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
What then is a percept? This question, asked in this general way,
is absurd. A percept appears always as a perfectly determinate,
concrete content. This content is immediately given and is completely
contained in the given. The only question one can ask concerning
the given content is, what it is apart from perception, that is,
what it is for thought. The question concerning the "what" of a
percept can, therefore, only refer to the conceptual intuition which
corresponds to the percept. From this point of view, the problem of the
subjectivity of percepts, in the sense in which the Critical Idealists
debate it, cannot be raised at all. Only that which is experienced
as belonging to the subject can be termed "subjective." To form a
link between subject and object is impossible for any real process,
in the naïve sense of the word "real," in which it means a process
which can be perceived. That is possible only for thought. For us,
then, "objective" means that which, for perception, presents itself
as external to the perceiving subject. As subject of perception I
remain perceptible to myself after the table which now stands before
me has disappeared from my field of observation. The perception of the
table has produced a modification in me which persists like myself. I
preserve an image of the table which now forms part of my Self. Modern
Psychology terms this image a "memory-idea." Now this is the only
thing which has any right to be called the idea of the table. For it
is the perceptible modification of my own mental state through the
presence of the table in my visual field. Moreover, it does not mean
a modification in some "Ego-in-itself" behind the perceiving subject,
but the modification of the perceiving subject itself. The idea is,
therefore, a subjective percept, in contrast with the objective percept
which occurs when the object is present in the perceptual field. The
false identification of the subjective with this objective percept
leads to the misunderstanding of Idealism: The world is my idea.
Our next task must be to define the concept of "idea" more nearly. What
we have said about it so far does not give us the concept, but only
shows us where in the perceptual field ideas are to be found. The
exact concept of "idea" will also make it possible for us to obtain
a satisfactory understanding of the relation of idea and object. This
will then lead us over the border-line, where the relation of subject
to object is brought down from the purely conceptual field of knowledge
into concrete individual life. Once we know how we are to conceive
the world, it will be an easy task to adapt ourselves to it. Only
when we know to what object we are to devote our activity can we put
our whole energy into our actions.
ADDITION TO THE REVISED EDITION (1918).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account