anthroposophy
/ˌænθɹəˈpɑsəfi/
anthroposophy means knowledge or understanding of human nature. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 85 out of 100.
anthroposophy is pronounced /ˌænθɹəˈpɑsəfi/.
Why “anthroposophy” is a great word
ANTHROPOSOPHY — [Noun] A spiritual philosophy positing that an objective spiritual world can be understood through disciplined inner development. From anthropo- (from Greek anthrōpos, "human being") + -sophy (from Greek sophia, "wisdom"), via Renaissance Latin anthroposophia; popularized in the 1910s via German Anthroposophie by Rudolf Steiner. Unlike theosophy, which seeks divine wisdom from all traditions, or anthropology, which empirically studies external human societies, anthroposophy is a rigorous path of human-centered spiritual research. It manifests in the biodynamic vineyard planted by lunar cycles, the flowing, non-right-angled architecture of a Goetheanum, and the deliberate choreography of a eurythmy performance—each a tangible assertion that the cosmos is apprehended only through the cultivated self.
Etymology
From anthropo- + -sophy, from Renaissance Latin anthroposophia (attested in Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, d. 1535, and Thomas Vaughan, d. 1666), popularized from the 1910s via German Anthroposophie (Rudolf Steiner, 1861–1925).
noun
- Knowledge or understanding of human nature.
- A philosophy founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner (also capitalized as Anthroposophy), postulating the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development.“Anthroposophy was having definite effects. I couldn't take any of this to heart. Other-worldliness tinged it all and every little while my spirit seemed to dissociate itself.”