Culture 6

Then we will understand that the American Indian population, which seems so enigmatic to us with its social structures and its peculiar instincts, must be quite different. The African, the Ethiopian, the N**** race is different again. There are instincts which connect to the lower human. (…) The population that is called the Caucasian race represents the actual cultural race, which (…) can no longer handle the magical powers, but has to rely on the mechanical.

Rudolf Steiner (1905): Die Grundbegriffe der Theosophie der Menschenrassen. In: Rudolf Steiner, Die Welträtsel und die Anthroposophie, Band 54. Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, p. 143.

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was an Austrian philosopher, esotericist and founder of anthroposophy. His works are still influential today, for example in Waldorf schools or in anthroposophic medicine.

Rudolf Steiner built on the racial theories of his time which he was familiar with, and developed them further into an anthroposophical, spiritual racial theory. Today, these ideas only play a secondary role in anthroposophy, yet anthroposophical institutions have yet to officially distance themselves from Steiner's racial theories. Sonnenberg (2003: 21, quoted in the Waldorfblog) writes: ‘A critical reading of Steiner's communications is rarely seen in anthroposophical circles as an opportunity to expand the horizon of knowledge, but rather as a threat to internal social plausibility and even power structures.’

*Waldorfblog: Waldorf und Rechtsextremismus.

1905