Riddles of Philosophy
GA 18
Preface to the 1914 Edition
[ 1 ] I did not have the feeling that I was writing a “centennial book” to mark the beginning of the century when I set about to outline the World and Life Conceptions of the Nineteenth Century, which appeared in 1901. The invitation to present this book as a contribution to a collection of philosophical works only provided me with the challenge to sum up results of the philosophical developments since the age of Kant, at which I had arrived long ago, and which I had meant to publish. When a new edition of the book became necessary and when I reexamined its content, I became aware of the fact that only through a considerable enlargement of the account as it was originally given could I make completely clear what I had intended to show. I had at that time limited myself to the characterization of the last one hundred and thirty years of philosophical development. Such a limitation is justifiable because this period indeed constitutes a well-rounded totality that is closed in itself and could be portrayed as such even if one did not mean to write a “centennial book.” But the philosophical views of the last century lived within me in such a way that, in presenting its philosophical problems, I felt resounding as undertones in my soul the solutions that had been attempted since the beginning of the course of the history of philosophy. This sensation appeared with greater intensity as I took up the revision of the book for a new edition. This indicates the reason why the result was not so much a new edition but a new book.
To be sure, the content of the old book has essentially been preserved word for word, but it has been introduced by a short account of the philosophical development since the sixth century B.C. In the second volume the characterization of the successive philosophies will be continued to the present time. Moreover, the short remarks at the end of the second volume entitled, Outlook, have been extended into a detailed presentation of the philosophical possibilities of the present. Objections may be raised against the composition of the book because the parts of the earlier version have not been shortened, whereas the characterization of the philosophies from the sixth century B.C. to the nineteenth century A.D. has only been given in the shortest outline. But since my aim is to give not only a short outline of the history of philosophical problems but to discuss these problems and the attempt at their solution themselves through their historical treatment, I considered it correct to retain the more detailed account for the last period. The way of approach in which these questions were seen and presented by the philosophers of the nineteenth century is still close to the trends of thought and philosophical needs of our time. What precedes this period is of the same significance to modern soul life only insofar as it spreads light over the last time interval. The Outlook at the end of the second volume had its origin in the same intention, namely, that of developing through the account of the history of philosophy, philosophy itself.
[ 2 ] The reader will miss some things in this book that he might look for in a history of philosophy—the views of Hobbes and others, for instance. My aim, however, was not to enumerate all philosophical opinions, but to present the course of development of the philosophical problems. In such a presentation it is inappropriate to record a philosophical opinion of the past if its essential points have been characterized in another connection.
[ 3 ] Whoever wants to find also in this book a new proof that I have “changed” my views in the course of years will probably not even then be dissuaded from such an “opinion” if I point out to him that the presentation of the philosophical views that I gave in the World and Life Conceptions has, to be sure, been enlarged and supplemented, but that the content of the former book has been taken over into the new one in all essential points, literally unchanged. The slight changes that occur in a few passages seemed to be necessary to me, not because I felt the need after fifteen years of presenting some points differently, but because I found that a changed mode of expression was required by the more comprehensive connection in which here and there a thought appears in the new book, whereas in the old one such a connection was not given. There will, however, always be people who like to construe contradictions among the successive writings of a person, because they either cannot or else do not wish to consider the certainly admissible extension of such a person's thought development. The fact that in such an extension much is expressed differently in later years certainly cannot constitute a contradiction if one does not mean by consistency that the latter expression should be a mere copy of the earlier one, but is ready to observe a consistent development of a person. In order to avoid the verdict of “change of view” of critics who do not consider this fact, one would have to reiterate, when it is a question of thoughts, the same words over and over again.
Rudolf Steiner
April 1914
Vorrede 1914
[ 1 ] Es war nicht meine Empfindung, ein «Gelegenheitsbuch» zum Anfange des Jahrhunderts zu schreiben, als ich an die Darstellung der «Welt- und Lebensanschauungen im neunzehnten Jahrhundert» ging, die 1901 erschienen ist. Die Einladung, diesen Beitrag zu einem Sammelwerke zu liefern, bildete für mich nur den äußeren Anstoß, Ergebnisse über die philosophische Entwickelung seit Kants Zeitalter zusammenzufassen, die ich seit lange für mich gewonnen hatte und deren Veröffentlichung ich anstrebte. Als eine Neuauflage des Buches notwendig geworden war, und ich mir seinen Inhalt wieder vor die Seele treten ließ, drängte sich mir die Erkenntnis auf, daß durch eine wesentliche Erweiterung der damals gegebenen Darstellung erst völlig anschaulich werden kann, was durch sie hatte angestrebt werden sollen. Ich beschränkte mich damals auf die Charakteristik der letzten hundertdreißig Jahre philosophischer Entwickelung. Eine solche Beschränkung ist gerechtfertigt, weil diese Entwickelung wirklich ein in sich geschlossenes Ganzes darstellt und gezeichnet werden könnte, auch wenn man nicht ein «Jahrhundert-Buch» schreibt. In meiner Seele aber lebten die philosophischen Anschauungen dieses letzten Zeitalters so, daß mir überall wie Untertöne bei Darstellung der philosophischen Fragen die Lösungsversuche der Weltansichtsentwickelung seit deren Beginn mitklangen. Diese Empfindung stellte sich in einem erhöhten Maße ein, als ich an die Bearbeitung einer neuen Auflage herantrat. Und damit ist der Grund angedeutet, warum nicht eigentlich eine neue Auflage des alten, sondern ein neues Buch entstanden ist. Zwar ist der Inhalt des alten Buches im wesentlichen wörtlich beibehalten worden; doch ist ihm vorangestellt worden eine kurze Darstellung der philosophischen Entwickelung seit dem sechsten vorchristlichen Jahrhundert, und im zweiten Bande wird die Charakteristik der Philosophien bis zur Gegenwart fortgeführt werden. Außerdem werden die kurzen Bemerkungen am Schlusse des zweiten Bandes, die früher mit dem Worte «Ausblick» überschrieben waren, zu einer ausführlichen Darstellung der Aussichten der philosophischen Erkenntnis in der Gegenwart umgestaltet. Man wird gegen die Komposition des Buches manches einwenden können, weil der Umfang der früheren Ausführungen nicht verkürzt worden, dagegen die Charakteristik der Philosophien vom sechsten vorchristlichen bis zum neunzehnten nachchristlichen Jahrhundert nur im kürzesten Umriß dargestellt worden ist. Da jedoch mein Ziel nicht nur das ist, einen kurzen Abriß der Geschichte der philosophischen Fragen zu geben, sondern über diese Fragen und ihre Lösungsversuche selbst durch ihre geschichtliche Betrachtung zu sprechen, so hielt ich es für richtig, die größere Ausführlichkeit für das letzte Zeitalter beizubehalten. So wie diese Fragen von den Philosophen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts angesehen und dargestellt worden sind, liegt den gewohnten Denkrichtungen und den philosophischen Bedürfnissen der Gegenwart noch nahe. Was vorangegangen ist, bedeutet dem gegenwärtigen Seelenleben nur insofern ein gleiches, als es Licht verbreitet über die letzte Zeitspanne. Demselben Bestreben an der Geschichte der Philosophien die Philosophie selber zu entwickeln, entsprangen die «Ausblicke» am Ende des zweiten Bandes.
[ 2 ] Man wird in diesem Buche manches vermissen, was man vielleicht in einer «Geschichte der Philosophie» suchen könnte, zum Beispiel die Ansichten Hobbes und vieler anderer. Mir kam es aber nicht an auf eine Anführung aller philosophischen Meinungen, sondern auf die Darstellung des Entwickelungsganges der philosophischen Fragen. Bei einer solchen Darstellung ist es unangebracht, eine geschichtlich auftretende philosophische Meinung zu verzeichnen, wenn das Wesentliche dieser Meinung in einem anderen Zusammenhange charakterisiert wird.
[ 3 ] Wer auch in diesem Buche einen neuen Beweis wird erkennen wollen, daß ich meine eigenen Anschauungen im Laufe der Jahre «geändert» habe, den werde ich wohl von einer solchen «Meinung» auch nicht durch den Hinweis abbringen können, daß die Darstellung der philosophischen Ansichten, welche ich in der ersten Auflage der «Welt- und Lebensanschauungen» gegeben habe, zwar im einzelnen viel erweitert und ergänzt, daß aber der Inhalt des alten Buches in das neue im wesentlichen wörtlich unverändert übergegangen ist. Die geringfügigen Änderungen, die an einzelnen Stellen vorkommen, schienen mir notwendig, nicht weil ich das Bedürfnis hatte, das eine oder das andere nach fünfzehn Jahren anders darzustellen als früher, sondern weil ich fand, daß eine geänderte Ausdrucksweise durch den größeren Zusammenhang gefordert wird, in dem dieser oder jener Gedanke in dem neuen Buche erscheint, während im alten Buche von einem solchen Zusammenhange nicht die Rede war. Es wird aber sicherlich immer Menschen geben, die in den aufeinanderfolgenden Schriften einer Persönlichkeit gerne Widersprüche konstruieren möchten, weil sie die gewiß nicht unzulässige Erweiterung des Erkenntnisstrebens einer solchen Persönlichkeit nicht richtig ins Auge fassen können oder wollen. Daß man bei solcher Erweiterung in späteren Jahren manches anders als in früheren sagt, bedeutet sicher keinen Widerspruch, wenn man die Übereinstimmung des einen mit dem anderen nicht im Sinne des Abschreibens des Späteren vom Früheren, sondern im Sinne der lebendigen Entwickelung einer Persönlichkeit meint. Um bei Menschen, die dies außer acht lassen können, nicht der Änderung seiner Ansichten geziehen zu werden, müßte man eigentlich, wenn Gedanken in Betracht kommen, immer das gleiche wiederholen.
April 1914
Rudolf Steiner
Foreword 1914
[ 1 ] It was not my intention to write an "occasional book" on the beginning of the century when I set about writing "Welt- und Lebensanschauungen im neunzehnten Jahrhundert", which was published in 1901. The invitation to make this contribution to an anthology was merely the external impetus for me to summarize the results of philosophical developments since Kant's time, which I had long since acquired and which I was striving to publish. When a new edition of the book had become necessary, and I had its contents brought before my mind again, the realization forced itself upon me that only through a substantial expansion of the account given at that time could what it had aimed to achieve become fully clear. At that time I limited myself to the characteristics of the last one hundred and thirty years of philosophical development. Such a limitation is justified because this development really represents a self-contained whole and could be portrayed even if one were not writing a "century book". In my soul, however, the philosophical views of this last age lived in such a way that the attempts to solve the development of the world view since its beginning resounded everywhere like undertones in the presentation of philosophical questions. This feeling became more pronounced when I began to work on a new edition. And this indicates the reason why a new book, rather than a new edition of the old one, was produced. Although the content of the old book has essentially been retained verbatim, it has been preceded by a brief account of philosophical development since the sixth century BC, and the second volume will continue the characterization of philosophies up to the present day. In addition, the brief remarks at the end of the second volume, which were previously entitled "Outlook", will be transformed into a detailed presentation of the prospects for philosophical knowledge in the present day. There will be some objections to the composition of the book, because the scope of the earlier remarks has not been shortened, but the characteristics of the philosophies from the sixth century before Christ to the nineteenth century after Christ have only been presented in the briefest outline. However, since my aim is not merely to give a brief outline of the history of philosophical questions, but to speak of these questions and their attempted solutions themselves through their historical consideration, I thought it right to retain the greater detail for the last age. The way in which these questions have been considered and presented by the philosophers of the nineteenth century is still close to the usual lines of thought and the philosophical needs of the present. What has gone before means the same to the present life of the soul only in so far as it sheds light on the last period. The "Outlooks" at the end of the second volume arose from the same endeavor to develop philosophy itself from the history of philosophies.
[ 2 ] You will miss some things in this book that you might look for in a "History of Philosophy", for example the views of Hobbes and many others. However, it was not my intention to list all philosophical opinions, but to present the development of philosophical questions. In such an account, it is inappropriate to list a philosophical opinion that appears historically if the essence of this opinion is characterized in a different context.
[ 3 ] Whoever wishes to recognize in this book a new proof that I have "changed" my own views over the years, I will probably not be able to dissuade him from such an "opinion" by pointing out, that the presentation of the philosophical views which I gave in the first edition of "Welt- und Lebensanschauungen" has indeed been much expanded and enhanced in detail, but that the content of the old book has essentially passed over unchanged verbatim into the new one. The minor changes that occur in individual passages seemed necessary to me, not because I felt the need to present one thing or another differently after fifteen years than before, but because I found that a change of expression was required by the larger context in which this or that idea appears in the new book, whereas in the old book there was no mention of such a context. However, there will certainly always be people who would like to construct contradictions in the successive writings of a personality, because they cannot or do not want to grasp the certainly not inadmissible expansion of the striving for knowledge of such a personality. The fact that in such expansion some things are said differently in later years than in earlier ones certainly does not mean a contradiction, if one means the correspondence of the one with the other not in the sense of copying the later from the earlier, but in the sense of the living development of a personality. In order not to be accused of changing one's views by people who can disregard this, one would actually have to repeat the same thing whenever thoughts come into consideration.
April 1914
Rudolf Steiner