MONISM, SCIENCE & DARWINISM

Philosophically (epistemologically) speaking, the causal ideal of science is ‘monism’ (everything in nature has one and the same source) — because the dualist alternative in which spirit (religion) is seen to have one source and matter (natural law) another, leads immediately to an unscientific causal contradiction.

This is an article I wrote some time ago on embryology and evolution. It is due to appear sometime soon in the 'Elemente'. -Paul Carline

In his work The Philosophy of Freedom, Rudolf Steiner describes the conditions that are necessary for true human freedom to develop, and in it the role that materialism plays in this great human adventure is also brought to expression, although in a manner that leaves us with levels of ambiguity which today merit further discussion.

"Every individual soul faces difficulties in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, for only by overcoming these difficulties will those trials come about through which the consciousness soul can be developed."
Excert from a lecture given by Rudolf Steiner in Zurick on October 10, 1916
Note: Steiner would not have exempted himself from having to undergo such difficulties.