Forming a Study of Economics in the Light of Anthroposophy

 

We would like to invite interested people to join in a new study on economics, enlightened by anthroposophy. This study will be based on the following guiding principles:

 

  1. The development of economic ideas and theory reflects also the historical development of scientific thinking and analysis, in particular the emerging model of observer consciousness in which human subjectivity is eliminated from the process of inquiry and exploration in the interests of creating an objective understanding of the world.
  2. This movement from an earlier participant consciousness which was much more group oriented to an observer consciousness (which puts the emphasis on the individual) is an important element in the development of the human being but clearly only one step in a long cosmic evolution.
  3. If this earlier participatory knowing (or science in the sense of human understanding of the world) was pre-mathematical and the classical scientific method of human knowledge-seeking mathematical, there is also a further stage of development that is post-mathematical (in which the free individual consciously acknowledges and acts as a social being).
  4. A post-mathematical science of economics would be a Goethean scientific approach to understanding economic phenomena – i.e. a spiritual scientific approach which uses as its essential methodology the indications of Rudolf Steiner in reference to human cognition, meditative activity and imagination.
  5. The present science of economics, as other social sciences, aiming to emulate  the robustness of natural science and to create a standard of scientific validity and reliability has removed almost all the essential human being. Economics in the Light of Anthroposophy is a study with the stated purpose of reintegrating the comprehensive human (with its full destiny) into an understanding of economics.

 

Proposed Method of Inquiry:  Believing that the task of our epoch is to become more conscious of the ideas that form our lives and that this activity, in itself, is a spiritual deed of significance and consequence, we strive to place an understanding of the pivotal economic ideas of our time into the larger context of the evolution of human consciousness, a spiritual understanding of the essential human spiritual tasks and the role of the earth evolution:

 

  1. We read the work of key economic thinkers. An introduction can be found at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_economic_thought).  A possible more detailed and more profound text is Robert Heilbroner’s The Worldly Philosophers along with his book of primary material from these thinkers “Teachings From the Worldly Philosophy”. We will primarily read the texts compiled in that wonderful reader that will guide us through centuries of the thinking of those economists.

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2.      As preparation we recommend to read or re-read Rudolf Steiner’s “Philosophy of Freedom” that treats the ideas of a general methodology of modern knowledge and Rudolf Steiner’s lecture on “World Economics”.

  

  1. In our discussion and analysis of the history and development of economic theory, we work to place this evolution alongside key developments in the spiritual evolution of humankind, relating the development of economic ideas to what else we know of concurrent philosophical, religious, artistic activity.

 

3.4.      We sort out a dozen or so key economic ideas and concepts and rigorously study them with the goal to understand the idea in its context, exposing them to philosophical/epistemological critique.

 

4.5.      We read Steiner and others to define the tasks of our epoch in the broader imagination of cosmic evolution.

 

5.1.6. We work to re-integrate economic theory with human values in the light of the particular spiritual tasks of our time.

 

 

These tasks are undertaken in awareness that this work requires meditative activity, individual research and presentation and most importantly conscious attention to the social form of working together. It is a fundamental assumption of the work that new ideas will only emerge in the context of a circle of conscious spiritual activity and that the answers to each individual’s research questions will come from the thoughts and speeches of another.

 

We will start on March 7, 2007 at 7 pm and plan to meet in a 2-week rhythm. The meetings will take place every second Wednesday (starting at March 7, 2007) from 7 - 9 pm at Neil and Cindy Weinberg’s house: 3504 E Terrace St, Seattle, WA 98122.

 

Please contact Alexander Rist (e-mail: alexjrist@msn.com) or Neil Weinberg (neil@neiljweinberg.com) if you are interested in participating.

 

Neil Weinberg and Alexander Rist