{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 18/p01c07/p042","lang":"en","edition":"AP1973","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"Thus, in observing any thing or process of reality, one always sees a definite phase of development of thought *in* this thing or process. The world process is the progressive evolution of thought. All phases except the highest contain within themselves a self-contradiction. *Thought* is in them, but they contain more than it reveals at such a lower stage. For this reason,, it overcomes the contradictory form of its manifestation and speeds on toward a higher one that is more appropriate. The contradiction then is the motor that drives the thought development ahead. As the natural scientist thoughtfully observes things, he forms concepts of them that have this contradiction within themselves. When the philosophical thinker thereupon takes up these thoughts that are gained from the observation of nature, he finds them to be self-contradictory forms. But it is this very contradiction that makes it possible to develop a complete thought structure out of the individual thoughts. The thinker looks for the contradictory element in a thought; this element is contradictory because it points toward a higher stage of its development. Through the contradiction contained in it, every thought points to another thought toward which it presses on in the course of its development. Thus, the philosopher can begin with the simplest thought that is bare of all content, that is, with the abstract thought of being. From this thought he is driven by the contradiction contained therein toward a second phase that is higher and less contradictory, etc., until he arrives at the highest stage, at thought living within itself, which is the highest manifestation of the spirit.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"VII. The Classics of World and Life Conception","site_heading":null,"date":null,"location":null,"word_count":268,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/18/p01c07/p042","alignment_confidence":"low","alignment_reason":"count_diverges","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":null,"edition_coverage":{"de":["original"],"en":["AP1973"]},"available_versions":[{"lang":"en","edition":"AP1973","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/18/p01c07/p042"}],"paired_german":{"status":"no_paragraph_pairing","note":"No paragraph pairing exists for this paragraph, so no German text is given. The German paragraph of the same number is a different passage or an unestablished one. Read the German unit (german_unit.fetch_unit) and find the place by its content.","german_unit":{"lang":"de","edition":"original","unit_locus":"GA 18/l07","paragraph_count":32,"fetch_unit":{"ga":"18","lecture":"l07","lang":"de","edition":"original"},"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/18/l07","json_url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/ga/18/l07?lang=de"},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"nearest_pairs":{"before":{"de":[18],"en":[41]},"after":{"de":[22],"en":[45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52]}}},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":null,"band":"no_original","note":null,"word_count":12877,"original_word_count":null,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"status":"unknown","warning":"No translator is recorded for this edition. An unattributed translation cannot be weighed as a witness: you cannot tell which hand made the choices in it. Cite the German for anything load-bearing."},"entity_parity":{"status":"not_checkable","note":"No verified paragraph alignment covers this passage, so its names cannot be compared with the German."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}}