Philosophical Anthropology

Abstract

In this entry “philosophical anthropology” is defined broadly as philosophical reflection about the nature of human beings (rather than narrowly as a particular school of thought within twentieth‐century German philosophy), and the topic is treated historically. I begin by discussing several important historical roots of philosophical anthropology in ancient Greek and Renaissance thought. Special attention is then given to Enlightenment contributions – above all Kant, but also Hume, Herder, and others. Comte, Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche are focal points in the section on nineteenth‐century philosophical anthropology. In the section on twentieth‐century contributions, primary attention is devoted to the triumvirate of German philosophical anthropology: Max Scheler, Helmuth Plessner, and Arnold Gehlen. In the concluding section, I respond to several popular arguments against philosophical anthropology and discuss its future prospects in light of current intellectual trends.