Anthroposophy and Ecofascism 81

Continuing my commentary on the 25th paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier's Anthroposophy and Ecofascism.

What Rudolf Steiner appreciated about Haeckel was that he dared to use creative thought, and even if the results of this thought ended up being philosophical dilettantism or worse. It was the effort that counted. And Steiner was quite clear on how he disagreed with Haeckel:

I believe [Haeckel] never knew what the philosophers wished from him. This was my impression from a conversation I had with him in Leipzig after the appearance of his Riddle of the Universe, ... He then said: “People say I deny the spirit. I wish they could see how materials shape themselves through their forces; then they would perceive ‘spirit’ in everything that happens in a retort. Everywhere there is spirit.” Haeckel, in fact, knew nothing whatever of the real Spirit. The very forces of nature were for him the 'spirit,' and he could rest content with this. (Rudolf Steiner. The Course of My Life. Chapter 30. )

Haeckel himself thought his philosophical work was an Idealistic Monism and not a Materialistic Monism, but this, felt Steiner, was a misunderstanding on Haeckel's part concerning the true nature of philosophical Idealism.