The Rudolf Steiner Archive

62. Darwinism and Theosophy

[ 1 ] Attendance at the lecture on Darwinism and Theosophy given by Dr. Steiner on Saturday evening was good, considering the many other events taking place that evening. The speaker addressed the topic in a way that was accessible to the general public, but made a visible effort—with evident success—to meet all the audience’s expectations and demands, as was particularly evident in the lively discussion that followed. The content of the lecture could be briefly summarized as follows: Darwinism—in a sense, the doctrine of the evolution of forms, of the higher emerging from the lower, of the [perfect] emerging from the imperfect, with the lowest form of organic life as its starting point and humanity as its pinnacle—has today become more or less the fundamental worldview of the thinking world. Darwin brought about a major upheaval in the views of the scholarly world as well, and worthy representatives and proponents of this new theory have subsequently advanced it. But this transformation has also manifested itself in religious and practical life; indeed, in one respect, a kind of new religion—if one may call it that—has even emerged: modern materialism and monism. We do not know, however, whether—and no one is entitled to claim—that this form of understanding nature will be the final and enduring one. The upheaval in perspectives and in the course of research is a law. Once, the great discoveries of Copernicus forced a tremendous upheaval in the religious views of the thinkers of that time; indeed, they even threatened to suppress religion, as the word is properly understood. However, just as there were thinkers back then who felt called upon to ensure, while taking those achievements into account, that a certain [stage] of knowledge and research and to preserve mysticism for humanity, so we have now reached a stage where it is necessary to find a way out of the impasse into which modern materialism has driven itself, and thus to make room once again for a higher and more ideal way of thinking. Views change, and scientific achievements are just as subject to transformation as they were in the past, and we do not know what people will believe in 100 years. But even in the near future, a turnaround can certainly be foreseen, and Darwinism itself holds the seed of this change. We have delved deeply into the course of the evolution of forms. The world of forms has been traced back, one link of the infinite chain after another, to those distant periods when the evidence becomes increasingly veiled and nebulous—to those times of which no fossils or other evidence bear witness—and we have finally reached a limit where practical research fails and theories must take its place. The speaker regarded this type of research as inadequate, even setting aside this last point. – It was form alone that the eye of research took into account, not life. Throughout nature, in the world of forms, we see birth and death, coming into being and passing away. The plant springs from the earth, develops leaves, stems, and flowers, only to eventually dissolve back into dust. This is the fate of all things, yet something is preserved—the seed of a new specimen of the same species; something is carried over from the old to give rise to a new form. This “something”—the imperceptible archetype contained within the seed, which serves as an “ark”—the speaker called “life.” The speaker emphasized that scientific research has so far been limited to forms, to “appearances,” to that which comes into being and passes away again. Now, however, the perspective must broaden, and in the future it will be life itself—the life that permeates form, the pulsating life—that must become the object of research. There are already numerous proponents of these new perspectives in scholarly circles, and the Theosophical Movement seeks to bridge the gap from the standpoint of the study of religion. The discussion that followed clearly demonstrated that the speaker is thoroughly confident and well-versed in his field.