Philosophical anthropology, sometimes called anthropological philosophy, is a discipline dealing with questions of

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

and

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

of the human person.

History

Ancient Christian writers: Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

was one of the first Christian ancient Latin authors with a very clear anthropological vision, although it is not clear if he had any influence on

Max Scheler Max Ferdinand Scheler (; 22 August 1874 – 19 May 1928) was a German philosopher known for his work in phenomenology, ethics, and philosophical anthropology. Considered in his lifetime one of the most prominent German philosophers,Davis, Zachar ...

, the founder of philosophical anthropology as an independent discipline, nor on any of the major philosophers that followed him. Augustine has been cited by Husserl and Heidegger as one of the early writers to inquire on time-consciousness and the role of ''seeing'' in the feeling of "

Being-in-the-world Martin Heidegger, the 20th-century German philosopher, produced a large body of work that intended a profound change of direction for philosophy. Such was the depth of change that he found it necessary to introduce many neologisms, often connected ...

". Augustine saw the human being as a perfect unity of two substances: soul and body. He was much closer in this anthropological view to

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

than to

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

.Massuti, p.98. In his late treatise On Care to Be Had for the Dead sec. 5 (420 AD) he insisted that the body is essential part of the human person: Augustine's favourite figure to describe ''body-soul'' unity is marriage: ''caro tua, coniux tua – your body is your wife''. Initially, the two elements were in perfect harmony. After the fall of humanity they are now experiencing dramatic combat between one another. They are two categorically different things: the body is a three-dimensional object composed of the four elements, whereas the soul has no spatial dimensions. Soul is a kind of substance, participating in reason, fit for ruling the body. Augustine was not preoccupied, as Plato and Descartes were, with going too much into detail in his efforts to explain the

of the soul-body union. It sufficed for him to admit that they were metaphysically distinct. To be a human is to be a composite of soul and body, and that the soul is superior to the body. The latter statement is grounded in his

hierarchical classification Hierarchical classification is a system of grouping things according to a hierarchy. In the field of machine learning, hierarchical classification is sometimes referred to as instance space decomposition, which splits a complete multi-class pro ...

of things into those that merely exist, those that exist and live, and those that exist, live, and have intelligence or reason. According to N. Blasquez, Augustine's dualism of substances of the body and soul doesn't stop him from seeing the unity of body and soul as a substance itself. Following Aristotle and other ancient philosophers, he defined man as a ''rational mortal animal'' – ''animal rationale mortale''.

Modern period

Philosophical anthropology as a kind of thought, before it was founded as a distinct philosophical discipline in the 1920s, emerged as post-

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

thought striving for emancipation from

Christian religion Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popul ...

and Aristotelic tradition.Apostolopoulou, ''Georgia The Problem of Religion in Helmuth Plessner's Philosophical Anthropology'', in Reimer, A. James and Siebert, Rudolf J. (1992
''The Influence of the Frankfurt school on contemporary theology: critical theory and the future of religion''
pp.42–66. Quotation from p.49: The origin of this liberation, characteristic of

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...

, has been the Cartesian skepticism formulated by Descartes in the first two of his ''

Meditations on First Philosophy ''Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated'' ( la, Meditationes de Prima Philosophia, in qua Dei existentia et animæ immortalitas demonstratur) is a philosophical treatise ...

'' (1641).

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

(1724–1804) taught the first lectures on anthropology in the European academic world. He specifically developed a conception of ''pragmatic anthropology'', according to which the human being is studied as a free agent. At the same time, he conceived of his anthropology as an empirical, not a strictly philosophical discipline. Both his philosophical and his anthropological work has been one of the influences in the field during the 19th and 20th century.Grolier (1981
''The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 21''
p. 768 After Kant, Ludwig Feuerbach is sometimes considered the next most important influence and founder of anthropological philosophy. During the 19th century, an important contribution came from post-Kantian

German idealist German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...

s like Fichte,

Schelling Schelling is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Caroline Schelling (1763–1809), German intellectual * Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), German philosopher * Felix Emanuel Schelling (1858–1945), American educat ...

and

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

, as well from

Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , , ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on ...

Philosophical anthropology as independent discipline

Since its development in the 1920s, in the milieu of Germany Weimar culture, philosophical anthropology has been turned into a philosophical discipline, competing with the other traditional sub-disciplines of philosophy such as

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

, and

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

. It is the attempt to unify disparate ways of understanding behaviour of humans as both creatures of their

social environment The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...

s and creators of their own values. Although the majority of philosophers throughout the

history of philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

can be said to have a distinctive "

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

" that undergirds their thought, philosophical anthropology itself, as a ''specific discipline'' in philosophy, arose within the later modern period as an outgrowth from developing methods in philosophy, such as phenomenology and

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

. The former, which draws its energy from methodical reflection on human experience (first person perspective) as from the philosopher's own personal experience, naturally aided the emergence of philosophical explorations of human nature and the human condition.

1920s Germany

, from 1900 until 1920 had been a follower of Husserl's phenomenology, the hegemonic form of philosophy in Germany at the time. Scheler sought to apply Husserl's phenomenological approach to different topics. From 1920 Scheler laid the foundation for philosophical anthropology as a philosophical discipline, competing with phenomenology and other philosophic disciplines. Husserl and

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

(1889–1976), were the two most authoritative philosophers in Germany at the time, and their criticism to philosophical anthropology and Scheler have had a major impact on the discipline. Scheler defined the human being not so much as a " rational animal" (as has traditionally been the case since

) but essentially as a "loving being". He breaks down the traditional hylomorphic conception of the human person, and describes the personal being with a

tripartite Tripartite means composed of or split into three parts, or refers to three parties. Specifically, it may also refer to any of the following: * 3 (number) * Tripartite language * Tripartite motto * Tripartite System in British education * Triparti ...

structure of

lived body Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, and spirit.

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

and

hatred Hatred is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Hatred is s ...

are not

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...

emotions, but spiritual,

intention Intentions are mental states in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the ''a ...

al acts of the person, which he categorises as "intentional feelings." Scheler based his philosophical anthropology in a Christian metaphysics of the spirit.Wilkoszewska, Krystyna (2004
''Deconstruction and reconstruction: the Central European Pragmatist Forum''
Volume 2, p.129

Helmuth Plessner Helmuth Plessner (4 September 1892, Wiesbaden – 12 June 1985, Göttingen) was a German philosopher and sociologist, and a primary advocate of "philosophical anthropology". Life & career Plessner had an itinerant education in Germany between ...

would later emancipate philosophical anthropology from Christianity.

and

Arnold Gehlen Arnold Gehlen (29 January 1904 in Leipzig, German Empire – 30 January 1976 in Hamburg, West Germany) was an influential conservative German philosopher, sociologist, and anthropologist. Biography Gehlen's major influences while studyin ...

have been influenced by Scheler, and they are the three major representatives of philosophical anthropology as a movement.

From the 1940s

Ernst Cassirer, a neo-Kantian philosopher, was the most influential source for the definition and development of the field from the 1940s until the 1960s. Particularly influential has been Cassirer's description of man as a ''

symbolic animal ''Animal symbolicum'' ("symbol-making" or "symbolizing animal") is a definition for humans proposed by the German neo-Kantian Ernst Cassirer. The tradition since Aristotle has defined a human being as ''animal rationale'' (a rational animal). Ho ...

'', which has been reprised in the 1960s by Gilbert Durand, scholar of symbolic anthropology and the imaginary. In 1953, future pope Karol Wojtyla based his dissertation thesis on Max Scheler, limiting himself to the works Scheler wrote before rejecting Catholicism and the Judeo-Christian tradition in 1920. Wojtyla used Scheler as an example that phenomenology could be reconciled with Catholicism. Some authors have argued that Wojtyla influenced philosophical anthropology.. In the 20th century, other important contributors and influences to philosophical anthropology were Paul Häberlin (1878–1960), Martin Buber (1878–1965),.

E.R. Dodds Eric Robertson Dodds (26 July 1893 – 8 April 1979) was an Irish classics, classical scholar. He was Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford), Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford from 1936 to 1960. Early life and education Dodds wa ...

(1893–1979),

Hans-Georg Gadamer Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 ''magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics. Life Family an ...

(1900–2002), Eric Voegelin (1901–85),

Hans Jonas Hans Jonas (; ; 10 May 1903 – 5 February 1993) was a German-born American Jewish philosopher, from 1955 to 1976 the Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Biography Jonas was born ...

(1903–93),

Josef Pieper Josef Pieper (; 4 May 1904 – 6 November 1997) was a German Catholic philosopher and an important figure in the resurgence of interest in the thought of Thomas Aquinas in early-to-mid 20th-century philosophy. Among his most notable works are ''The ...

(1904–97), Hans-Eduard Hengstenberg (1904–98),

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

(1905–80),

Joseph Maréchal Joseph Maréchal, SJ (; 1 July 1878 – 11 December 1944) was a Belgian Jesuit priest, philosopher, theologian and psychologist. He taught at the Higher Institute of Philosophy of the University of Leuven and was the founder of the school of ...

(1878–1944), Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–61),

Paul Ricoeur Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

(1913–2005),

René Girard René Noël Théophile Girard (; ; 25 December 1923 – 4 November 2015) was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science whose work belongs to the tradition of philosophical anthropology. Girard was the aut ...

(1923–2015),

Alasdair MacIntyre Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (; born 12 January 1929) is a Scottish-American philosopher who has contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's '' After Virtue'' (1981) is one of the most ...

(1929–),

Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence i ...

(1930–2002),

Hans Blumenberg Hans Blumenberg (born 13 July 1920, Lübeck – 28 March 1996, Altenberge) was a German philosopher and intellectual historian. He studied philosophy, German studies and the classics (1939–47, interrupted by World War II) and is considered to be ...

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...

(1930–2004), Emerich Coreth (1919–2006),

Leonardo Polo Leonardo Polo (February 1, 1926 – February 9, 2013) was a renowned Spanish philosopher best known for his philosophical method called ''abandonment of the mental limit'' and the profound philosophical implications and results of the applicatio ...

(1926–2013), and, importantly, P. M. S. Hacker (1939- ).

Anthropology of interpersonal relationships

A large focus of philosophical anthropology is also interpersonal relationships, as an attempt to unify disparate ways of understanding the behaviour of humans as both creatures of their

s and creators of their own values. It analyses also the

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...

that is in play in human relationships – of which intersubjectivity is a major theme. Intersubjectivity is the study of how two individuals, subjects, whose experiences and interpretations of the world are radically different understand and relate to each other. Recently anthropology has begun to shift towards studies of intersubjectivity and other existential/phenomenological themes. Studies of language have also gained new prominence in philosophy and sociology due to language's close ties with the question of intersubjectivity.

Michael D. Jackson's study of intersubjectivity

The academic Michael D. Jackson is another important philosophical anthropologist. His research and fieldwork concentrate on existential themes of "being in the world" (''

Dasein ''Dasein'' () (sometimes spelled as Da-sein) is the German word for 'existence'. It is a fundamental concept in the existential philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Heidegger uses the expression ''Dasein'' to refer to the experience of being that is p ...

'') as well as interpersonal relationships. His methodology challenges traditional anthropology due to its focus on first-person experience. In his most well known book, ''Minima Ethnographica'' which focuses on intersubjectivity and interpersonal relationships, he draws upon his ethnographic fieldwork in order to explore existential theory. In his latest book, ''Existential Anthropology'', he explores the notion of control, stating that humans anthropomorphize inanimate objects around them in order to enter into an interpersonal relationship with them. In this way humans are able to feel as if they have control over situations that they cannot control because rather than treating the object as an object, they treat it as if it is a rational being capable of understanding their feelings and language. Good examples are prayer to gods to alleviate drought or to help a sick person or cursing at a computer that has ceased to function.

P. M. S. Hacker's Tetraology on Human Nature

A foremost Wittgensteinian, P. M. S. Hacker has recently completed a tetralogy in philosophical anthropology: “The first was ''Human Nature: The Categorical Framework'' (2007), which provided the stage set. The second was ''The Intellectual Powers: A Study of Human Nature'' (2013), which began the play with the presentation of the intellect and its courtiers. The third ''The Passions: A Study of Human Nature'' (2017), which introduced the drama of the passions and the emotions. The fourth and final volume, ''The Moral Powers: A Study of Human Nature'' (2020), turns to the moral powers and the will, to good and evil, to pleasure and happiness, to what gives meaning to our lives, and the place of death in our lives. This tetralogy constitutes a ''Summa Anthropologica'' in as much as it presents a systematic categorical overview of our thought and talk of human nature, ranging from substance, power, and causation to good and evil and the meaning of life. A ''sine qua non'' of any philosophical investigation, according to Grice, is a synopsis of the relevant logico-linguistic grammar. It is surely unreasonable that each generation should have to amass afresh these grammatical norms of conceptual exclusion, implication, compatibility, and contextual presupposition, as well as tense and person anomalies and asymmetries. So via the tetralogy I have attempted to provide a compendium of usage of the pertinent categories in philosophical anthropology to assist others in their travels through these landscapes.”

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * Blasquez, N, ''El concepto del substantia segun san Agustin'', "Augustinus" 14 (1969), pp. 305–350; 15 (1970), pp. 369–383; 16 (1971), pp. 69–79. * Cassirer, Ernst (1944) ''An Essay on Man'' * Couturier Charles SJ, (1954) ''La structure métaphysique de l'homme d'après saint Augustin'', in: ''Augustinus Magister, Congrès International Augustinien. Communications'', Paris, vol. 1, pp. 543–550 * Donceel, Joseph F., ''Philosophical Anthropology'', New York: Sheed&Ward 1967. * Gilson, Étienne, (1955) ''History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages'', (2nd ed., reprinted 1985), London: Sheed & Ward, pp. 829, . * Fischer, Joachim (2006
''Der Identitätskern der Philosophischen Anthropologie''
(Scheler, Plessner, Gehlen) in Krüger, Hans-Peter and Lindemann, Gesa (2006
''Philosophische Anthropologie im 21. Jahrhundert''
* Fikentscher, Wolfgang (2004
''Modes of thought: a study in the anthropology of law and religion''
* Gianni, A., (1965) ''Il problema antropologico'', Roma . * Hendrics, E. (1954) ''Platonisches und Biblisches Denken bei Augustinus'', in: ''Augustinus Magister, Congrès International Augustinien. Communications'', Paris, vol. 1. * * Lucas Lucas, Ramon, ''Man Incarnate Spirit, a Philosophy of Man Compendium'', USA: Circle Press, 2005. * Mann, W.E., ''Inner-Life Ethics'', in: * Masutti, Egidio, (1989), ''Il problema del corpo in San Agostino'', Roma: Borla, p. 230, * Mondin, Battista, ''Philosophical Anthropology, Man: an Impossible Project?'', Rome: Urbaniana University Press, 1991. * Pulina Giuseppe, ''Dizionario di antropologia filosofica'', Diogene Multimedia, Bologna 2022. * Thomas Sturm, ''Kant und die Wissenschaften vom Menschen.'' Paderborn: Mentis, 2009. , 9783897856080 * Jesús Padilla Gálvez, ''Philosophical Anthropology. Wittgenstein’s Perspective''. Berlin, De Gruyter, 2010

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