EPISTEMOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY, AND SPIRITUAL SCIENCE

This paper has two main parts; one about epistemology and another about technology. Both are related to the possibility of a spiritual science. Over the latter decades a new paradigm of science has been slowly emerging, containing various strands such as post- materialism, panpsychism, or panspiritism. One basic presumption of the paper is that this new paradigm must be consolidated with a participatory epistemology, as well as a revival of the Aristotelian concept of causality as a basis for a new technological rationality. Participatory epistemology overcomes the dualism of consciousness and world and the Kantian notion of limits to knowledge. Aristotelian causality builds on the notion of Form and the formative forces of Nature. This can be taken as the basis for a technology that cooperates with Nature rather than strives to conquer it. Throughout the paper the spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner (Anthroposophy) is used as an example of how this alternative epistemology and technology can be formulated and expressed. At the end the anthroposophical technologies of water purification and Waldorf pedagogy are shortly presented as illustrations. KEYWORDS: Post-materialist/spiritual science; Participatory epistemology; Aristotelian causality; Technology