Idea of Man by Max Sheler and Modern World

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to the critical reconstruction of the project of philosophical anthropology drafted by German philosopher Max Sheler at the beginning of XX century in his article “On the Idea of Man” (“Zur Idee des Menschen”). The author tries also to show the contemporary relevance of the main notions and ideas of the anthropological conception which is drafted in this article. From the very title of the article, it becomes clear that Max Sheler based his philosophical anthropology on the phenomenological methodology. According to this methodological approach, we should grasp the idea of man in the act of ideation, which is a result of phenomenological reduction. In accordance to the phenomenological critique of the psychologism, Sheler shows that we cannot find the peculiar idea of man in the natural reality, since from this point of view a man is just an animal among other animals. Being human means overcoming yourself every movement of your existence. The “self-transcendence” is the main feature of the human being. One of the main instrument of the self-transcendence is a human language that gives world a chance to articulate itself. The human self-transcendence can lead to development and creation, but at the same time, it can lead to degradation and destruction. In the modern world, we can find many examples of the both processes.