Anthroposophy and Ecofascism 79

The paragraphs from my last post are essential for understanding Steiner's view of Haeckel. Haeckel's phylogenetic concept is extraordinarily valuable, but Haeckel himself is the worst advocate for this concept. This position Steiner reiterated in a letter to Marie von Sivers:

"Haeckel contains things which must be thrown away as a cultural afterbirth. His positive side is like an embryo which is wrapped in the materialistic womb of the 19th century. But I see Haeckel's positive aspects as something which can develop. There are two forms of thinking in our time; on the one hand the developing, embryonic one: Haeckel in zoology; Schiller-Goethe must fertilize this form. …"

Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner. Correspondence and Documents: 1901-1925. New York: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1988. Page 60.

Further, the quote "culture is not served by exposing Haeckel's weaknesses to his contemporaries" is essential in understanding Steiner's failure to criticize the more ridiculous aspects of Haeckel's Monist philosophy. This failure to criticize has led more than one thinker to conclude that Steiner was in full agreement with these more ridiculous aspects. However, a more careful reading of Steiner's actual "praise" will show how narrowly directed it actually is.

I cannot speak of Lyell or Darwin without thinking of Haeckel. All three belong together. What Lyell and Darwin began, Haeckel took further. He expanded it in full consciousness, to serve not only the scientific needs but also the religious consciousness of mankind. He is the most modern spirit, because his Weltanschauung (view of the world) does not cling to any of the old prejudices, such as was still the case, for example, with Darwin. He is the most modern thinker, because he sees the natural as the only realm for thinking, and he is the most modern in sensibility, because he wants to know life as organized in accordance with the natural. … When Haeckel talks with us about the processes of Nature, every word has a secondary meaning for us that is related with our feeling. He sits at the rudder, and steers powerfully. Even when many of the places towards which he steers us are ones we would rather not go past; still, he has the direction in which we want to go. From Lyell and Darwin's hands he took the handle of the rudder, and they could have given it to no one better. He will pass it on to others that will travel in his direction. And our community sails rapidly forwards, leaving behind the helpless ferrymen of the old Weltanschauungs.

Rudolf Steiner. Methodsche Grundlagen der Anthroposophie. Dornach: Verlag der Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, 1961. Page 364. (GA 30 – Translation by Daniel Hindes)