Steiner was a very odd fellow.He was an Austrian occultist into pseudo history and pseudo science and claimed to be a clairvoyant.His education ideas are bizarre, his medicine ideas are seen as ineffective and his biodynamic agriculture was widely accepted by the Third Reich.
There is much merit in organic regenerative wine making but Steiner is a very poor “scientist.”
I was reading an article recently written by a Philosophy prof - had nothing to do with wine - that posed the question whether, morally, lying is always wrong, or if lying can be ok if it leads to a good result. A classic human conundrum. But it made me think of BD wine.
Is promoting pseudoscience always wrong, or is it ok if it leads to excellent wine? On one hand, science is under attack in the world, and anything that helps weaken our understanding of it and promotes non-scientific methods can be harmful. On the other, many argue that the Steiner esoteric stuff is only a small part of modern BD. (Though it is still, it should be pointed out, absolutely required for Demeter certification.)
Personally I’m team ‘pseudoscience is always bad,’ though I understand it is a complicated topic with many nuances. I wasn’t familiar with the Korean practice you covered here but do know that Regenerative Organic does seem to address most if not all of the positive aspects of BD without the mystical junk, so it certainly seems hopeful that someday we might be able to leave the cow horns and stag bladders in the past.
What baffles me as well is the apparent reluctance to figure out why some of the biodynamic practices work. You'd think that by understanding the underlying principles you could, potentially at least, discover ways of improving.
Even more, likely by couching biodynamics in religious-like terms, he popularized the practice - there's a reason it's practiced globally while most of us haven't even heard of Korean Natural Farming. Many (myself included) may be dismayed that it requires a "religiosity" to sell regenerative farming practices to most, but humans gonna human.
Steiner was a very odd fellow.He was an Austrian occultist into pseudo history and pseudo science and claimed to be a clairvoyant.His education ideas are bizarre, his medicine ideas are seen as ineffective and his biodynamic agriculture was widely accepted by the Third Reich.
There is much merit in organic regenerative wine making but Steiner is a very poor “scientist.”
I was reading an article recently written by a Philosophy prof - had nothing to do with wine - that posed the question whether, morally, lying is always wrong, or if lying can be ok if it leads to a good result. A classic human conundrum. But it made me think of BD wine.
Is promoting pseudoscience always wrong, or is it ok if it leads to excellent wine? On one hand, science is under attack in the world, and anything that helps weaken our understanding of it and promotes non-scientific methods can be harmful. On the other, many argue that the Steiner esoteric stuff is only a small part of modern BD. (Though it is still, it should be pointed out, absolutely required for Demeter certification.)
Personally I’m team ‘pseudoscience is always bad,’ though I understand it is a complicated topic with many nuances. I wasn’t familiar with the Korean practice you covered here but do know that Regenerative Organic does seem to address most if not all of the positive aspects of BD without the mystical junk, so it certainly seems hopeful that someday we might be able to leave the cow horns and stag bladders in the past.
What baffles me as well is the apparent reluctance to figure out why some of the biodynamic practices work. You'd think that by understanding the underlying principles you could, potentially at least, discover ways of improving.
Even more, likely by couching biodynamics in religious-like terms, he popularized the practice - there's a reason it's practiced globally while most of us haven't even heard of Korean Natural Farming. Many (myself included) may be dismayed that it requires a "religiosity" to sell regenerative farming practices to most, but humans gonna human.
Very insightful, didn't know anything about KNF!