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<blockquote data-quote="Doctor Futurity" data-source="post: 7689834" data-attributes="member: 10738">I suspect Steiner would write something a bit different in 2016 on this subject than he did in 1918. Also, Steiner was not referring to artistic media and expression; he was addressing patents, monopolies on knowledge, information, spiritual and scientific advancement. While Steiner might not have conceived of the idea of &quot;free expression&quot; in the sense of the artistic, I am fairly certain he'd find the use of his argumentation in favor of today's concept of IP and Copyright to be a bit petty....he'd be a lot more concerned with monopolies of life-saving drugs, the way scientific knowledge is hoarded or restricted for profit and personal gain, and other more pressing issues. That said...Steiner's spiritualism isn't really a good foundation for modern philosophy or IP/copyright discussions; he's firmly rooted in a turn-of-the-century christian spiritualism that was defined very specifically by it's time, and there's a reason it remains more an artifact of philosophical history than anything else.(EDIT: and as a side note I doubt Steiner would be comfortable championing free access to the sort of knowledge/fiction under discussion. His intent was a spiritual liberty that I think is quite at odds with the broader range of fiction, media, philosophy and secular belief that now pervades our culture.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Doctor Futurity, post: 7689834, member: 10738"] I suspect Steiner would write something a bit different in 2016 on this subject than he did in 1918. Also, Steiner was not referring to artistic media and expression; he was addressing patents, monopolies on knowledge, information, spiritual and scientific advancement. While Steiner might not have conceived of the idea of "free expression" in the sense of the artistic, I am fairly certain he'd find the use of his argumentation in favor of today's concept of IP and Copyright to be a bit petty....he'd be a lot more concerned with monopolies of life-saving drugs, the way scientific knowledge is hoarded or restricted for profit and personal gain, and other more pressing issues. That said...Steiner's spiritualism isn't really a good foundation for modern philosophy or IP/copyright discussions; he's firmly rooted in a turn-of-the-century christian spiritualism that was defined very specifically by it's time, and there's a reason it remains more an artifact of philosophical history than anything else. (EDIT: and as a side note I doubt Steiner would be comfortable championing free access to the sort of knowledge/fiction under discussion. His intent was a spiritual liberty that I think is quite at odds with the broader range of fiction, media, philosophy and secular belief that now pervades our culture.) [/QUOTE]

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