{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 67/1918-02-07/p008","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"But this in turn leads to an enormously widespread prejudice. The idea that the human soul, if it methodically sets out to do so, is capable of arriving at completely different possibilities and powers of cognition than those used in pure natural science is still rejected in the widest circles today. Therefore, we are faced with only two possibilities: either to leave the soul and spirit uncomprehended, or to cross this Rubicon in order to familiarize ourselves with what it actually means: the human soul can develop beyond the standpoint which, I would say, it already occupies of its own accord in relation to the world order. In this way, it can attain such powers of knowledge that tell it more than what pure natural science can tell it, even when it is as perfect as possible. Here we encounter a sharp prejudice. From the point of view of spiritual science, one must say: Natural science actually relates to spiritual science in the same way as someone who can only describe letters printed on a page relates to someone who can read. If I may express myself comparatively, I would like to say: What natural science can only describe, spiritual science seeks to read. What it has to say about the phenomena of the world, about their content and about the meaning of events, is like reading to the description of the mere letters that make up the words. So, to continue with the comparison, which must be superficial at first but will be elaborated on later, there is the possibility of truly penetrating the living soul and spirit by acquiring from the soul itself the ability to read nature. This ability relates to the mere observation of nature in the same way as the free ability to read, flowing from the soul, relates to the mere description of letters.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"2. Human beings as Spiritual and Soul Beings","site_heading":null,"date":"1918-02-07","location":null,"word_count":310,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/67/1918-02-07/p008","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:identity","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2018","book_title":"The Eternal in the Human Soul","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA067/English/SOL2018/19180207p01.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/67/1918-02-07/p008"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/67/1918-02-07/p008","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 67/1918-02-07/p008","passage_number":8,"text":"Damit aber stößt man wiederum auf ein ungeheuer verbreitetes Vorurteil. Daß die menschliche Seele, wenn sie es methodisch darauf anlegt, fähig ist, zu ganz anderen Erkenntnismöglichkeiten und Erkenntniskräften zu kommen, als diejenigen sind, die in der reinen Naturwissenschaft angewendet werden, das wird in weitesten Kreisen heute noch zurückgewiesen. Deswegen steht man nur vor einer zweifachen Möglichkeit, entweder das Seelische und Geistige unbegriffen zu lassen oder diesen Rubikon zu überschreiten, um sich bekannt zu machen damit, was es eigentlich heißt: die menschliche Seele kann sich weiterentwickeln über den Standpunkt, den sie, ich möchte sagen, von selbst schon der Weltordnung gegenüber einnimmt. Sie kann dadurch zu solchen Erkenntniskräften kommen, die ihr mehr sagen als das, was die bloße Naturwissenschaft sagen kann, gerade dann, wenn sie möglichst vollkommen ist. Man stößt da auf ein scharfes Vorurteil. Man muß vom Gesichtspunkte der Geisteswissenschaft sagen: Die Naturwissenschaft verhält sich eigentlich zur Geisteswissenschaft so, wie jemand, der Buchstaben, die auf irgendeiner Seite gedruckt sind, nur beschreiben kann, zu demjenigen, der lesen kann. Wenn ich mich zunächst vergleichsweise ausdrücken darf, so möchte ich sagen: Das, was Naturwissenschaft nur zu beschreiben vermag, das sucht Geisteswissenschaft zu lesen. Das, was sie über die Erscheinungen der Welt, über ihren Inhalt und über die Bedeutung der Vorgänge zu sagen hat, verhält sich wie ein Gelesenes zu der Beschreibung der bloßen Buchstaben, welche die Worte zusammensetzen. Es besteht also — um den Vergleich, der zunächst oberflächlich sein muß, der aber später näher ausgeführt wird, weiter fortzusetzen — die Möglichkeit, wirklich einzudringen in das lebendige Seelisch-Geistige, darinnen, daß man sich aus der Seele heraus selbst eine Fähigkeit zum Lesen der Natur aneignet. Diese Fähigkeit verhält sich gegenüber der bloßen Naturbetrachtung wie die freie, aus der Seele hervorfließende Fähigkeit des Lesens zu dem bloßen Beschreiben der Buchstaben.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":293,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/67/1918-02-07/p008"}],"english":["GA 67/1918-02-07/p008"],"method":"identity","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":293,"en_words":310,"ratio":1.06,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.05,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":8485,"original_word_count":8069,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2018","book_title":"The Eternal in the Human Soul","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA067/English/SOL2018/19180207p01.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."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 67/1918-02-07/p008"],"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."}}