By Rudolf Steiner

GA 4

This book, written in 1894, is a fundamental treatment of Steiner's philosophical outlook. Together with Truth and Science and The Riddles of Philosophy it might be considered as one third of a philosophical trilogy. The emphasis of the book is not on “freedom” as ordinarily understood, but is on “freiheit” or what might be termed freeness. This freeness is a self-starting, self-directing activity of a spiritual sort. Here, the term “spiritual” is used in a sense not incompatible with the use of the word in the tradition of the German idealistic school of philosophy.

The main divisions of the book are: Knowledge of Freedom, The Reality of Freedom, and Ultimate Questions.

This edition is translated from the 2nd German edition of 1918 by Rita Stebbing, and is bound together with Truth and Knowledge. It is presented here with the kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Switzerland.