For centuries in the construction of thisphilosophical system brought thinkers of different philosophical schools, from Plato and Aristotle to Kant and Feuerbach. However, the anthropological principle was not accepted by Marxist-oriented philosophers, since Marx himself built his system on the criticism of Feuerbach, who was convicted of excessive “naturalism”. The personality of a person, as we remember from the course of history, is determined by the sum of his relations in society, and nothing more.
The very concept of "philosophical anthropology" wasproposed by Max Scheler in Man and History in 1926. He defined it as the fundamental science of human nature, including the biological, psychological, social, and metaphysical aspects of human existence.
Desire to understand yourself
What makes philosophical anthropology to comprehendman? In the twentieth century, accumulated a lot of empirical knowledge acquired by individual scientific disciplines that study man. There is a need for their generalization and structuring in the light of the problem of human existence.
This led to the emergence of philosophical anthropology, like a full-flowing river, which receives numerous tributaries and carries everything that has been collected and absorbed on its long journey.
As philosophical anthropology postulates, human nature is determined by its specific relations with the environment in which it dwells, including nature, society and the cosmos.
What drives a person?
According to Scheler, philosophy’s interest in mandeveloped in leaps and bounds: the “anthropological” epochs were replaced by less humanistic ones. But whatever the position of a person in a particular historical situation, his self-consciousness continued to strive for expansion.
According to Buber, especially attractive intimes of social instability becomes the problem of man. Philosophical anthropology seeks to explain the causes of human insecurity and loneliness in the face of global cataclysms.
On the eve of World War II, Scheler defines manas a creature contemplating, comprehending the world through an open heart. Plesner focuses on his “sentencing” to continuous self-improvement, while Gehlen develops the concept of a person’s desire to express themselves through various aspects of culture.
Subject of philosophical anthropology
So, a person in the totality of all his relations withthe world has been defined by philosophical anthropology as a subject of study. But at the same time she herself was still understood ambiguously. This vagueness of semantic content is preserved in our time.
As noted by P.S.Gurevich, there are three main variations in the interpretation of the concept of "philosophical anthropology." Each understanding is based on what philosophical anthropology contributes to the comprehension of man. However, the emphasis is on different aspects: a separate area of philosophical knowledge, the proper philosophical direction and a specific method of knowledge.
So what makes philosophical anthropology in the comprehension of man?
XXI century with its premonitions, prophecies and allaccelerating technical progress pushes the scientific community to a more in-depth study of the phenomenon of man. At the forums of scholars, the possibility of supplementing traditional scientific methods of cognition with a variety of unscientific methods, be it art, religious-mystical insights, esoteric concepts, or unconscious research, is seriously discussed.
The idea of integrity, holism - this is whatmakes philosophical anthropology in the comprehension of man. Answers to difficult questions about a person’s ability to change himself and the world can be obtained by putting together all the experience of mankind about himself.
Looking through time
At the time of Antiquity, knowledge was concentratedin nature and the cosmos, in the Middle Ages, man is already becoming an element of the orderly construction of God by God. The Age of Enlightenment elevated the human mind to absolute, allowing it to feel itself as a cognitive subject.
The emergence of Darwin's theory directed the thinking towards an in-depth knowledge of human biology, and finally, in the twentieth century, all these efforts were transformed into a new discipline - philosophical anthropology.
How can one answer what philosophical contributesanthropology in the comprehension of man? Its founder M. Scheler put it on this occasion not without humor: "Now the person no longer knows who he is, but he is informed about it."
