{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 174b/1917-05-11/p020","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"Now, these are some of the reasons why it is so difficult at present to get through with anthroposophically oriented spiritual science, simply because it has to confront the very, very nearest prejudices. But precisely because this is the case, spiritual science is not really fought against, because, it must be admitted, the fight against spiritual science is on very shaky ground. Go and look for those scientific discussions that seriously and thoroughly try to deal with spiritual science as it stands; go and look for treatises or the like of this caliber! Anyone who has ever looked into it will see how little there is in this direction. But perhaps it is not convenient to proceed in this way. You see, a few years ago a student told me that he was preparing to do his doctorate in philosophy at a very well-known university: he wanted to write a dissertation that had been recommended to him by a famous professor. This dissertation was to be about the great Russian thinker Solowjow. At that time, not much more had been printed by Solowjow than a few things that had been published by Nina Hoffmann; much more came out later. I asked the student: Why does the professor advise you to write your dissertation about this Solowjow? “Yes,” said the student, ‘the professor knows nothing about this philosopher and would like to learn something.’ ‘So that's the best way: you let the student write a doctoral thesis on Solovyov, if the student knows Russian; then you learn something about him.’ So the doctoral thesis on Solovyov was written. But a great many doctoral theses are written out of the same sentiment. In many cases, this is a maxim for how topics for doctoral theses are given. But in this way a certain scientific attitude is cultivated, one might say bred. The professor in question could only have really got to know Solowjow if he had intended not only to be a professor of philosophy but also to get to know contemporary philosophy through one of its most outstanding representatives. He would have had to try to study Solowjow himself as best he could, even though only a small part of Solowjow's work has been translated and he does not know Russian himself. It is an uncomfortable path, but it can be said that for many people who want to come to their own conclusions about spiritual science, the path to getting to know spiritual science is much more uncomfortable today. Because there is still a difference between a professor having a dissertation written about Soloviev or about spiritual science. With Soloviev it is still more or less possible to form an opinion by the time the dissertation is finished, because the student is well trained to give this opinion in the sense in which philosophy is taught. But what should a modern professor do with a dissertation about spiritual science, for example? He would be completely at a loss. And even more uncomfortable, of course, is the way of not getting to know the subject indirectly through a dissertation, but rather by studying the subject itself exhaustively in some way.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Ninth Lecture","site_heading":"Soul's Independence and Spiritual Science's Defense Against Slander","site_heading_note":"A heading the site wrote for this unit from a summary of it; not in the edition, and not the words of Rudolf Steiner or of the translator. Cite the unit by its title and locus, never by this heading, and do not quote it.","date":"1917-05-11","location":null,"word_count":529,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/174b/1917-05-11/p020","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":"The Spiritual Background of Human History","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA174b/English/SOL2024/19170511p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. The translator IS verified for this lecture: its own source names the translator (evidence: the lecture's page, rsarchive's lecture list, or the cover of the book it was published in), and that page's text was matched against this unit (see match_score and source_url). Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"edition_coverage":{"de":["original"],"en":["English"]},"available_versions":[{"lang":"de","edition":"original","edition_basis":null,"is_original":true,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/174b/1917-05-11/p020"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/174b/1917-05-11/p020","paragraph_aligned":true}],"record":{"record_type":"unknown","scope":"volume","note":"How this text was taken down (shorthand transcript, listeners' notes or manuscript) is not on record here. Unknown is not an assurance of a stenogram: check the edition's own notes before resting an argument on one word.","evidence":null,"evidence_translation":null,"evidence_source":null},"paired_german":{"status":"paired","german":[{"locus":"GA 174b/1917-05-11/p020","passage_number":20,"text":"Nun, das sind so Teile der Gründe, warum es in der Gegenwart so schwierig ist, mit der anthroposophisch orientierten Geisteswissenschaft durchzukommen, einfach weil sie stoßen muß an die allerallernächstliegenden Vorurteile. Aber gerade weil diese Sache so ist, wird Geisteswissenschaft nicht eigentlich bekämpft, denn das Bekämpfen der Geisteswissenschaft steht ja, das muß man gestehen, auf sehr schwachen Füßen. Suchen Sie sich diejenigen wissenschaftlichen Erörterungen einmal auf, welche versuchen, in ernster Weise und auf die Sache eingehend, Geisteswissenschaft, wie sie vorliegt, zu behandeln, suchen Sie sich Abhandlungen oder dergleichen dieses Kalibers auf! Wer sich jemals damit befaßt hat, wird sehen, wie wenig es nach dieser Richtung gibt. Aber es mag ja vielleicht auch gar nicht bequem sein, auf diesem Wege vorwärtszugehen. Denn sehen Sie, mir erzählte vor einigen Jahren einmal ein Student, der eben sich anschickte, an einer sehr bekannten Universität als Philosoph seinen Doktor zu machen: er wollte eine Dissertation schreiben, die ihm geraten worden war von einem berühmten Professor. Diese Dissertation sollte handeln über den großen russischen Denker Solowjow. Dazumal war von Solowjow nicht viel mehr gedruckt als ein paar Sachen, die von Nina Hoffmann herausgegeben worden sind; später kam ja viel mehr heraus. Ich frug den Studenten: Warum gibt Ihnen der Professor gerade den Rat, über diesen Solowjow die Dissertation zu machen? — Ja, sagte der Student, der Professor weiß von diesem Philosophen gar nichts und möchte etwas erfahren. — Das ist also der beste Weg: Man läßt den Schüler eine Doktorarbeit über Solowjow schreiben, wenn der Schüler russisch kann; dann erfährt man etwas über ihn. So entstand denn die Doktorarbeit über Solowjow. Aber ungefähr aus derselben Gesinnung heraus entstehen sehr viele Doktorarbeiten. Es ist geradezu dies vielfach eine Maxime, wie Themen für Doktorarbeiten gegeben werden. Damit aber wird eine gewisse wissenschaftliche Gesinnung herangezogen, herangezüchtet, könnte man sagen. Der betreffende Professor hätte natürlich nur einen Weg haben können, den Solowjow wirklich kennenzulernen, wenn er die Absicht gehabt hätte, nicht nur Professor der Philosophie zu sein, sondern auch die Philosophie der Gegenwart kennenzulernen in einem ihrer hervorragendsten Vertreter: Er hätte versuchen müssen, Solowjow selber zu studieren, so gut es geht, wenn auch das wenigste von Solowjow übersetzt ist, und er nicht selbst russisch kann. Es ist ein unbequemer Weg, man darf aber schon sagen: Für viele, die zu einem eigenen Urteil über Geisteswissenschaft kommen wollten, ist heute der Weg viel unbequemer, Geisteswissenschaft kennenzulernen. Denn es ist noch ein Unterschied, ob nun ein Professor eine Dissertation machen läßt über Solowjow, oder ob er etwa eine Dissertation machen ließe über die Geisteswissenschaft. Über Solowjow geht es noch halbwegs, ein Urteil zu gewinnen, wenn die Dissertation fertig ist, denn der Schüler ist ja ohnehin gut dressiert, dieses Urteil nur abzugeben in dem Sinne, wie eben Philosophie gelehrt wird. Aber was sollte denn ein heutiger Professor zum Beispiel mit einer Dissertation über Geisteswissenschaft anfangen? Er könnte ja gar nichts damit anfangen. Er würde absolut ratlos davorstehen. Und noch unbequemer ist natürlich der Weg, nicht auf dem Umweg einer Dissertation die Sache kennenzulernen, sondern etwa gar irgendwie erschöpfend die Sache selbst zu studieren.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":508,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/174b/1917-05-11/p020"}],"english":["GA 174b/1917-05-11/p020"],"method":"length","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":508,"en_words":529,"ratio":1.04,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.02,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":9678,"original_word_count":9444,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":"The Spiritual Background of Human History","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA174b/English/SOL2024/19170511p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. 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