The Double-Edged Sword: The Cult of "Bildung", Its Downfall and Reconstitution in Fin-de-Siècle Germany (Rudolf Steiner and Max Weber)

This study traces how Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), founder of Anthroposophy and the Waldorf schools, and the sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) confronted the societal transformations in fin-de-siècle Germany as their primary identity marker – Bildung or self-formation – began to break down. The book documents the German bourgeoisie’s failure to modernise as an «imagined community», shedding new light on the larger question about the interrelationship of science, religion and culture by situa...