Philosophical Anthropology

Grice entitled his

"From the banal to the bizarre", now in "Conception of Value":

"method in philosophical psychology."

He is working under the idea of 'philosophical anthropology', and 'philosophical zoology'. etc.



Philosophical anthropology is a discipline dealing with questions of metaphysics and phenomenology of the human person, and interpersonal relationships.

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Plato
1.2 Aristotle
1.3 Augustine of Hippo
2 Modern period
2.1 Anthropological Phenomenology of Max Scheler
2.2 Other modern authors
3 Anthropology of interpersonal relationships
3.1 Michael Jackson's study of intersubjectivity
4 See also
5 Bibliography
6 Further reading
7 Notes

[edit] HistoryThe majority of philosophers throughout the history of philosophy can be said to have a distinctive "anthropology" that undergirds their thought.

[edit] PlatoPlato sets up a schema of the human soul as dynamic and tripartite: the psyche can be thought of as being composed, to varying degrees depending on the individual, of (1) an erotic part that desires private gratification; (2) a spirited part that seeks public recognition; and (3) a rational part that knows the good to be clarity or self-consistency.

Socrates says in Plato's The Republic that people who take the world of the senses, particularly as it is mediated through native opinions about justice, to be good and real are living in a den of evil or ignorance. This is so namely to the extent that--leaving aside the philosophic utopia whose coming-into-being Socrates leaves to chance--no political community can have as its unifying goal that of rational self-consistency.

Thus Socrates admits that few will climb out of the den (or cave of ignorance); and those who do will not only have a terrible struggle to attain the heights, but will also, when they go back down for a visit or to help other people up, find themselves the objects of scorn and ridicule.

[edit] AristotleAristotle is simply unintelligible. He argued that some parts of the soul — the intellect — could exist without the body, but most could not.

[edit] Augustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo was one of the first Christian ancient Latin authors with very clear anthropological vision. He saw the human being as a perfect unity of two substances: soul and body. In his late treatise On Care to Be Had for the Dead sec. 5 (420 AD) he exhorted that a right place should be given to the body in the human person:

In no wise are the bodies themselves to be spurned. (...) For these pertain not to ornament or aid which is applied from without, but to the very nature of man.[1]

Augustine's favourite figure to describe body-soul unity is marriage: caro tua, coniux tua - your body is your wife.[2] 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.[3] Soul is a kind of substance, participating in reason, fit for ruling the body.[4] Augustine was not preoccupied, as Plato and Descartes were, with going too much into details in efforts to explain the metaphysics of the soul-body union. It suffices for him to admit that they are 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 of things into those that merely exist, those that exist and live, and those that exist, live, and have intelligence or reason.[5]

[edit] Modern periodPhilosophical anthropology, 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. 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.

[edit] Anthropological Phenomenology of Max SchelerMax Scheler, a German phenomenologist, is known for his highly developed philosophical anthropology which defines the human being not so much as a "rational animal" (as has traditionally been the case since Aristotle) 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 structure of lived body, soul, and spirit. Love and hatred are not psychological emotions, but spiritual, intentional acts of the person, which he categorises as "intentional feelings."

[edit] Other modern authorsAmong other important philosophical anthropologists are Søren Kierkegaard, Rene Girard, Alasdair MacIntyre, John Dewey, Ernst Cassirer, Helmuth Plessner, Arnold Gehlen, Paul Häberlin, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Pierre Bourdieu, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur, Martin Buber, Eric Voegelin, Hans Jonas, Hans-Eduard Hengstenberg, Rudolf Steiner, and Karol Wojtyla [6].

[edit] Anthropology of interpersonal relationshipsA large focus of philosophical anthropology is also at interpersonal relationships, as an attempt to unify disparate ways of understanding behaviour of humans as both creatures of their social environments and creators of their own values. It analyses also the ontology 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.

[edit] Michael Jackson's study of intersubjectivityThe academic Michael Jackson is another important philosophical anthropologist. His research and fieldwork concentrate on existential themes of "being in the world" (Dasein) 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.

[edit] See also Philosophy portal
History portal
Anthropology portal
Mythology portal
Spirituality portal
Antihumanism (opposite)
Anthropology
Existentialism
Phenomenology
Hermeneutics
[edit] BibliographyDonceel, Joseph F., Philosophical Anthropology, New York: Sheed&Ward 1967.
Lucas Lucas, Ramon, Man Incarnate Spirit, a Philosophy of Man Compendium, USA: Circle Press, 2005.
Mondin, Battista, Philosophical Anthropology, Man: an Impossible Project?, Rome: Urbaniana University Press, 1991.
[edit] Further readingJoseph Agassi, Towards a Rational Philosophical Anthropology. The Hague, 1977.
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, Chicago: The Great Books foundation 1959.
Martin Buber, I and Thou, New York: Scribners 1970.
Martin Buber, The Knowledge of Man: A Philosophy of the Interhuman, New York: Harper&Row 1965.
Martin Buber, Between Man and Man, New York: Macmillan 1965.
Albert Camus, The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt, New York: Vintage Books 1956.
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Chicago – London: Encyclopedia Britannica 1952.
Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, New York: Harper&Row 1965
Jaques Derrida, l'Ecriture et la Difference
Joachim Fischer, Philosophische Anthropologie. Eine Denkrichtung des 20. Jahrhunderts. Freiburg, 2008.
Sigmund Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, New York: Basic Books 1975.
Erich Fromm, To Have or To Be, New York: Harper&Row 1976.
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature
Hans Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life. Chicago, 1966.
Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness unto Death. 1848.
Hans Köchler, Der innere Bezug von Anthropologie und Ontologie. Das Problem der Anthropologie im Denken Martin Heideggers. Hain: Meisenheim a.G., 1974.
Hans Köchler, "The Relation between Man and World. A Transcendental-anthropological Problem," in: Analecta Husserliana, Vol. 14 (1983), pp. 181–186.
Stanislaw Kowalczyk, An Outline of the Philosophical Anthropology. Frankfurt a.M. etc., 1991.
Michael Jackson (anthropology), Minima Ethnographica and Existential Anthropology
Michael Landmann, Philosophische Anthropologie. Menschliche Selbstdeutung in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Berlin, 3rd ed., 1969.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, Anthropologie structurale. Paris, 1958.
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, New York: Dover Publication 1959 (vol. I-II).
Bernard Lonergan, Insight: A Study on Human Understanding, New York-London: Philosophical Library-Longmans 1958.
Alasdair MacIntyre, Dependent Rational Animals. 1999.
Gabriel Marcel, Homo Viator: Introduction to a Metaphysics of Hope, London: Harper&Row, 1962.
Gabriel Marcel, Problematic Man, New York: Herder and Herder 1967.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, La Phenomenologie de la Perception
Herbert Marcuse, One Dimensional Man, Boston: Beacon Press 1966.
Jacques Maritain, Existence and Existent: An Essay on Christian Existentialism, Garden City: Image Books 1957.
Maurice Nédoncelle, Love and the Person, New York: Sheed & Ward 1966.
Karl Rahner, Spirit in the World, New York: Herder and Herder, 1968.
Karl Rahner, Hearer of the Word
Karl Rahner, Hominisation: The Evolutionary Origin of Man as a Theological Problem, New York: Herder and Herder 1965.
Paul Ricoeur, Soi-meme comme un autre
Paul Ricoeur, Fallible Man: Philosophy of Will, Chicago: Henry Regnery Company 1967.
Paul Ricoeur, Freedom and Nature: The Voluntary and Involuntary, Evanston: Northwestern University Press 1966.
Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay in Phenomenological Ontology, New York: The Citadel Press 1956.
Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Humanism, New York: Haskell House Publisher 1948.
Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea, New York: New Directions 1959.
Martti Olavi Siirala, Medicine in Metamorphosis Routledge 2003
Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on Man, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall 1962.
Eric Voegelin, Anamnesis.
Karol Wojtyla, The Acting Person, Dordrecht-Boston: Reidel Publishing Company 1979.
Karol Wojtyla, Love and Responsibility, London-Glasgow: Collins, 1981.
[edit] Notes Constructs such as ibid. and loc. cit. are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title.

^ De cura pro mortuis gerenda CSEL 41, 627[13–22]; PL 40, 595: Nullo modo ipsa spernenda sunt corpora. (...)Haec enim non ad ornamentum vel adiutorium, quod adhibetur extrinsecus, sed ad ipsam naturam hominis pertinent.
^ Enarrationes in psalmos, 143, 6; CCL 40, 2077 [46] – 2078 [74]); De utilitate ieiunii, 4,4-5; CCL 46, 234-235.
^ De quantitate animae 1.2; 5.9
^ Ibid. 13.12: Substantia quaedam rationis particeps, regendo corpori accomodata.
^ On the free will (De libero arbitrio) 2.3.7-6.13; cf. W.E. Mann, Inner-Life Ethics, in: The Augustinian Tradition. Philosophical Traditions. Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: University of California Press. 1999. pp. 141–142. ISBN 0-520-20999-0.
^ Cf. Hans Köchler, The Phenomenology of Karol Wojtyla. On the Problem of the Phenomenological Foundation of Anthropology, in: "Philosophy and Phenomenological Research", Vol. 42 (1982), pp. 326-334. K. Wojtyla's anthropological works: K. Wojtyla (1993). Love and Responsibility. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. ISBN 0-89870-445-6. ; K. Wojtyla (1979). The Acting Person: A Contribution To Phenomenological Anthropology. Springer. ISBN 9027709696.
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