Transforming Society: Seeds for a New Social Understanding

LESSON 1 — ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIAL SCIENCE: FOUNDATIONS

Introduction — Taking responsibility for a fragile world | Indebtedness Exercise | Lesson Theme — Foundations of social life | What is anthroposophical social science? | The direction of social change | The bedrock of social life | The goal of social change | Working within a living organism | Creating the right “conditions” | The Big Picture — The threefold nature of social life | Onefold and twofold views of society | The emergence of civil society and “tri-sector” development | Understanding culture | “Social threefolding”

LESSON 2 — ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIAL SCIENCE: FIELD AND TOOLS

Introduction | Unbinding Exercise | Lesson Theme — Field and Tools of Social Life | The Prevailing Bias in Western Science | A New Scientific Basis: 1. Taking Appearances Seriously; 2. Searching for “Archetypal Phenomena;” 3. Developing New “Organs of Perception” | Seeing the Field, Transforming the Field: Imaginative Perception and the Characterizing Method; Working with the Ideas of Spiritual Science; Reading the “Symptoms” of History; Developing Social Understanding | The Big Picture — The Substance of the Social Organism | The Sideways View — The Individual’s Path through Social Life | The Activities and Substance of Social Life

LESSON 3 — FREEDOM AND LOVE

Introduction — From Research to Action | Y Exercise | Lesson Theme — Freedom and Love | Acting on Auto-Pilot | Seeing our Conditioning | The Generic and the Individual | Two Sides of the Same Coin: Freedom and Love | Coming to Know Another: What is Whole? Cosmos, Type, and Individual  | The Big Picture — One Book in Two Volumes: The Philosophy of Freedom and Towards Social Renewal | Creating the Right “Conditions,” Revisited | The Guiding Principles of the Three Spheres

LESSON 4 — SOCIAL AND ANTISOCIAL FORCES: THE PENDULUM

Introduction — The Nature of Social Laws | Right Word Exercise | Lesson Theme — Social and Antisocial Forces | The Law of Increasing Individualization | A Note on History: The Evolution of Consciousness and “Logomorphism” | The Archetypal Social Dynamic in our Thinking  | The Ego Sense | The Big Picture — Societal Balancing | Forming Social Structures | A First Look at Ownership | Firing on All (Three) Cylinders

LESSON 5 — SOCIAL AND ANTISOCIAL FORCES: THE SCALES

Introduction — Sympathy and Antipathy | Owning Our Decisions Exercise | Lesson Theme — Moving from the Pendulum to the Scales |  The Shadow and the False Light | The Golden Mean or Middle Way | Dying and Becoming | Warming the Cold and Cooling the Hot: Ahriman and Lucifer | The Basis of Reality is Contradiction | Returning to Sympathy and Antipathy | The Big Picture — Societal Self-Reckoning | Developing a “Whole-Society Perspective”

LESSON 6 — THE NATURE OF WORK: DECOMMODIFYING LABOR

Introduction — The State of Our Labor | Recognizing Our Task | Right Endeavor Exercise | Lesson Theme — The Need to Decommodify Labor  | “Living Truths” and “Living Lies” in Social Life | What is a Commodity? | Dignity and Destiny | Finding a New Motivation for Labor | The Law of Selfless Labor | The Big Picture — Labor’s Rightful Role in the Economy | Motivation Arising Through Culture and Governance | Separating Work and Income for Ourselves

LESSON 7 — THE NATURE OF WORK: INNER UNITY WITH OTHERS

Introduction — Social Trust | Social Motto Contemplation | Lesson Theme — Inner Unity with Others | Setting the Stage | Entering the Workplace on a New Footing | A First Look at Associations | True Price | At Eye Level — Individual Initiative and Shared Understanding | Freeing the Individual | Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation | Mandates in the Waldorf School | Seeing the Strength of Each One | The Spirit of the Community | Discussions in the Workplace

LESSON 8 — THE WHOLE SOCIAL ORGANISM

Introduction — “An Objective Basis for Morality” | Seeing Who Feeds Us Exercise | Lesson Theme — The Whole Social Organism | Between Heaven and Earth | A Brief History of the Social Organism | The “Democratic Mood” | “The Right to Police, Not to Initiate” | When Democracy Loses Its Meaning | The Lonely Individual and the “Social Mystery” | At Eye Level — Standing in the Flow of Different Streams | Right Decision-Making | Conflicts of Interest and Misplaced Ideals | Consistent in Our Inconsistency

LESSON 9 — FREE CULTURE

Introduction — Making Spirit Practical | The Work of Joseph Beuys | Speaking a Poem Exercise | Lesson Theme — Free Culture | What is Culture? Revisited | Freedom and the Pursuit of Truth | Culture as the Wellspring of Society | The Healthy Form of Culture: Independent; Accessible to All; Freely Supported | On the Path of Freeing Culture | The Interweaving Organism — The Work of Knowledge in Every Realm | On Entrepreneurs | On Judges

LESSON 10 — TRUE DEMOCRACY

Introduction — Human Dignity | Equanimity Exercise | Lesson Theme — True Democracy | Governance, Revisited | The Real Boundaries of the State: Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome | Living Law: How Rights and Duties Arise; Some Aspects of a Healthy Rights Life; The Riddle at the Heart of Law | At Eye Level — Balancing the Polarity of Rights and Duties

LESSON 11 — ASSOCIATIVE ECONOMY

Introduction — From Unconscious to Conscious | Acquired Idealism Exercise | Lesson Theme — Associative Economy | Economics, Revisited | The Work of the Associations | The Basic Approach — A “Pull” Economy | Land, Labor, and Capital | Some Symptoms of Disease | Value, Price, and the Flaw in Supply and Demand; The Company Store | Moving Workers, the Example of Mondragon | Living (and Dying) Money; The Three Types of Money | At Eye Level — Where to Start?

LESSON 12 — NATION, RACE, AND ETHNICITY

Introduction — Loving Across Lines | Genuine Tolerance Exercise | Lesson Theme — Nation, Race, and Ethnicity: From Physical Family… ; …To Spiritual Family… ; …Along a Stormy Road | “Self-Determination” of Nations | Nationalism and Internationalism | The Role of Race | Looking at Racism | Ethnicity and “Folk Souls”: A “Great Chorus”; The Evolution of Individuals and the Evolution of Groups; A Truly United Nations | A Note Upon Completion