{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 84/1923-04-30/p005","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"If we survey what has been achieved in the various fields of natural science, we will see that this science naturally also strives to return to the human being. It strives to apply its methods to the nature of the human being. But it can only research the external, bodily, physical nature of the human being. We see this most clearly when the scientific method is applied to the human being, when experimental psychology is used, and when truly magnificent scientific research methods are employed. We see how the expressions of the soul in the human constitution are examined. But we become aware that through all these investigations we cannot get at what can be called the eternal in human nature, what must be called that in human nature, in the face of which man carries the deep longing to recognize it in its true essence, and from which he at least initially has hope that it will arise for him as something beyond the limits of earthly life, as something beyond birth and death and having an effect beyond it. Nothing should be said here against such experimental methods as those of experimental psychology. The very field of research from which I take the liberty of speaking to you this evening recognizes the full validity of these methods. But precisely because they can be seen through from this point of view, even within their limitations, it must be said that these methods cannot approach the actual essence of the soul and spirit. And this was what compelled a few insightful researchers to admit that natural science cannot reach what, on the one hand, is the nature of matter itself and, on the other, the nature of human consciousness. But if man cannot explore how his consciousness, that is, the soul-life at work within him, takes hold of matter, then he must bid farewell to that great challenge: “Know thyself!” Then we would have concluded that period of human spiritual development since ancient Greece with the admonition “Know thyself!” as a beautiful, powerful — but nevertheless only one illusion of humanity. Then we must confess: this demand cannot be fulfilled. The deeper one penetrates into the spirit of nature research, the more one must admit from the point of view of anthroposophy that those who speak of the “ignorabimus” of natural science are right, who speak of the fact that there are limits to natural science that it cannot exceed. But the question arises as to whether the human mind can be easily consoled by the mere recognition of such limitations, and whether it does not seek from the outset to disregard what the human heart desires in this respect, as something particularly prejudicial.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"The Development and Education of the Human Being in the Light of Anthroposophy","site_heading":null,"date":"1923-04-30","location":null,"word_count":454,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/84/1923-04-30/p005","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:identity","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":"What is the Purpose of Anthroposophy and the Goetheanum?","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA084/English/SOL2024/19230430p01.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/84/1923-04-30/p005"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/84/1923-04-30/p005","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 84/1923-04-30/p005","passage_number":5,"text":"Überblickt man dasjenige, was auf den verschiedenen Gebieten der Naturwissenschaft geleistet worden ist, so wird man sich sagen: diese Naturwissenschaft strebt ja natürlich auch darnach, wiederum zurückzukommen zum Menschen. Sie strebt darnach, ihre Methoden anzuwenden auf das Wesen des Menschen. Aber sie kann nicht mehr als das äußerliche, körperliche, leibliche Wesen des Menschen erforschen. Wir sehen das am besten dann, wenn die naturwissenschaftliche Methode an den Menschen herangeht, zur experimentellen Seelenkunde wird, und mit einer wirklich großartigen naturwissenschaftlichen Forschungsmethode heute zu Werke geht. Wir sehen da, wie die seelischen Äußerungen in der menschlichen Konstitution untersucht werden. Aber wir werden gewahr, daß wir durch alle diese Untersuchungen gerade an dasjenige nicht herankommen können, was das Ewige in der Menschennatur genannt werden kann, was dasjenige in der Menschennatur genannt werden muß, demgegenüber der Mensch die tiefe Sehnsucht in sich trägt, es in seiner wahren Wesenheit zu erkennen, und von dem er zunächst wenigstens Hoffnung hat, daß es sich für ihn ergibt als über die Grenze des irdischen Lebens, als über Geburt und Tod hinausliegend und hinauswirkend. Nichts soll hier gegen solche experimentelle Methoden, wie die der experimentellen Seelenkunde, eingewendet werden. Gerade der Boden jener Forschung, von dem aus ich mir erlaube, heute abend zu Ihnen zu sprechen, erkennt diese Methoden in ihrer vollen Gültigkeit an. Aber gerade weil sie von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus auch in ihren Grenzen durchschaut werden können, deshalb muß gesagt werden, daß diese Methoden an das eigentliche Wesen des Seelisch-Geistigen nicht herantreten können. Und das war es auch, was einzelne einsichtige Forscher zu dem Bekenntnisse nötigte, daß die Naturwissenschaft eben an das nicht heranreichen kann, was auf der einen Seite das Wesen der Materie selbst, auf der anderen Seite das Wesen des menschlichen Bewußtseins ist. Aber wenn der Mensch nicht erforschen kann, wie sein Bewußtsein, das heißt sein in ihm wirkendes Seelisches, die Materie ergreift, dann muß er Abschied nehmen von jener großen Forderung: «Erkenne dich selbst!» Dann hätten wir abgeschlossen jenen Zeitraum menschlicher Geistesentwickelung seit dem griechischen Altertum mit dem Mahnworte «Erkenne dich selbst!» als einer zwar schönen, gewaltigen — aber dennoch nur einer Illusion der Menschheit. Dann müssen wir bekennen: diese Forderung ist nicht zu erfüllen. Je tiefer man eindringt in den Geist der Naturforschung, desto mehr muß man vom Gesichtspunkt der Anthroposophie recht geben denjenigen, welche vom «Ignorabimus» der Naturwissenschaft sprechen, welche davon sprechen, daß der Naturforschung eben Grenzen gezogen sind, die sie ihrerseits nicht überschreiten kann. Es fragt sich aber, ob das menschliche Gemüt sich ohne weiteres bei der Feststellung solcher Grenzen beruhigen kann und ob es von vornherein dasjenige, was in dieser Beziehung das Menschenherz an Wünschen in sich trägt, als etwas besonders Vorurteilsvolles nicht zu berücksichtigen sucht.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":444,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/84/1923-04-30/p005"}],"english":["GA 84/1923-04-30/p005"],"method":"identity","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":444,"en_words":454,"ratio":1.02,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.06,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":8408,"original_word_count":7960,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":"What is the Purpose of Anthroposophy and the Goetheanum?","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA084/English/SOL2024/19230430p01.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 84/1923-04-30/p005"],"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. 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