Die Anthroposophie Rudolf Steiners (1861-1925) ist eine der wichtigsten esoterischen Traditionen der Gegenwart. Ihre Bedeutung verdankt sie nicht nur Steiners stark philosophisch geprägter Weltanschauung aus dem Geist des Okkultismus, sondern vor allem den Praxisfeldern: Waldorfschulen, anthroposophischen Krankenhäusern, der biodynamischen Landwirtschaft und den weniger bekannten Dimensionen (Banken, Hochschulen, Stiftungen)... Die wissenschaftliche Forschung ist jedoch bislang schwach. Zwar liegen einige grundlegende Publikationen vor, an Detailforschung fehlt es jedoch überall. Der vorliegende Band enthält exemplarische Forschungen zu Waldorfpädagogik, Landwirtschaft, Steiners Philosophie, Kunst (Hilma af (...) Klint), Entwicklungen nach 1945 sowie Länderstudien (Bulgarien, Rumänien). Der Forschungsstand wird darüber hinaus durch bibliographische Informationen zu wichtigen Praxisfeldern sowie einen einleitenden Überblick über aktuelle Debatten dokumentiert. Damit wird Einstieg in die Anthroposophieforschung sowohl für akademische Forscher/-innen als auch für Interessenten der Praxisfelder erleichtert. Somit ermöglicht dieser Band auch eine Orientierung angesichts des Dschungels der weltanschaulich geprägten Literatur. (shrink)

Suhrllekah. Festgabe für Helmut Eimer. Edited by Michael Hahn, Jens-Uwe Hartmann and Roland Steiner. Indica et Tibetica Verlag, Swisttal-Odendorf 1996. xxii, 282 pp. DM48. ISBN 3-923776-28-4.

"Ist der Mensch in seinem Denken und Handeln ein geistig freies Wesen oder steht er unter dem Zwange einer rein naturgesetzlichen ehernen Notwendigkeit? Auf wenige Fragen ist so viel Scharfsinn gewendet worden als auf diese. Die Idee der Freiheit des menschlichen Willens hat warme Anhänger wie hartnäckige Gegner in reicher Zahl gefunden. Ein und dasselbe Ding wird hier gleich oft für das kostbarste Gut der Menschheit wie für die ärgste Illusion erklärt." Rudolf Steiner (Gröls-Klassiker - Edition Werke der Weltliteratur).

Gary Steiner argues that ethologists and philosophers in the analytic and continental traditions have largely failed to advance an adequate explanation of animal behavior. Critically engaging the positions of Marc Hauser, Daniel Dennett, Donald Davidson, John Searle, Martin Heidegger, and Hans-Georg Gadamer, among others, Steiner shows how the Western philosophical tradition has forced animals into human experiential categories in order to make sense of their cognitive abilities and moral status and how desperately we need a new approach to (...) animal rights. Steiner rejects the traditional assumption that a lack of formal rationality confers an inferior moral status on animals vis-à-vis human beings. Instead, he offers an associationist view of animal cognition in which animals grasp and adapt to their environments without employing concepts or intentionality. Steiner challenges the standard assumption of liberal individualism according to which humans have no obligations of justice toward animals. Instead, he advocates a "cosmic holism" that attributes a moral status to animals equivalent to that of people. Arguing for a relationship of justice between humans and nature, Steiner emphasizes our kinship with animals and the fundamental moral obligations entailed by this kinship. (shrink)

This paper argues that essential features of Feyerabend's philosophy, namely his radicalization of critical rationalism and his turn to relativism, could be understood better in the light of his engagement with early Greek thought. In contrast to his earlier, Popperian views he came to see the Homeric worldview as a genuine alternative, which was not falsified by the Presocratics. Unlike socio–psychological and externalist accounts my reading of his published and unpublished material suggests that his alternative reconstruction of the ancient beginnings (...) of the Western scientific tradition motivate and justify his moderate Protagorean relativism. (shrink)

In _Animals and the Limits of Postmodernism_, Gary Steiner illuminates postmodernism's inability to produce viable ethical and political principles. Ethics requires notions of self, agency, and value that are not available to postmodernists. Thus, much of what is published under the rubric of postmodernist theory lacks a proper basis for a systematic engagement with ethics. Steiner demonstrates this through a provocative critique of postmodernist approaches to the moral status of animals, set against the background of a broader indictment (...) of postmodernism's failure to establish clear principles for action. He revisits the ideas of Derrida, Foucault, Nietzsche, and Heidegger, together with recent work by their American interpreters, and shows that the basic terms of postmodern thought are incompatible with definitive claims about the moral status of animals--as well as humans. Steiner also identifies the failures of liberal humanist thought in regards to this same moral dilemma, and he encourages a rethinking of humanist ideas in a way that avoids the anthropocentric limitations of traditional humanist thought. Drawing on the achievements of the Stoics and Kant, he builds on his earlier ideas of cosmic holism and non-anthropocentric cosmopolitanism to arrive at a more concrete foundation for animal rights. (shrink)

With characteristic lucidity and style, Steiner makes Heidegger's immensely difficult body of work accessible to the general reader. In a new introduction, Steiner addresses language and philosophy and the rise of Nazism. "It would be hard to imagine a better introduction to the work of philosopher Martin Heidegger."--George Kateb, The New Republic.

An anthology of writings by and about Rudolf Steiner qua economist that documents his search for a deeper understanding of modern economic life. This book throws light on many of the problems that face us today, problems that we cannot solve unless we take hold of the economic life in a conscious, human way and resist the temptation to defer to market forces alone. Though well-known as a seer, the idea of Rudolf Steiner as an economist may seem (...) surprising. Seers do not usually have much concrete to say about economic life, beyond laments about its evils and injunctions that it be guided by some moral dimension. Rudolf Steiner, however, gave many lectures and wrote many articles about modern economic life, which he saw as the arena in which humanity has to find a new relationship to the spirituality that formerly came from above or outside -- from churches and external principles. Today the human being has to find morality within, which one cannot fully do unless one takes hold of the economic realm in a conscious, human way. Whether through concrete references to the meaning and working of money, or in attempting to give a fuller understanding of work or of the significance of market economics in our time, Steiner shows himself to be well versed in the subject. This publication presents a selection of his articles in a context of essays by Christopher Houghton Budd. (shrink)

This book addresses the perennial question: What is justice?

A comparison of attitudes among managers from France, Germany and the United States is made with respect to codes of ethics and ethical business philosophy. Findings are also compared with past studies by Baumhart and by Brenner and Molander where data are available. While the current data appear to be consistent with the past studies, there appear to be differences in attitudes among the managers from the three countries.

IN THIS ESSAY WE ARGUE FOR A RECONFIGURATION OF JUST WAR THEORY around the principle of just intention. A just intention—based just war theory can overcome problems inherent in two alternative "ideal-typical" accounts of just war theory. The "internationalist" account argues for the promotion of justice, by analogy to its pursuit in domestic politics. The "realist" account, on the other hand, favors the particular manifestations of justice within states. Taken together, these two accounts complement each other and emphasize genuine goods. (...) The possibility of taken them together, however, arises only out of consideration of just war theory as a peacemaking activity, ordered to the end, or intention, of this political act. If just war theory is not so understood, there is no possibility of drawing together these two complementary accounts. (shrink)

In a remarkable book, one of the preeminent essayists and literary thinkers of our era concerns himself with language and its relation to literature and religion. Written during a period when the art of reading and the status of a text have been threatened by literary movements that question their validity and by computer technology, Steiner's essays affirm the primacy of reading in the classical sense.

Driven by the question, 'What is the computational content of a (formal) proof?', this book studies fundamental interactions between proof theory and computability. It provides a unique self-contained text for advanced students and researchers in mathematical logic and computer science. Part I covers basic proof theory, computability and Gödel's theorems. Part II studies and classifies provable recursion in classical systems, from fragments of Peano arithmetic up to Π11-CA0. Ordinal analysis and the (Schwichtenberg-Wainer) subrecursive hierarchies play a central role and are (...) used in proving the 'modified finite Ramsey' and 'extended Kruskal' independence results for PA and Π11-CA0. Part III develops the theoretical underpinnings of the first author's proof assistant MINLOG. Three chapters cover higher-type computability via information systems, a constructive theory TCF of computable functionals, realizability, Dialectica interpretation, computationally significant quantifiers and connectives and polytime complexity in a two-sorted, higher-type arithmetic with linear logic. (shrink)

Die wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit ökologischen Problemen beim Sporttreiben ist weitgehend noch Neuland. Der vorliegende interdisziplinäre Sammelband greift die Diskussion um sportpädagogische und sportpraktische Lösungsansätze auf. Er fragt nach den spezifischen ökologischen Problemen des Breitensports und nach den Konsequenzen, die aus ökologisch unverträglichen Sportentwicklungen für die Sportpädagogik und die Sportlehrer-Ausbildung zu ziehen sind. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt liegt auf dem Thema Sport und Gesundheit. Dabei kommen vor allem die präventiven und rehabilitativen Wirkungen gesundheits- und naturbewussten Sporttreibens in den Blick. Abschliessend werden die (...) besondere Stellung und Aufgabe des Hochschulsports, seine ökologischen Herausforderungen und seine Bedeutung für die Bewältigung des Lebens- und Berufsalltags thematisiert. (shrink)

This book contains a collection of important recent writing on left-liberalism, a political philosophy that recognizes both strong liberty rights and strong ...

He finds the key in the concept of responsibility, which implies not only the freedom and flexibility of responsiveness to others but also a guiding ideal of ...

In this chapter, I pursue two aims. Firstly, I propose an original survey and analysis of the way proponents of 4E cognition have until now defined the relations between normativity and cognitive science. A first distinction is made between making normativity an explanandum of 4E cognitive science, and turning normativity into a property or part of the explanantia of 4E cognitive science. Inside of the latter option, one must distinguish between methodological, ontological and semantic claims on the value of normativity (...) for studying and defining cognitive phenomena. The second aim of the paper consists in developing the further claim that normativity is an essential property of daily intentional concepts and of scientific concepts. I show how 4E cognition might further develop this latter claim in the context of recent debates about cognitive ontologies in neuroscience. (shrink)