Philosophical Anthropology
Philosophical anthropology
The study of human nature conducted by the methods of philosophy * the nature and essential characteristics of man * the status of human beings in the universe * the purpose or meaning of human life * whether humanity can be made an object of systematic study?
Philosophical anthropology was formed by the Western European and primarily German philosophy in the first half of the 20th century
Its central concern is the difference between the human and the animal mode of existence
This school of thought utilized and interpreted data of: biology, psychology, ethnology, sociology
Max Scheler (1874 - 1928) The Place of Man in the Universe
The problem of human nature
Is there anything essential in man which makes him what he is and which may be defined as human nature?
The main approaches to the problem of discrimination man from animals:
Religious Biological Philosophical
Religious approach
Man is a unity of immortal soul and dead body. The nature of man can not be reduce to his body
Biological approach
Man is an animal. Man is the soul surviving species of the family Hominidae, the result of the long evolutionary process
Biology from the 17th century postulates, that the “seeds”(or patterns, or “living forces”) of plants and animals must each already contained within them, within their nature
These “seeds” form the structure of plans and animals
This explanation is preserved in the modern biological concept of a genetic code, that is embodied in the DNA molecular structure of each cells
Modern genetic engineering is now able to locate, isolate and manipulate DNA molecules
Man can be completely characterized biologically
The human nature is understood simply as man’s special form of that which is biologically inherited in all species
Biology rejects that man has a fixed nature
Man is a physiologically driven machine made of complex biochemical molecules
(medical materialists)
The study of human nature conducted by the methods of philosophy * the nature and essential characteristics of man * the status of human beings in the universe * the purpose or meaning of human life * whether humanity can be made an object of systematic study?
Philosophical anthropology was formed by the Western European and primarily German philosophy in the first half of the 20th century
Its central concern is the difference between the human and the animal mode of existence
This school of thought utilized and interpreted data of: biology, psychology, ethnology, sociology
Max Scheler (1874 - 1928) The Place of Man in the Universe
The problem of human nature
Is there anything essential in man which makes him what he is and which may be defined as human nature?
The main approaches to the problem of discrimination man from animals:
Religious Biological Philosophical
Religious approach
Man is a unity of immortal soul and dead body. The nature of man can not be reduce to his body
Biological approach
Man is an animal. Man is the soul surviving species of the family Hominidae, the result of the long evolutionary process
Biology from the 17th century postulates, that the “seeds”(or patterns, or “living forces”) of plants and animals must each already contained within them, within their nature
These “seeds” form the structure of plans and animals
This explanation is preserved in the modern biological concept of a genetic code, that is embodied in the DNA molecular structure of each cells
Modern genetic engineering is now able to locate, isolate and manipulate DNA molecules
Man can be completely characterized biologically
The human nature is understood simply as man’s special form of that which is biologically inherited in all species
Biology rejects that man has a fixed nature
Man is a physiologically driven machine made of complex biochemical molecules
(medical materialists)