Abstract
This paper tries to delineate some of the relations between Romantic philosophy and Steiner’s views of child and human development. Philosophical Romanticism and its roots in ideas of the Western esoteric tradition are described. Similar conceptions are found also in Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy. Against this backdrop, more specific comparisons are made between the Romantic philosophy of childhood and Steiner’s views on the nature of the child and child development. One important aspect is the Romantic emphasis on metamorphosis, which is also present in Steiner’s view of child development, sometimes in counter-intuitive ways. All of this stands in sharp contrast to the fragmented, linear, and reductionist nature of most of present-day development theories. Classical long-span stage theories of development (Freud, Piaget a. o.) seem to have lost much of their import for educational practice, partly due to critique from post-structural educational perspectives. In these perspectives, the question of the nature of the child is seen as without essential value and therefore tends to disappear.
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Aufsatz versucht, einige Beziehungen zwischen der romantischen Philosophie und Steiners Ansichten über die kindliche und menschliche Entwicklung zu beschreiben. Es werden die philosophische Romantik und ihre Wurzeln in den Ideen der westlichen esoterischen Tradition beschrieben. Ähnliche Vorstellungen finden sich auch in Rudolf Steiners Anthroposophie. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden spezifische Vergleiche zwischen der romantischen Philosophie der Kindheit und Steiners Ansichten über die Natur des Kindes und die kindliche Entwicklung dargestellt. Ein wichtiger Aspekt betrifft die romantische Betonung der Metamorphose, die auch in Steiners Sicht auf die kindliche Entwicklung zum Teil kontra-intuitiv ist. All dies steht in scharfem Kontrast zu der fragmentierten, linearen und reduktionistischen Natur der meisten heutigen Entwicklungstheorien. Klassische langphasige Entwicklungstheorien (Freud, Piaget u. a.) scheinen einen großen Teil ihrer Bedeutung für die Bildungspraxis verloren zu haben, was teilweise auf die Kritik aus poststrukturellen Bildungsperspektiven zurückzuführen ist. Unter diesen Perspektiven wird der Frage nach der Natur des Kindes kein wesentlicher Wert zugebilligt und sie verschwindet daher tendenziell.
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Notes
- 1.
For instance, Hanegraaff’s book “Esotericism and the academy” (2012)—which covers more than 400 pages—mentions Steiner only in passing in two footnotes (!). However, a scholarly editing of Steiner’s work, with critical commentaries, is presently carried out in Germany by Christian Clement (one volume of which is reviewed by David W. Wood (n.d), “The scholarly Steiner”, available at https://southerncrossreview.org/97/wood-clement-steiner.htm [accessed 2019-12-11]).
- 2.
The notion of an esoteric stream is of course subject to the same problem as that of a Romantic movement: it consists of several elements and traditions such as the Kabbalah, Hermeticism, Gnosticism, Alchemy, Theosophy etc. But some of these different traditions have come together at certain points in Western cultural history, for instance in Romanticism, but also in the Renaissance, in early twentieth century Theosophy/Anthroposophy, and in present day New Age-ism (cf. McGrath 2012, p. 21 f). “Esotericism” refers to such fusions as well as to more particular cultural traditions and is inherently pluralistic.
- 3.
Of course, it is not enough to find just one or two such basic principles. So, the next question is, how many do we need?
- 4.
Correspondence thinking is a view of nature according to which phenomena in different realms can be expressions of the same underlying archetype; thus, a particular metal (e.g. silver) may “correspond” to a particular planet (the moon).
- 5.
“Indem ich dem Gemeinen einen hohen Sinn, dem Gewöhlichen ein geheimnisvolles Ansehn, dem Bekannten die Würde des Unbekannten, dem Endlichen einen unendlichen Schein gebe so romantisire ich es.”.
- 6.
Steiner’s educational writings and lectures encompasses 19 volumes (around 3 800 pages). I have not had the possibility to read all of this – and I have probably not assimilated everything that I have read.
- 7.
And perhaps still are. In the sociology of childhood, at least a certain “emotionalization of childhood” has been noted among parents. Children become “providers of meaning for their parent’s life” (“Sinnlieferanten für das Leben ihrer Eltern”, Göppel 1997, p. 362).
- 8.
Verse 55; see https://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/taote.htm). For more examples, see Kennedy (2000, pp. 518f.) and Dahlin (2013, s. 26).
- 9.
This aspect of Novalis’ cultural critique has an obvious later parallel in T.S. Eliot’s famous poem “The Waste Land”, which describes a dried up and degenerated world. Such sentiments actually have an esoteric forerunner in an ancient Hermetic text in which Hermes tells his disciple Asclepius that “A time will come when […] divinity will withdraw from the earth to heaven” (cf. Hanegraaff 2012, p. 255). One could understand this prophecy as pointing to what Steiner calls the cultural epoch of the “consciousness soul”, which began in the fifteenth century. In this epoch the consciousness of mankind is restricted to the physical world. Ontological materialism therefore seems to be the only reasonable world view. But this also entails a challenge for humanity to rediscover the spiritual world while maintaining a clear ego-consciousness (Steiner 1998).
- 10.
In parallel to this, Steiner’s ideas about social three-folding (Steiner 1985) were – in my view – about creating the social conditions in which all people have the same external possibilities to develop themselves spiritually.
- 11.
Such an understanding of childhood, Smeyers and Masschelein (2001) argue, is a necessary complement to the instrumental rationality of educational institutions, where more or less rigorous measurement and testing now tend to become the main basis for pedagogical actions.
- 12.
See Dahlin (2017, pp. 30ff.) for more about Steiner’s relation to Christianity.
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Dahlin, B. (2021). A Spiritual Vision of the Child. Romanticism, Esotericism, and Steiner’s Educational Thought. In: Stoltz, T., Wiehl, A. (eds) Education – Spirituality – Creativity. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32968-6_3
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