{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 56/1907-10-10/p009","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"This is a radical direction that seeks to break completely with all views of the supernatural. This view has weighty arguments in its favor, which cannot be denied. Who would want to misjudge the immeasurable progress made in the natural sciences over the last few centuries, and especially in the last century? Who would not admire these research results, which on the one hand reach up to the phenomena of the starry sky, and on the other hand delve down into the secrets of the smallest living creatures, into the secrets of matter and sensory existence? Who would not stand in awe even before the bold speculations that have emerged in recent times from such beautiful discoveries as that of radium by individual researchers? And who would not see that there is something dazzling when those who stand on the ground of such radical positivism or materialism — the name is not important here — say: The researcher is still far from solving all the mysteries of existence through sensory research; but we must be patient, for the time will come when what is still covered by a thick veil today will be clarified by natural science itself; the time will come when archaeologists will unravel the past world lying in the layers of the earth that are still covered today, nature in its creation, when purely sensory research will shed light on the past. The time will also come — as those who stand on the ground of research will rightly say — when certain substances will be mixed with inanimate substances in the laboratory, so that it will be possible to produce living substance in the laboratory itself. Perhaps this still seems like a reckless idea today, but development is moving in this direction, and then you, secret scientist, can pack up, because you will no longer have the right to speak of supernatural things once we have shown that even life can be produced through a combination of substances and forces.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"The Mission of Esoteric Science in Our Time","site_heading":null,"date":"1907-10-10","location":null,"word_count":334,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/56/1907-10-10/p009","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:identity","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"eLib2015","book_title":"Knowledge of Soul and Spirit","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA056/English/eLib2015/19071010p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"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/56/1907-10-10/p009"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/56/1907-10-10/p009","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 56/1907-10-10/p009","passage_number":9,"text":"Das ist eine radikale Richtung, die überhaupt brechen will mit allen Anschauungen vom Übersinnlichen. Gewichtiges, das ist nicht zu leugnen, hat diese Anschauung für sich anzuführen. Wer wollte die unermeßlich großen Fortschritte der äußeren Naturwissenschaft im Verlaufe der letzten Jahrhunderte und namentlich des letzten Jahrhunderts verkennen? Wer wollte diese Forschungsergebnisse nicht bewundern, die auf der einen Seite hinaufgehen bis zu den Erscheinungen des gestirnten Himmels, und auf der anderen Seite hinabtauchen in die Geheimnisse der kleinsten Lebewesen, in die Geheimnisse der Stoffe und des sinnlichen Daseins? Wer würde nicht bewundernd stehen selbst vor gewagten Spekulationen, wie sie in der neueren Zeit durch solche schöne Entdeckungen, wie die des Radiums, von einzelnen Forschern ausgehen? Und wer wird nicht sehen, daß es etwas Blendendes hat, wenn jetzt derjenige, der auf dem Boden eines solchen radikalen Positivismus oder Materialismus — auf Namen kommt es da nicht an — steht, sagt: Der Forscher ist noch weit davon entfernt, durch die sinnliche Erforschung alle Rätsel des Daseins zu lösen; aber man habe Geduld, die Zeit wird kommen, wo das, was heute noch mit einem dichten Schleier bedeckt ist, klargelegt wird durch die Naturwissenschaft selber; die Zeit wird kommen, wo die Altertumsforscher die in den heute noch bedeckten Erdschichten liegende vergangene Welt, die Natur in ihrem Schaffen, enträtseln werden, wo die rein sinnliche Forschung hineinleuchten wird in die Vergangenheit. Kommen wird auch die Zeit — so wird mit Recht sagen, wer auf dem Boden der Forschung steht —, wo man im Laboratorium gewisse Stoffe zu unlebendigen Substanzen hinzumischen wird, so daß es gelingen wird, die lebendige Substanz im Laboratorium selber herzustellen. Vielleicht erscheint das heute noch als eine waghalsige Idee; aber die Entwickelung geht in dieser Richtung, und dann kannst du, Geheimwissenschafter, einpacken, weil du kein Recht mehr haben wirst, von übersinnlichen Dingen zu sprechen, wenn wir gezeigt haben werden, daß selbst das Leben durch eine Kombination von Stoffen und Kräften herzustellen ist.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":317,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/56/1907-10-10/p009"}],"english":["GA 56/1907-10-10/p009"],"method":"identity","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":317,"en_words":334,"ratio":1.05,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.02,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":7733,"original_word_count":7554,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"eLib2015","book_title":"Knowledge of Soul and Spirit","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA056/English/eLib2015/19071010p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 56/1907-10-10/p009"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","note":"Every load-bearing name in the German counterpart appears in this English passage. That is a check on NAMES only: a translation can keep every name and still reverse who acts on whom, change a number, or soften a claim. Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"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."}}