An Outline of Occult Science

An Outline of Occult Science is a book by Rudolf Steiner, first published in 1910. In sober, systematic prose Steiner sets out the principles of what he called a spiritual — or “occult” — science: a method of disciplined, clairvoyant investigation intended to reveal the non-sensory structure of the human being (etheric and astral bodies) and the spiritual background to cosmic and human evolution.

The work presents these claims as the result of rigorous inner observation rather than mere speculation, and it was written to serve as a concise epitome of the Anthroposophical view of history and the human constitution. Measured against familiar scholarly standards, the book asks readers to suspend nothing so much as convenience: it invites a disciplined reconsideration of what counts as evidence and proposes a radically different ordering of prehistory, the development of consciousness, and the future destiny of humanity.

Whether read as a primary text of Anthroposophy, as a historical curiosity of modern occultism, or as a bold attempt to reformulate spiritual enquiry in quasi-scientific language, it remains influential among Steiner’s followers and notable for its ambition to turn esoteric claims into a mapped framework of spiritual science.