Who was Rudolf Steiner?
Rudolf Steiner was the individual whose work forms the basis of the Waldorf education tradition.Though he was born more than a century and a half ago, his legacy still continues today in the form of the more than 2000 Waldorf schools around the world.
But who was Rudolf Steiner, and what led him to become the founder of Waldorf? Read on to find out.
Early Years
Rudolf Joseph Laurence Steiner was born on February 25th, 1861, in the tiny village of Kraljevec, in modern-day Croatia. At the time it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His childhood was spent in three different places — Vienna and Steiermark, both in modern Austria, and Burgenland, in modern Germany, before attending the Technical University in Vienna where he studied mathematics, physics, chemistry, and natural history.
He also attended some lectures from Robert Zimmerman and Franz Brentano at the University of Vienna, two philosophers who would go on to influence Steiner’s work. Beginning at the age of 25, Steiner began his early career as a literary critic and private tutor to the children of a wealthy Viennese business family, as well as publishing a number of articles on geology and mineralogy.
He earned his PhD in 1891 from the University of Rostock, writing his thesis on epistemology in relation to Fichte’s philosophy of science.
Life In Germany
Steiner was invited to Weimar in 1890, where he was given the responsibility of editing the works of Goethe in the realm of natural science for an upcoming edition of his work. He also edited and published the complete works of Schopenhauer and Jean Paul, among other works.
He also published his own work, Philosophy of Freedom, which was to become the basis of his later work. After spending seven years in Weimar, the cultural centre of Germany at the time, he moved on to Berlin. In Berlin, he founded and edited The Magazine For Literature, among other publications.
He also gave an address during the 500 year celebration of the birth of Gutenberg, as well as delivering lectures on history, science, literature, and rhetoric at the Berlin Workers’ Training School.
Founding Of Anthroposophy And The First Waldorf School
With the turn of the 20th century, Steiner began to work on what would eventually become anthroposophy. Based on a series of lectures he held, anthroposophy revolved around encompassing a number of different sciences and philosophies, including Aristotle, Plato, and Thomas Aquinas. In 1902, he was invited to the Theosophical Society to become the General Secretary of the German section.
He accepted, but under the proviso that he would speak only about what he had developed through spiritual exploration. This was surprising to many, but acceptable. He stayed with the Theosophical Society for ten years before separating and founding his own society, the Anthroposophical Society along with some co-workers.
While he delivered lectures on the topic, he himself was not even a member of the society. In 1918, social unrest in Germany and in Russia encouraged Steiner to present his ideas on a threefold differentiation of society — the development of freedom in the cultural sphere, equality in the political sphere, and a global fraternity in the economic sphere.
This led to him founding the first free Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Germany. The name came as appreciation of the patronage of Emil Molt, CEO of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory. It became the basis for the Waldorf educational system.
Today there are more than 2500 Waldorf schools worldwide, among which Toronto’s Waldorf Academy is proud to consider itself. In 1923, Steiner began to build a general Anthroposophical Society and School of Spiritual Science.
He delivered 330 lectures on the topic the following year until September 29th, when he ceased all public activity citing exhaustion. He died six months later.
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