Free European Academy of Sciences (FEAW)

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Free European Academy of Sciences
FormationJuly 8, 1976
Dissolvedca 1996




The Free European Academy of Sciences (FEAW) was a scientific organization founded on July 8, 1976 at the Vrije Hoggeschool in Driebergen.[1][2] The first board members were Herbert Hensel, Gerhard Kienle, M. Kriele, B.C.J. Lievegoed, C.J. Zwart.[1]

B. Lievegoed reports:

It set the following topics as its tasks:

  • What are the legal, administrative, and organizational consequences of the principle of freedom of teaching and research?
  • What is a fact in the sense of epistemology and natural science?[1]

It brought together over 60 international university teachers with anthroposophical-anthropological, humanistic concerns.[3][4] Among them were anthroposophically motivated university teachers such as Herbert Hensel, Gunther Hildebrandt, Wolfgang Blankenburg and Bernard Lievegoed as well as international scientists such as the computer specialist Joseph Weizenbaum, the physiologist Paul Weiss, or Samuel Beecher, who had opposed drug experiments on addicts, prisoners or the mentally handicapped in the USA.[3] In the invitation letter of the FEAW, Diether Lauenstein formulated:

It [the FEAW] brings together scholars who seek the common intellectual basis of their sciences, work against mere positivism, and connect their fields of expertise in an interdisciplinary way, not only retrospectively. Although the inviters regard Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy as a fruitful interpretation of the world, they would like to connect in the Academy with all such scholars who pose the question of truth in their science philosophically.

The FEAW organized eleven conferences and symposia from 1976 to the end of 1996.[5] The first symposium took place on 25.11.1977 in Herdecke, Germany.

In the run-up to the FEAW, a five-day symposium entitled "Menschengemäße Physiologische Wissenschaft und Medizin" ("Man-centered Physiological Science and Medicine") was held from September 24, 1973,[6][7] as a result of a connection between Gerhard Kienle and Karl-Ernst Schäfer.[3] The lectures were published in the volumes "Toward a man-centered science" (1977)[8], "Basis of an Individual Physiology" (1979)[9] and "Individuation Process and Biographical Aspects of Disease" (1979)[10].

A group of FEAW members around Kienle, Lauenstein, Hensel, and Schäfer had been pursuing the idea of founding a university for some time.[4][1] There was a large overlap in personnel with the Herdecke University Association, which was founded in 1980 and from which the University of Witten/Herdecke emerged.[11]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lievegoed, Bernhard (1989). Wissenschaft und Anthroposophie; Impulse für neue Wege in der Forschung [Science and Anthroposophy; Impulses for New Directions in Research]. Stuttgart: Urachhaus. ISBN 978-3-87838-609-4.
  2. Pritchard, Rosalind M. O. (1992). "Principles and pragmatism in private higher education: examples from Britain and Germany". Higher Education. 24 (2): 247–273. ISSN 0018-1560. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Schily, Konrad (2010-08-01). "Die Standardisierung ist genau das Mittel, um die Komplexität nicht mehr begreifbar zu machen" [Standardization is precisely the means to make complexity no longer comprehensible] (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Selg, Peter. "Gerhard Kienle". Forschungsstelle Kulturimpuls - Biographien Dokumentation (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  5. Gastkemper, Michel (2008-07-16). "Opkomst en ondergang (van de Vrije Europese Academie voor Wetenschappen)". Antroposofie in de pers (in Nederlands). Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  6. Selg, Peter (2003). Gerhard Kienle - Leben und Werk (in Deutsch). 1. Dornach: Verlag am Goetheanum. p. 506. ISBN 978-3-7235-1165-7. quoted after Gastkemper, Michel (2008-07-16). "Opkomst en ondergang (van de Vrije Europese Academie voor Wetenschappen)". Antroposofie in de pers (in Nederlands). Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  7. Frost, Katja; Edelhäuser, Friedrich; Hofmann, Marzellus; Tauschel, Diethard; Lutz, Gabriele (2019-10-15). "History and development of medical studies at the University of Witten/Herdecke - an example of "continuous reform"". GMS journal for medical education. 36: –61. doi:10.3205/zma001269.
  8. Schaefer, Karl E; Hensel, Herbert; Brady, Ronald (1977). Toward a man-centered medical science. New Image of Man and Medicine. 1. New York: Futura Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-87993-069-1. "A portion of the material in this book was presented at the meeting man-centered physiological science and medicine held in Herdecke, Germany, Gemeinnuetziges Krankenhaus, September 24-28, 1973."
  9. Schaefer, Karl Ernst; Hildebrandt, Gunther; Macbeth, Norman (1979). Basis of an Individual Physiology. New Image of Man and Medicine. 2. Mount Kisco New York: Futura Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-87993-106-3.
  10. Schaefer, Karl Ernst; Stave, Uwe; Blankenburg, Wolfgang (1979). Individuation Process and Biographical Aspects of Disease. New Image of Man and Medicine. 3. Mount Kisco New York: Futura Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-87993-117-9.
  11. "Elite für Grundfragen". Der Spiegel (in Deutsch) (19). 1981-05-03. ISSN 0038-7452.