abandon this line of argument and to try another. But are we to trust
to good luck, and experiment about until we hit by accident upon the
right line? This is Eduard von Hartmann's view when he believes himself
to have shown the validity of his own epistemological standpoint, on
the ground that his theory explains the phenomena whereas its rivals
do not. According to his view, the several philosophical systems are
engaged in a sort of struggle for existence in which the fittest is
ultimately accepted as victor. But this method appears to us to be
unsuitable, if only for the reason that there may well be several
hypotheses which explain the phenomena equally satisfactorily. Hence,
we had better keep to the above line of thought for the refutation
of Naïve Realism, and see where precisely its deficiency lies. For,
after all, Naïve Realism is the view from which we all start out. For
this reason alone it is advisable to begin by setting it right. When
we have once understood why it must be defective, we shall be led
upon the right path with far greater certainty than if we proceed
simply at haphazard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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