Rudolf Steiner developed during his lifetime: a philosophy, a new science and a cultural movement - all of which he variously described as "Anthroposophy" or as "anthroposophically inspired." To my mind, it is helpful to differential these three efforts.
His philosophy was initially focused on three key themes: (1) the freedom of the individual - and ethical individualism; (2) the reality of thinking as a spiritual faculty - and its capacity for development; and (3) on the wholeness (or monisism) of life - i.e. that the spiritual and the physical were not separate.
Steiner's "new" science is an effort to investigate - using scientific, logical and exacting methods of empirical observation - the spiritual at work in the physical. In this sense Steiner meant not just abstractions, but the real spiritual forces and beings at work in humanity, on Earth and in the universe.
The resulting cultural movement developed early and was initially more philosophical and as his spiritual science developed, so increasingly did the movement acquire new perspectives for practical development.
More on this ... to follow....
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“Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge which leads the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the Universe”
Rudolf Steiner
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