The Four Temperaments

By Rudolf Steiner

GA 57

Between individual characteristics and those of the human race in general lie the four main groups of human temperaments: phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic, and choleric. Steiner describes here how each person's combination of temperaments is shaped out of a particular kind of union between hereditary factors and the inner spiritual nature.

This lecture was given in German under the title Das Geheimnis der menschlichen Temperamente and is included in Wo und wie findet man den Geist? (Vol. 57 in the Bibliographic Survey). It was translated from the German by Brian Kelly.