STEINER, RUDOLF (1861-1925), German philosopher, was born on Feb. 27, 1861, at Kraljevic, Austria, the son of a small railway employee. From 1890 to 1897 he worked in Weimar at the "Goethe-Schiller Archive," editing Goethe's works on natural history. In 1902 the German section of the theosophic association was founded and Steiner was called upon to become its spiritual leader. As such he developed for some years an astonish ing activity as regards lectures and writings, but then became opposed to theosophy altogether, and was therefore excluded from the theosophical centre under English leadership. Steiner now developed his own teaching in a series of writings. He called this "anthroposophy," i.e., wisdom of humanity : mankind is regarded as the centre of all perceptions of this "spiritual science," and an attempt is made to deduce the nature of the world from the nature of humanity. In 1913 the Anthroposophical society was formed to further spiritual research on Steiner's principles. In order to try his educational and political views in practice, Steiner founded the Waldorf School, near Stuttgart, and the "free high school for spiritual science" known as the "Goetheanum" at Dornach near Basle, which was burnt a few years later. All Steiner's works are published by the Philosophisch-anthroposophischer-Verlag, Berlin, and Der kommende Tag, Stuttgart. He died at Dornach on
March 3o, 1925.
His chief works include: Goethe, als Vater einer neuen Aesthetik (1888), Eng. ed. in preparation ; Die Philosophie der Freiheit (1894), Eng. trans. ed. H. Collinson, The Philosophy of Freedom (1916) ; Friedrich Nietzsche (1895) ; Goethes Weltanschauung (1897) ; Theos ophie (19o4), Eng. trans. by E. D. S., Theosophy (Iwo) ; Haeckel, die Weltriitsel and die Theosophie (19o5), Eng. trans. Haeckel, The Riddles of the Universe; and Theosophy in Three Essays on Haeckel, and Karma (1914) ; Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der hiihern Welten (1909) ; Eng. ed. trans. Clifford Bax, 2 VOL, The Way of Initiation and Initiation and its Results (1909-1o) ; Die Aufgabe der Geisteswis senschaft and deren Ban in Dornach (1916) ; Eng. ed. trans. A. M. Wilson, The Mission of Spiritual Science and of its Building at Dor nach, Switzerland (1917) ; Die Kernpunkte der sozialen Frage (1919) ; Eng. ed. The Threefold State—The True Aspect of the Social Question (192o) ; In Ausfuhrung der Dreigliederung des Sozialen Organismus (1920), Eng. trans. in The Threefold Commonwealth (1921 seq.).
See E. Boldt, Von Luther bis Steiner (1921), Eng. trans. (1923) ; F. Rittelmeyer, Von Lebenswerk R. Steiners (1921) ; G. Kaufmann, Fruits of Anthroposophy; an Introduction to the Work of Dr. R. Steiner (1922).