Human and Cosmic Thought

HUMAN AND COSMIC THOUGHT

Can there be such a discipline as the science of philosophy? What convinces us of the truth of a certain point of view? Why do we find it difficult to comprehend viewpoints that differ from our own? What are the inner foundations for our knowledge?

In these concentrated and aphoristic lectures, Rudolf Steiner demonstrates how there are twelve main philosophical standpoints and that fruitful progress in philosophy depends not upon defending one and refuting others but in learning to experience the validity of them all. An appreciation of the variety of possible world views not only sharpens and makes more flexible our own powers of thinking but also overcomes a narrow-minded one-sidedness and promotes tolerance and understanding of other people and their opinions.

Steiner goes on to show how our standpoint is also coloured by a particular ‘;soul mood’ which influences the way one actively pursues knowledge. Several philosophers and their works are characterised in this manner, throwing a remarkable light upon their contribution to philosophy.

Through such insight into the true nature of human thinking we are led to understand the nature of cosmic thought and of how the human being can be seen as a ‘;thought which is thought by the Hierarchies of the cosmos’.