VI. The Present State of Philosophy and Science

If I want to make an attempt today to point out the current state of philosophy and science with a few sketchy strokes, the reason for this is that in the broadest context of spiritual-scientific views, clarity does not prevail everywhere as to how an anthroposophist can correctly relate to what otherwise exists in the present in terms of spiritual and scientific endeavors. I have occasionally included philosophical material in the courses of lectures on spiritual science, linking them to specialized fields. I have spoken specifically about Hegel's philosophy and its connection to the present. Today I would like to take a somewhat broader approach and speak in general about the current situation of philosophy and science. Since I have announced the subject to you and the participants in my courses are already aware of the form that such philosophical digressions take, you will not be surprised if I say from the outset that I will not impose any particular constraint on myself with regard to popularity. I would rather evoke the feeling of how, as a strictly scientific person, one can find the relationships between spiritual science and other spiritual endeavors of the present. It is not surprising that there is not much awareness of this in the field of Theosophical literature – something that has to be said in a lecture like today's. As a rule, Theosophical writers are not really philosophers and are not at all familiar with the difficulties that arise for the philosopher when he, with his basic scientific character, wants to approach the field of spiritual science.