The Care and Development of the Human Senses

The Care and Development of the Human Senses: Rudolf Steiner’s Work on the Significance of the Senses in Education

Willi Aeppli offers an in-depth presentation of Rudolf Steiner’s ideas on the nature of the twelve human senses as he saw them and their role in education.

This book is written for anyone concerned with children’s education and philosophies of teaching. It will be of special interest to Waldorf teachers and parents of students.

C O N T E N T S:

Preface

1. Introduction

A general conception of the sense organism
Perception and thinking
The threefold nature of the human organism

2. The Human Sense Organism

The origin of the sense organs
Number and grouping of the senses
The four lower senses
The four middle senses
The four upper senses
The relation between the lower and upper senses

3. The Development of the Sense Organism

Human development
Individual development
Enlivening and ensouling the sense organism

4. Cultivating the Sense Organism through Education

Stages of lessons that cultivate perception
Cultivation of living thinking
Cultivation of the will senses
Cultivation of the feeling senses
Cultivation of the cognitive senses

Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Willi Aeppli (1894–1972) was a master Waldorf teacher in the Rudolf Steiner School in Basel, Switzerland. He is remembered as an excellent teacher who used his observations and daily experience to enrich his classroom teaching. He also led many informal courses on the art of education for teachers and prospective teachers throughout his long career as an educator.