December 2004 Archives

So that was the first paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier's Anthroposophy and Ecofascism. It tries really hard to make Steiner a nationalist. This is not an easy task, as Steiner simply was not a nationalist, and was outspoken throughout his lifetime about the dangers of nationalism. One distortion is to mistranslate "Volk" as "National". If Staudenmaier professes to be an expert on Fascism then certainly he knows the difference between "Volk" (Folk) and "Nation". So either he is not nearly the expert he pretends to be, or he as deliberately mistranslated the sentence. Likewise the "national souls" don't exist in Steiner. Steiner talks of "Folk Souls". The nation is an artificial construct that comes late in European history. Folks, or Peoples, existed long before. Steiner talks of "Folk Souls", not "National Souls". This puts him together with German and other Idealist philosophers (I am aware that these ideas have been misused by the Nazi's, and that the very concept of Folk Souls is now suspect to anti-fascist crusaders). Mistranslating to "national souls" help demonstrate nationalism, but it is very underhanded. And finally the non-existant nordic-gremanic sub-race is the ultimate demonstration of Staudenmaier's method (it simply does not exist; Staudenmaier made it up to smear Steiner).

Staudenmaier is also ignorant of the details of Steiner's life and work, picking up just enough to hang himself by weaving it into a narrative that shows he hasn't really researched any details. And this he passes off as "scholarship".

Continuing my analysis of Peter Staudenmaier's
first footnote in Anthroposophy and Ecofascism.

Peter Staudenmaier's writes in his first footnote:
The "Nordic spirit" of Scandinavia continues to fascinate German anthroposophists; see, for example, Hans Mändl, Vom Geist des Nordens, Stuttgart 1966.

Yes, "'Nordic spirit' of Scandinavia" continued to fascinate at least one anthroposophist as late as 1966. The book Vom Geist des Nordens by Hans Mändl is the work of an Austrian Jew who fled the Nazis in 1938 and lived in Sweden until his death in the 1970's. (So the implication that Mändl is German would be incorrect - see http://hem.passagen.se/thebee/comments/PS/Untruths-of-Staudenmaier-2.htm). For Staudenmaier's assertion that Hans Mändl's book is proof that "the 'Nordic spirit' of Scandinavia continues to fascinate German anthroposophists" there is scant evidence.

It appears that Staudenmaier has placed the footnote simply to appear scholarly and informed. It doesn't actually give sources for any of the facts that he claimed in the paragraph. Nor is it even accurate as it stands, which is typical of the entire piece. It's funny how the little details seem to persistently trip up Staudenmaier's thesis.

Continuing my analysis of the first paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier'sAnthroposophy and Ecofascism.

In his book "The Mission of the Individual Folk Souls" the only thing Steiner might appear guilty of is making generalizations about the different races. Throughout the book he is careful to reiterate that there is no basis for claiming the superiority of one race over another. And even Steiner's generalizations seem value-free. For example, we hear:

"If we state that the negro race was born of the cooperation between the normal Spirits of Form and the abnormal Spirits of Form centered in Mercury, then from an occult standpoint we are perfectly correct in describing the Negro race as the Mercury race"
(Rudolf Steiner. The Mission of the Individual Folk Souls in relation to Teutonic Mythology. London 1970, page 101. Lecture of June 12th, 1910.) The German original is Rudolf Steiner. Die Mission einzelner Volksseelen im Zusammenhange mit der germanisch-nordischen Mythologie. Dornach 1962, page 104 and reads:
"Wenn wir den Punkt, den wir vor einigen Tagen in unseren Darstellungen in Afrika gefunden haben, uns jetzt näher dadurch charakterisieren, daß, weil die normalen Geister der Form zusammenwirken mit denjenigen abnormen Geistern der Form, die im Merkur zentriert sind, die Rasse der Neger entsteht, so bezeichnen wir okkult ganz richtig das, was in der schwarzen Rasse herauskommt, als die Merkur-Rasse."

Lest the reader think that the reference to the working of the abnormal Spirits of Form is unique to the negro race and therefore constitutes a denigration of that race, I should point out that in the previous pages Steiner had just finished describing how all races are caused by the combined work of normal and abnormal spirits of form. The reader can verify this statement by reading the whole lecture, which I have posted online.

Europeans are described as the "Jupiter Race" - the Europeans, not the Aryans, not the Germans and not the Scandinavians). An unsympathetic critic with no understanding of Steiner's spiritual science might call the whole idea silly, but it hardly constitutes a doctrine of Aryan superiority. And it is flatly counter to the claim that Steiner's teaching promotes genocide when Steiner specifically points out that all ethnic groups, no matter how small, have an important role to play in the evolution of humanity. This will not be the last time that Staudenmaier finds himself being flatly contradicted by his source material.

Note that Staudenmaier's footnote, which one would expect to indicate the source of his claims - perhaps a page number or the date of the lecture from which his summary is derived - instead informs us that a later student of Steiner continued to be fascinated by the concepts of the book, offering as proof the title of a book published in 1966. The book is titled "Concerning the Spirit of the North". I should point out that passing judgment on a book on the basis of its title is hardly the mark of serious scholarship.

Continuing my analysis of the first paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier'sAnthroposophy and Ecofascism.

While the summary of the nonexistent lecture given above bears some superficial resemblance to a few themes in the book it flatly contradicts Steiner's actual thesis. For one, no portion refers to the superiority of the fifth root race (nor has Staudenmaier been able to produce one during a back and forth discussion of several months on a public e-mail list). We find at the start of lecture five (June11th, 1910):

"It will be seen from the last lecture that if we wish to make an impartial study of the facts underlying our present investigation we must transcend those prejudices which might easily arise on matters which I must now describe objectively. So long as one has the slightest tendency to take personally an objective description of a particular race or people, it will be difficult to reach a unprejudiced understanding of the facts presented in this lecture-course. For this reason these matters can only be discussed in the light of a systematic knowledge of the spirit. For however deeply one may be involved emotionally in a particular people or race, as Anthroposophists we have an adequate counterpoise in the teaching of karma and reincarnation, when rightly understood. This teaching opens a vista into the future and reveals that our integral Self is incarnated in successive ages in different races and peoples. When we contemplate the destiny of our integral Self we may be sure that we shall share not only the positive or perhaps also the negative aspects of all races and peoples; but we may be sure that in our inmost being we shall also receive the countless blessings of all races and all peoples since we are incarnated in different races at different times.
"Our consciousness, our horizon, is enlarged through these ideas of karma and reincarnation. Only through these teachings therefore do we learn to accept what is revealed to us at the present time concerning the mysterious relations of race and nation. If we rightly understand the theme of these lectures we shall harbor no regrets at having incarnated in a particular people or race. But an objective survey of national and racial characteristics may, nonetheless, provoke dissension and disharmony unless it is accepted in the spirit I have already suggested. The aspirant for spiritual knowledge will learn through the teachings of karma and reincarnation how every nation, even the smallest nation, has to contribute its share towards the total evolution of humanity. In the second part of this lecture-course I propose to show - and herein lies its real importance - how the particular influences of the missions of the several peoples are merged in the whole of humanity and how even isolated ethic groups which are scattered here and there amongst larger national groups have their part to play in the great harmony of human evolution."
Rudolf Steiner. The Mission of the Individual Folk Souls in relation to Teutonic Mythology. London 1970, pages 82-83.

So rather than a paean to the superiority of an Aryan race we find Steiner praising the virtues of all races and telling his listeners that they will reincarnate into every race.

Continuing my analysis of the first paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier'sAnthroposophy and Ecofascism.

During the period of the Norway "tour" many of Rudolf Steiner's lectures were attended by as little as 10 to as many as 100 people. By all accounts Steiner's listeners were generally attentive. (Various sources put the audience size at about 70. Whether this constitutes a "large" audience depends on your definition and perspective). I am not sure where Peter Staudenmaier got his information on the audience size; it is not in any of his cited sources, so perhaps he made it up, an "opening device" or "hook" for the Norwegian readers of the article. (Peter Staudenmaier, in an e-mail posting to the Waldorf Critics list: " Writers call this an 'opening device'," and " I"I used [the non-existent lecture] merely for the Norway hook and to introduce Steiner's terminology. ")

The lecture referenced in Staudenmaier's text above cannot be identified with any of the known Steiner lecture texts from this period in Norway, a fact that Peter Staudenmaier has not been able to explain. When challenged on this by Sune Nordwall, he first claimed that his source was the rare 1911 German version. This edition has never been translated into English. Without any actual evidence, he continued to claim that the 1911 version would support his writing. However, a comparison of the 1911 edition with the 1922 edition shows only minor corrections to words and phrases within sentences, and not a wholesale rearrangement of content. Later Staudenmaier admitted, "Everything I wrote in my paragraph was based on secondary sources" but continues to argue that his secondary sources are more accurate than the primary source. Further, a check of the only secondary source mentioned by Staudenmaier- Hans Mändl's Vom Geist des Nordens, page 6 - clearly states that the title refers to the entire series of lectures and not to an individual lecture as Staudenmaier claims. (see http://hem.passagen.se/thebee/comments/PS/Untruths-of-Staudenmaier-2.htm). It is typical of the quality of his scholarship that Staudenmaier cannot acknowledge an error that obvious, and his attempts to weasel out are quite telling of his relationship to truth. He appears to feel comfortable making things up if he feels that it is unlikely anyone will catch him on it, and cannot face up to his errors when they are pointed out to him.
Paragraph 1 commentary to be continued…

One of the longest sections of my Defending Steiner website is my rebuttal to Staudenmaier's piece of attack journalism Anthroposophy and Ecofascism. The piece itself is quite a work. It is well-written and quite effective. If you had never heard of Rudolf Steiner or Anthroposophy, then after reading it you would doubtless feel convinced that you now knew what was really going on. There is only one small problem with the whole piece: it is almost completely inaccurate. From the sweeping conclusions to the minor details it is all wrong. Indeed, it is amazing how someone can write something to be almost the exact opposite of the truth. Really amazing. Well, I can opine at length about how wrong the article is, but that is unlikely to convince anyone. Instead I should provide evidence and reasons as to why I feel it is wrong. So let's start…

Peter Staudenmaier writes in Paragraph 1: In June 1910 Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, began a speaking tour of Norway with a lecture to a large and attentive audience in Oslo. The lecture was titled "The Mission of Individual European National Souls in Relation to Nordic-Germanic Mythology." In the Oslo lecture and throughout his Norwegian tour Steiner presented his theory of "national souls" (Volksseelen in German, Steiner's native tongue) and paid particular attention to the mysterious wonders of the "Nordic spirit." The "national souls" of Northern and Central Europe were, Steiner explained, components of the "germanic-nordic sub-race," the world's most spiritually advanced ethnic group, which was in turn the vanguard of the highest of five historical "root races." This superior fifth root race, Steiner told his Oslo audience, was naturally the "Aryan race."PS1

This introductory paragraph gets right down to business, introducing the thesis and supporting it with vivid examples. It is also inaccurate in almost every detail, which is characteristic of the entire piece. For one, Rudolf Steiner's speaking "tour" of Norway consisted entirely of lectures in Oslo over a two-week period. In addition Steiner gave two lectures in Oslo on June 13th, one about Christ, and one on philosophy, focusing on Hegel. This information can be found in Christoph Lindenberg's excellent Rudolf Steiner: Eine Chronik. (Stuttgart: 1988. Page 295.) This book is an exhaustive and accurate day-by-day and month-by-month chronology of Steiner's working life. You can look up what he was lecturing on and writing at any given point in time. At a glance we can see that immediately before Oslo Steiner was in Copenhagen (from June 2nd to 5th) lecturing on "Wege und Ziele des geistigen Menschen" (paths and goals of the spiritual human being) published in volume 125 of the complete works, and on the 22nd of June he was in Berlin, probably writing the first draft of his drama "The Portal of Initiation" (published in volume 44). Unfortunately this book is available only in German.

During this "tour" of Norway Steiner spoke primarily on the subject of "Folk Souls", in a series of eleven lectures from June 7th to June 17th, 1910 under the title "The Mission of Individual Folk Souls In Connection With Germanic-Nordic Mythology". In the German, "Die Mission Einzelner Volksseelen Im Zusammenhange Mit Der Germanisch-Nordischen Mythologie" Note the subtle but important change from "Individual Folk Souls" to "Individual European National Souls" in this erroneous translation. The word "European" appears nowhere in the German, and changing "Folk" to "National", while questionable from a translators perspective, was important for Staudenmaier's need to create evidence of Steiner's nationalism, because there is otherwise none present.

A transcript of these eleven lectures was published in book form in two different German versions and many editions. The version edited by Steiner for publication has been translated into several languages including English (twice).

This thread to be continued...