Mario Betti is a former philosophy professor. The burning question which led to writing this book was, "How to develop ways of understanding every person, towards a 'Whitsun' of humanity where all languages will be understood in a community of inquirers." He says "This book is needed because humanity is getting more and more one-sided."
Subtitled ‘philosophies and archetypal worldviews for understanding
human consciousness’, this significant book makes an important
contribution to the debate around the topic. It stems from the work
of Goethe and Steiner while including a galaxy of other thinkers
during the course of its very helpful analysis. Steiner was the
first to delimit this twelvefold character consisting of
phenomenalism, sensualism, materialism, mathematism,
rationalism, idealism, psychism, pneumatism, ‘spiritualism’,
monadism, dynamism and realism. Readers will note the invention of
new terms, and each is discussed in detail in separate chapters
that nevertheless make connections between the various approaches.
The picture that emerges is one of harmony and complementarity
problems arise when one approach claims to be complete in itself as
many scientists strive to reduce everything to the principle of
matter through materialism. The author explains that the first
three emerge from the senses, the next three from thought, while
psychism, pneumatism and spiritualism’ (in quotes with a
redefined meaning) emerge from the depths of the soul. If psychism
focuses on sense of I, pneumatism, corresponding to gnosis, asserts
that I Am the Universe. These paths are illustrated with quotations
from Marcus Aurelius, Hildegard von Bingen, Kierkegaard,
Goethe, Husserl and Jung, where the smaller I becomes one
with the greater I. Pneumatism brings in an understanding of love,
with quotations from Al-Ghazzali, Jacques Lusseyran and,
inspiringly, the autobiography of Anwar Sadat, the president of
Egypt who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 and was
subsequently assassinated. The author sees these phases as part of
our current revolutionary development. The final chapter
brings things together in the image of Humanus, the new human being
envisaged by Goethe but now under threat from developments in
biotechnology reducing consciousness and cognition to information
processing. If culture is based on freedom and the self creation of
human modes of being, then we need to take this task very seriously
in prioritising conscious inner development and widening our
view to recognise the harmonious interplay between the 12 world
views set out in this book. As Schweitzer once said, our task is to
become more finely and deeply human by developing truth, freedom
and love.
*Paradigm Explorer Reviews*
This work is a development of Steiner's twelve philosophical
world views as outlined in Human and Cosmic Thought, lecture 2.
Mario Betti, a former philosophy teacher at the Alanus University
is attempting to clarify each of these standpoints by discussing
thinkers whom he feels represent them. It is impressive to find
further clarification of these outlooks, the subtleties of which
are not always easy to grasp, although some of the extracts quoted
are overly long and not always to the point, but I am not in a
position to claim that any are inaccurate. Reading Steiner's
lecture first may be recommended, especially for readers less well
versed in studying philosophy, as Betti's work is not an easy read.
Mention is made of the connections to the zodiac though the author
does not enlarge on this aspect, and instead stresses the
importance of not looking one-sidedly at things. If you have an
interest in these twelve views the book certainly repays studying -
some views will perhaps become clearer than others owing to our own
standpoints - which of course may change and evolve during our
lifetimes, and as this aspect of Steiner's work has been so little
dealt with - at least in English - it is to be welcomed.
*The Anthroposophical Society GB*
This work is a development of Steiner's twelve philosophical world
views as outlined in Human and Cosmic Thought, lecture 2. Mario
Betti, a former philosophy teacher at the Alanus University is
attempting to clarify each of these standpoints by discussing
thinkers whom he feels represent them. It is impressive to find
further clarification of these outlooks, the subtleties of which
are not always easy to grasp, although some of the extracts quoted
are overly long and not always to the point, but I am not in a
position to claim that any are inaccurate. Reading Steiner's
lecture first may be recommended, especially for readers less well
versed in studying philosophy, as Betti's work is not an easy read.
Mention is made of the connections to the zodiac though the author
does not enlarge on this aspect, and instead stresses the
importance of not looking one-sidedly at things. If you have an
interest in these twelve views the book certainly repays studying -
some views will perhaps become clearer than others owing to our own
standpoints - which of course may change and evolve during our
lifetimes, and as this aspect of Steiner's work has been so little
dealt with - at least in English - it is to be welcomed.
*The Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain*
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