Revisiting humanism as guiding principle for education: an excursion into Waldorf Pedagogy

Marcelo Da Veiga

doi:10.1590/0104-4060.41417

Abstract

This paper begins by highlight the growing relevance of Rudolf Steiner's thinking within academic discourse. It then turns to a brief discussion of the consequences of physicalism and naturalism in education. In a third step, the concept of notional instrumentalism is presented as a possible way of overcoming the generally unfruitful debates about the comprehension of non-physical aspects of reality. All this serves finally to stress the importance of revisiting humanism as a potential guiding principle for education.

Highlights

This paper begins by highlight the growing relevance of Rudolf Steiner’s thinking within academic discourse
Rudolf Steiner did not present his work within the context of the academic life of his time
There are more and more scientists practising meditation and methods of contemplative inquiry2, the prevalent scientific worldview still tends towards physicalism or naturalism

Summary

Anthroposophy as a method

Rudolf Steiner did not present his work within the context of the academic life of his time. It is taken for granted that there are no such things, in spite of the fact that the relevance of spiritual matters is extraordinary high, not least since they play such a decisive role in many people’s everyday lives For this very reason these notional entities are tolerated only as long as no ontological claim to reality is made about them and they are kept merely as matters of tradition or private belief. There are more and more scientists practising meditation and methods of contemplative inquiry, the prevalent scientific worldview still tends towards physicalism or naturalism This is the presupposition that reality is comprised of essentially physical objects and events, as approximately described by the physical sciences, and that thinking and other notional phenomena are the result or effect of things going at this physical level. Rather than drawing motivation from religious traditions or philosophical humanistic ideas of the past, the real challenge, I would say, is to find ways to go beyond physicalism by developing competence for justifiable and reliable knowledge that can engage with and comprehend the non-physical aspects of the human being

Steiner pedagogy and its idea of humanism

Renewed humanism