When Steiner expresses a particular viewpoint, he is speaking to someone who thinks in that way. So truth is expressed 12 different ways.
Tom Last: https://philosophyoffreedom.com/world-outlooks.
0. World-outlook mood – Empiricism – External Knowledge – Perceptualize: (percept);
◦ Gather knowledge through direct experience and observation of the external world, forming understandings based on empirical data and observable phenomena.
◦ Overview of Holleman and Biberian’s Experiments:
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/index.html
▪ https://www.jeanpaulbiberian.net/
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/research.html
The phenomenon of the biological transmutation of chemical elements has, in my opinion, attracted many people who have lacked a critical, scientific judgement. I found their experiments to have been poorly conducted, for various reasons. This chapter introduces the work of Professor L.W.J. (Wim) Holleman, the first scientist in this field whose critical judgement I have been entirely in agreement with. He believed in the delicate empirical method of Goethe (see chapter 15). His results were both unexpected and – for various reasons – were not able to be repeated. An attempt to repeat his results by Jean-Paul Biberian yielded even more unexpected results. Because neither set of results were able to be repeated, and I am unaware of anyone else to have published anything similar, nothing conclusive may be said of their observations. Nevertheless, I have been unable to find any simple error in their experiments which could possibly explain their enigmatic results.
1. Materialism – Scientist – (Physical World);
◦ My views hold true for the material life, for the material world and its laws. I will not accept any proof of anything non-material. My attention is turned away from my self and directed to matter and its processes. I stick to what makes the crudest impression on me, the material world.
◦ Biographical information about Holleman as a scientist:
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/h_fwrd_dc.html;
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/h_s10.html;
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/h_app1.html.
Leendert Willem Jacob (Wim) Holleman (23rd September 1906 – 13th November 1994), was a chemist and an Anthroposophist. He grew up in a musical household, and his good friend and Anthroposophical phenomenologist Dick van Romunde wrote in Holleman’s obituary that shortly before leaving school he was introduced to Rudolf Steiner’s book, The Philosophy of Freedom, which he studied with great intensity. His choice for the study of chemistry can be associated with the fact that the fascinating play of the visible chemical processes is connected with the same world of numbers which manifests itself in music. He was, certainly later, strongly under the influence of this relationship.
…
2. Spiritualism – Spiritism – Lecturer;
◦ The material world is only a manifestation of the underlying spiritual. By developing our powers, the Truth that we seek comes to us through our own inner activity. The way we directly experience the spirit is in the act of thinking. Our thinking opens out to embrace the eternal truths of existence. The human spirit is that part of us that thinks.
◦ Holleman’s historical review of the phenomenon:
▪ 1. Introduction: Transmutation in Inorganic Nature;
▪ 2. Transmutation in Organic Nature;
▪ 4. Critical Review of Earlier Experiments.
3. Realism – Repairman;
◦ I don’t know if the world contains matter or is a product of the mind. One thing is clear, there is a world spread out before me. I recognize the external world. That is something I can see and think about. I restrict myself to what I can see around me. For me to know the external world, I must look outwards and draw on my experience.
◦ Practical considerations:
▪ 3. Directions for Transmutation Experiments.
4. Idealism – Professor;
◦ There is a world of ideas and ideals within the world process. From the external world emerge ideas that I can give my attention, independently of the world. The world of physical phenomena around us has no meaning to me unless there is within it a progressive tendency. Life has meaning only if ideas work through it and give it purpose.
◦ Why?
▪ 5. Arguments For and Against Further Research.
5. Mathematism – Programming Engineer;
◦ I see the world as a kind of mechanical system that can be figured out quite accurately. Mathematical thinking taught me that if I focus and control my thinking I can arrive at the correct answer by following a logical sequence of thought. I have discovered something else important, that there are laws that apply as soundly in the phenomenal world as they do within the world of thought. These laws unite the inner world of thought with the outer world of phenomena.
◦ Experimental design:
▪ 6. Description of Holleman’s Transmutation Experiments.
6. Rationalism – Lawyer;
◦ If mathematical ideas are found to be real in the world, why should not other ideas have equal reality? I accept ideas that are discovered in the world, outside myself. I don’t consider the intuitive or inspirational ideas that are gained from ethical or intellectual realms as valid, as the Idealist does. I accept ideas that are backed up by evidence found in the external world that is real to the senses.
◦ Results:
▪ 7. Holleman’s Experiments 1975 – 1982;
▪ 8. Experiment V;
▪ 9. Holleman’s Experiments, 1987 – 1989 (Experiment VI);
▪ 10. Critical Discussion of Holleman’s Chlorella Research.
7. Psychism – Psychologist;
◦ Though ideas are at work in the world, they live in people who are capable of having ideas. Ideas are connected with people. People have a relationship with ideas. My interest is what goes on in the human soul.
◦ Publication; My involvement:
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/h_fwrd_dc.html;
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/rethink2.html.
8. Pneumatism – Psychic;
◦ The clear contemplation of the world has led me to accept something nonphysical or spiritual in the outside world. I also accept an individual spirit within the human being. It is not enough to just have ideas. The individual spirit is active and creatively expresses itself. Pneuma is a word for “spirit”. My interest is in the active spirit.
◦ Sophia, Jannie(?), Biberian, French chemist, Jennifer Greene and the formation and work of the Stitching:
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/study_group.html.
9. Monadism – Philosopher;
◦ I am a self-conscious and completely self-dependent ego. Truth is not revealed to outer observation so I do not accept anything as truth from the outside world. I have conceptual powers to grasp the directing principle of things within myself. All my experience, sensation, and knowledge is the result of my own inner activity.
◦ Biberian’s biographical background:
▪ https://www.jeanpaulbiberian.net/;
▪ http://www.cryofusion.org/.
10. Dynamism – Artist;
◦ I look for the force or energy that is behind phenomena. Forces are dominant everywhere. Change and progress are brought about by dynamic forces. I attempt to explain human action in terms of dynamic force or energy.
◦ Biberian’s experimental design:
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/biberian-24_11_06.html.
11. Phenomenalism – Researcher;
◦ There is a world spread out before me, but I do not claim that this world is the real one. I can only say that it ‘appears’ to me. I have no right to say more about it. It is a world of phenomena. As a researcher I describe the processes that brings about the appearance of the world.
◦ Biberian’s results:
▪ http://www.holleman.ch/biberian-24_11_06.html.
12. Sensualism – Gourmet;
◦ Nothing real exists except what manifests itself to me through my sense-impressions. We are certainly surrounded by the world of phenomena, but all that we have in these phenomena is what we have ourselves added to them, what we have thought into them. I peel off from my experience everything that has been added by the understanding and reason, and allow validity only to sense-impressions without interpretation. I reflect on the objective facts given to me by the senses.
◦ Review of the “objective facts” of Holleman and Biberian.
Rethinking the Nature of Substance 