Warmth Course

The Theory of Heat; Second Scientific Course;
14 lectures, Stuttgart, March 1–14, 1920 (CW 321)

Following his first scientific course the previous year (The Light Course), in these lectures Rudolf Steiner discusses the nature of warmth, its relationship to the four states of matter, to light, to color, and to the subearthly and superearthly realms. He extends the modern ideas of physics through aspects of understanding achieved by spiritual science. With extensive notes and diagrams, this work comprises essential reference material for natural science teachers, as well as interested parents and anyone wanting a deeper understanding of a theory of heat and warmth based on spiriual science.

“The manifold new aspects of the subject presented placed the element of warmth within the great evolution of the cosmos and then traced it even into the phenomena of life, the concrete processes in the transformation of the states of aggregation in matter, and even into mathematical formulae.... Indications thus given were then worked out during the following years in the Research Institute and Laboratory at the Goetheanum and traced into numerous phenomena of the rhythms of the day and the year, phenomena of life, the most subtle influences in processes of crystallization, and they became useful in the later inaugurated agricultural work.” ―Guenther Wachsmuth, The Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner (p. 378)

This volume is a translation from German of Geisteswissenschaftliche Impulse II zur Entwickelung der Physik II: Zweiter naturwissenschaftlicher Kurs: Die Wärme auf der Grenze positiver und negativer Materialität (GA 321).

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe's scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner's multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.