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by Rudolf Steiner (Author), Otto Scharmer (Foreword by), Christopher Bamford (Introduction by)
14 lectures in Dornach, July 14-August 6, 1922 (CW 340)
6 seminars in Dornach, July 31-August 5, 1922 (CW 341)
Rudolf Steiner gave this complex sequence of dense, subtle, multileveled lectures and seminars to students of economics in Dornach, Switzerland, during the summer of 1922. The course reflects a lifetime of thinking on the subject and marks the conclusion of his intense five-year period of activism in the service of social, political, and economic issues. During this time, which began as World War I was ending in 1917, he worked tirelessly to promote the cause of what he called "threefolding" (Dreigliederung), by which he meant rethinking the social order on the basis of clear separation and independence of the three fundamental spheres of activity that make up a society. He proposed three independent systems:
∞ an autonomous rights sphere (limited to judicial and political matters)∞ an autonomous economic sphere (cooperative or associative by nature)
∞ and an autonomous spiritual-cultural sphere
The autonomy of these three spheres, he believed, would make possible a free, healthy, productive society and open the possibility of a lasting peace.
Rethinking Economics is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the true nature of an economy and how it works. Steiner presents the basic elements of what it would take to create a just, socially responsible, and ecologically aware economy today.
This volume is a translation from German of Aufgaben einer neuen Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Bd.1, Nationalökonomischer Kurs (GA 340) and Aufgaben einer neuen Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Bd.2, Nationalökonomisches Seminar (GA 341), published by by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland.
