Anthroposophy and the Science of the Literary Arts and Humanities
Self-awareness and community building
A transition into spiritual scientific research of the individual disciplines of the Literary Arts and Humanities (literary studies, art history, history, philosophy, linguistics, etc.) needs to be made within a scientific frame of reference. From its subject of investigation, it must be so comprehensible that it does not represent a breach of knowledge. For this to succeed, it is necessary to clarify what spiritual scientific research is, on which preconditions it is based and what the respective academic-scientific approaches contribute to it. This follow-up question arises when research in the humanities can expand and stimulate academic research in individual areas.
In The Theory of Knowledge implicit in Goethe’s World Conception and later in various lectures on the subject, Rudolf Steiner repeatedly referred to the need for connecting academic science and spiritual science. He developed perspectives for the natural sciences, history and the social sciences, as well as philosophy, linguistics and psychology. Little is available for literary and art studies. It is important to continue developing the indications of Steiner – a desideratum of today’s scientific society even more so than it was 100 years ago.