Perché un’antropologia filosofica: le motivazioni di Helmuth Plessner

Abstract

Philosophical anthropology flourished in Germany in the early 20th century and seeked to recover the unity of human nature, thus opposing dualistic tendencies in philosophy and science. Helmuth Plessner was one of the most important exponents of this line of thought. In the development of western thought, from Descartes to Heidegger, Plessner finds the maturity for a new philosophical study of the human being. According to Plessner, Heidegger’s in-depth analyses of human nature are not sufficient. Life is not only “existence” (in Heidegger’s sense). Due to his overriding interest in the ontology of Dasein, Heidegger takes no account of concrete life, which is always mingled with a body. Existence can be defined only once life has been defined. Life anticipates and contains existence, thus linking human beings with any other organism. Accordingly, life is the best ground in which the principle of human specificity can be rooted. Nevertheless, it is true that a new, respectable anthropology shouldn’t be dogmatist and shouldn’t frame absolute concepts. Rather, it has to reflect openly upon human sciences, without claiming for supermacy. In Plessner’s opinion, the human being remained essentially inscrutable.