Catherine J. Minter
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199255993
- eISBN:
- 9780191698293
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199255993.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This study explores the role of philosophical anthropology — the question of the relationship between mind and body — in the novels and non-fictional writings of Johann Karl Wezel, Karl Philipp ...
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This study explores the role of philosophical anthropology — the question of the relationship between mind and body — in the novels and non-fictional writings of Johann Karl Wezel, Karl Philipp Moritz, and Jean Paul. Through a scholarly discussion of their ideas on human physiology and psychology, as well as the application of these ideas to their aesthetic and moral theories, the book suggests that these three German writers of the late 18th century share a common desire: to invest the physical world with spiritual significance. The study traces not only the development in the three authors' views on philosophical anthropology, but also, more generally, in the history of ideas in Germany between 1770 and 1830. As well as making a substantial contribution to the discussion of the origins of anthropology in the 18th and 19th centuries, the book successfully highlights the continuity in German intellectual history between the Late Enlightenment and Romanticism — two periods which are frequently seen as antagonistic.Less
This study explores the role of philosophical anthropology — the question of the relationship between mind and body — in the novels and non-fictional writings of Johann Karl Wezel, Karl Philipp Moritz, and Jean Paul. Through a scholarly discussion of their ideas on human physiology and psychology, as well as the application of these ideas to their aesthetic and moral theories, the book suggests that these three German writers of the late 18th century share a common desire: to invest the physical world with spiritual significance. The study traces not only the development in the three authors' views on philosophical anthropology, but also, more generally, in the history of ideas in Germany between 1770 and 1830. As well as making a substantial contribution to the discussion of the origins of anthropology in the 18th and 19th centuries, the book successfully highlights the continuity in German intellectual history between the Late Enlightenment and Romanticism — two periods which are frequently seen as antagonistic.
Chandran Kukathas
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199257546
- eISBN:
- 9780191599705
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019925754X.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter argues that while diversity may be a permanent feature of human societies, there is a core of human nature which can account for the patterns of human diversity. It defends a ...
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This chapter argues that while diversity may be a permanent feature of human societies, there is a core of human nature which can account for the patterns of human diversity. It defends a philosophical anthropology which asserts that ‘cultural difference is not an essential but only an incidental and transitional attribute of human beings’. Difference is not essential but circumstantial; when circumstances are similar, people will act and choose similarly. Since culture and the historical forms that human life has taken are of no value in themselves, what matters is man, who creates culture and whom culture serves.Less
This chapter argues that while diversity may be a permanent feature of human societies, there is a core of human nature which can account for the patterns of human diversity. It defends a philosophical anthropology which asserts that ‘cultural difference is not an essential but only an incidental and transitional attribute of human beings’. Difference is not essential but circumstantial; when circumstances are similar, people will act and choose similarly. Since culture and the historical forms that human life has taken are of no value in themselves, what matters is man, who creates culture and whom culture serves.
Catherine J. Minter
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199255993
- eISBN:
- 9780191698293
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199255993.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter discusses how Jean Paul's ideas on philosophical anthropology inform his fictional writings. The discussion also offers the mind-body theme as a standard by which the often disputed ...
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This chapter discusses how Jean Paul's ideas on philosophical anthropology inform his fictional writings. The discussion also offers the mind-body theme as a standard by which the often disputed development of Jean Paul's ideas can be profitably measured.Less
This chapter discusses how Jean Paul's ideas on philosophical anthropology inform his fictional writings. The discussion also offers the mind-body theme as a standard by which the often disputed development of Jean Paul's ideas can be profitably measured.
Catherine J. Minter
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199255993
- eISBN:
- 9780191698293
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199255993.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter discusses the concept of philosophical anthropology during the late 18th century in Germany. A number of German anthropologists during this time are introduced in this chapter, and a few ...
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This chapter discusses the concept of philosophical anthropology during the late 18th century in Germany. A number of German anthropologists during this time are introduced in this chapter, and a few descriptions of the European Enlightenment are provided. The chapter also includes a brief rundown of the discussions in the following chapters, which focus on the mind-body relations in Germany at the turn of the 19th century.Less
This chapter discusses the concept of philosophical anthropology during the late 18th century in Germany. A number of German anthropologists during this time are introduced in this chapter, and a few descriptions of the European Enlightenment are provided. The chapter also includes a brief rundown of the discussions in the following chapters, which focus on the mind-body relations in Germany at the turn of the 19th century.
Justin E. H. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153643
- eISBN:
- 9781400866311
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153643.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter focuses on the life and work of Anton Wilhelm Amo, who was active in Germany in the period between Leibniz and Kant. It shows how Amo's identity as an African in Europe helped to shape ...
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This chapter focuses on the life and work of Anton Wilhelm Amo, who was active in Germany in the period between Leibniz and Kant. It shows how Amo's identity as an African in Europe helped to shape both his philosophy and its reception, and what lessons may have been drawn in the era for thinking about the relationship between human racial diversity, on the one hand, and the universality of human reason, on the other. Finally, the chapter argues that the position occupied by Amo in the philosophical landscape of early eighteenth-century Germany reveals the likely influence of Leibniz, who had provided a model for a nonracial philosophical anthropology for which he has generally not been given much credit.Less
This chapter focuses on the life and work of Anton Wilhelm Amo, who was active in Germany in the period between Leibniz and Kant. It shows how Amo's identity as an African in Europe helped to shape both his philosophy and its reception, and what lessons may have been drawn in the era for thinking about the relationship between human racial diversity, on the one hand, and the universality of human reason, on the other. Finally, the chapter argues that the position occupied by Amo in the philosophical landscape of early eighteenth-century Germany reveals the likely influence of Leibniz, who had provided a model for a nonracial philosophical anthropology for which he has generally not been given much credit.
Raymond Guess
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320466
- eISBN:
- 9780199851591
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320466.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
As “intellectualism” refers to the way humans are able to form and systematically evaluate beliefs, John Dewey asserted that Western philosophy can be associated with a certain “intellectualist” ...
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As “intellectualism” refers to the way humans are able to form and systematically evaluate beliefs, John Dewey asserted that Western philosophy can be associated with a certain “intellectualist” bias. This chapter exhibits the attempts to look into the vital properties of human beings such as the essentials about the human way of life, human characteristics, and other such information. In examining the historical background of his rethinking of reification and how this concept is related to the concepts of cognition and recognition, Honneth attempts to provide an analysis that extends to two interrelated subplots: the philosophical anthropology observed in the West and the emergence of a different kind of social criticism.Less
As “intellectualism” refers to the way humans are able to form and systematically evaluate beliefs, John Dewey asserted that Western philosophy can be associated with a certain “intellectualist” bias. This chapter exhibits the attempts to look into the vital properties of human beings such as the essentials about the human way of life, human characteristics, and other such information. In examining the historical background of his rethinking of reification and how this concept is related to the concepts of cognition and recognition, Honneth attempts to provide an analysis that extends to two interrelated subplots: the philosophical anthropology observed in the West and the emergence of a different kind of social criticism.
John H. Evans
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190608071
- eISBN:
- 9780190608101
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190608071.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory, Comparative and Historical Sociology
Almost everyone uses traits in their anthropologies. There are two families of traits used by the public, which are labeled “autonomous” and “social.” Autonomous traits, such as consciousness and the ...
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Almost everyone uses traits in their anthropologies. There are two families of traits used by the public, which are labeled “autonomous” and “social.” Autonomous traits, such as consciousness and the ability to feel pain, are those that would still be relevant if a human never encountered another human. Social traits such as compassion and emotion are those that are used for social interaction. This chapter discusses a group of biology PhD students who use both biological components and the two types of traits. This group shows that biology education has a mixed record of propagating the academic biological anthropology. The other PhD students use the two types of traits without the biological components. The general public focuses on the social traits, and it is argued that anthropologies that focus on this component would be more protective of human rights than components from the academic version.Less
Almost everyone uses traits in their anthropologies. There are two families of traits used by the public, which are labeled “autonomous” and “social.” Autonomous traits, such as consciousness and the ability to feel pain, are those that would still be relevant if a human never encountered another human. Social traits such as compassion and emotion are those that are used for social interaction. This chapter discusses a group of biology PhD students who use both biological components and the two types of traits. This group shows that biology education has a mixed record of propagating the academic biological anthropology. The other PhD students use the two types of traits without the biological components. The general public focuses on the social traits, and it is argued that anthropologies that focus on this component would be more protective of human rights than components from the academic version.
Michael Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231178280
- eISBN:
- 9780231541985
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231178280.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Philosophy and anthropology have long debated questions of difference: rationality versus irrationality, abstraction versus concreteness, modern versus premodern. What if these disciplines instead ...
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Philosophy and anthropology have long debated questions of difference: rationality versus irrationality, abstraction versus concreteness, modern versus premodern. What if these disciplines instead focused on the commonalities of human experience? Would this effort bring philosophers and anthropologists closer together? Would it lead to greater insights across historical and cultural divides? In As Wide as the World Is Wise, Michael Jackson encourages philosophers and anthropologists to mine the space between localized and globalized perspectives, to resolve empirically the distinctions between the one and the many and between life and specific forms of life. His project balances abstract epistemological practice with immanent reflection, promoting a more situated, embodied, and sensuous approach to the world and its in-between spaces. Drawing on a lifetime of ethnographic fieldwork in West Africa and Aboriginal Australia, Jackson resets the language and logic of academic thought from the standpoint of other lifeworlds. He extends Kant’s cosmopolitan ideal to include all human societies, achieving a radical break with elite ideas of the subjective and a more expansive conception of truth.Less
Philosophy and anthropology have long debated questions of difference: rationality versus irrationality, abstraction versus concreteness, modern versus premodern. What if these disciplines instead focused on the commonalities of human experience? Would this effort bring philosophers and anthropologists closer together? Would it lead to greater insights across historical and cultural divides? In As Wide as the World Is Wise, Michael Jackson encourages philosophers and anthropologists to mine the space between localized and globalized perspectives, to resolve empirically the distinctions between the one and the many and between life and specific forms of life. His project balances abstract epistemological practice with immanent reflection, promoting a more situated, embodied, and sensuous approach to the world and its in-between spaces. Drawing on a lifetime of ethnographic fieldwork in West Africa and Aboriginal Australia, Jackson resets the language and logic of academic thought from the standpoint of other lifeworlds. He extends Kant’s cosmopolitan ideal to include all human societies, achieving a radical break with elite ideas of the subjective and a more expansive conception of truth.
Andreas Höfele
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199567645
- eISBN:
- 9780191731075
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199567645.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies
The introduction specifies the proximity of theatre and bear-baiting in the cultural topography of Shakespeare’s London. The two entertainments were not just physically close but joined in active ...
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The introduction specifies the proximity of theatre and bear-baiting in the cultural topography of Shakespeare’s London. The two entertainments were not just physically close but joined in active collusion, generating a perceptive overlap which included the scaffold of public execution as a third partner. This overlap provided a highly productive matrix for synopsis (‘seeing together’) of human actors and their animal counterparts in both their likeness and unlikeness. Evidence for the physical presence of animals on Shakespeare’s stage is scanty at best – even the bear in Winter’s Tale could well have been a human actor – but their imaginative presence is all the more powerful and far from innocent. The stage may have been tainted by the messy company of stake and scaffold, but its very closeness to the rending, tearing and killing also made it a unique platform for evoking sympathy for the suffering fellow creature.Less
The introduction specifies the proximity of theatre and bear-baiting in the cultural topography of Shakespeare’s London. The two entertainments were not just physically close but joined in active collusion, generating a perceptive overlap which included the scaffold of public execution as a third partner. This overlap provided a highly productive matrix for synopsis (‘seeing together’) of human actors and their animal counterparts in both their likeness and unlikeness. Evidence for the physical presence of animals on Shakespeare’s stage is scanty at best – even the bear in Winter’s Tale could well have been a human actor – but their imaginative presence is all the more powerful and far from innocent. The stage may have been tainted by the messy company of stake and scaffold, but its very closeness to the rending, tearing and killing also made it a unique platform for evoking sympathy for the suffering fellow creature.
Karl-Siegbert Rehberg
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226376943
- eISBN:
- 9780226377131
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226377131.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
Karl-Siegbert Rehberg examines Mead’s philosophy in light of the tradition of German philosophical anthropology, including Arnold Gehlen, Helmuth Plessner, and Max Scheler. Gehlen, in particular, who ...
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Karl-Siegbert Rehberg examines Mead’s philosophy in light of the tradition of German philosophical anthropology, including Arnold Gehlen, Helmuth Plessner, and Max Scheler. Gehlen, in particular, who many Germans consider to be of equal intellectual significance to Martin Heidegger and Carl Schmitt, has not received much attention in the English-speaking world. Gehlen was, however, the first major German author to recognize Mead’s importance and to refer to him in his own creative work. In his chapter Rehberg is driven by an interest in understanding how thinkers of such different attitudes toward democracy can nevertheless show profound affinities in their understanding of human action. In his essay Rehberg provides a novel reevaluation of the relationship between Mead and the broader intellectual tradition of German human sciences scholarship, and he introduces previously unpublished documentation on Gehlen’s study of Mead.Less
Karl-Siegbert Rehberg examines Mead’s philosophy in light of the tradition of German philosophical anthropology, including Arnold Gehlen, Helmuth Plessner, and Max Scheler. Gehlen, in particular, who many Germans consider to be of equal intellectual significance to Martin Heidegger and Carl Schmitt, has not received much attention in the English-speaking world. Gehlen was, however, the first major German author to recognize Mead’s importance and to refer to him in his own creative work. In his chapter Rehberg is driven by an interest in understanding how thinkers of such different attitudes toward democracy can nevertheless show profound affinities in their understanding of human action. In his essay Rehberg provides a novel reevaluation of the relationship between Mead and the broader intellectual tradition of German human sciences scholarship, and he introduces previously unpublished documentation on Gehlen’s study of Mead.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804758390
- eISBN:
- 9780804787482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804758390.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter examines two philosophical origins of modern geography: Herder's philosophical anthropology and the post-Kantian Naturphilosophie. In Herder's view, geographic science appears as an ...
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This chapter examines two philosophical origins of modern geography: Herder's philosophical anthropology and the post-Kantian Naturphilosophie. In Herder's view, geographic science appears as an elaboration of some basic anthropological figures of thought. Herder developed his philosophical anthropology at the same time as, but in opposition to, Kant's critical philosophy. Shaped to a great extent by Schelling, Naturphilosophie formulated a speculative concept of the earth, postulating a primordial, prereflexive unity of man and terrestrial nature. Herder and Schelling sought to root human reason in a productive nature, obviating the divide between man and nature, subject and object.Less
This chapter examines two philosophical origins of modern geography: Herder's philosophical anthropology and the post-Kantian Naturphilosophie. In Herder's view, geographic science appears as an elaboration of some basic anthropological figures of thought. Herder developed his philosophical anthropology at the same time as, but in opposition to, Kant's critical philosophy. Shaped to a great extent by Schelling, Naturphilosophie formulated a speculative concept of the earth, postulating a primordial, prereflexive unity of man and terrestrial nature. Herder and Schelling sought to root human reason in a productive nature, obviating the divide between man and nature, subject and object.
Étienne Balibar
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780823273607
- eISBN:
- 9780823273652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823273607.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This introductory chapter traces the evolution of the various hypotheses concerning the upheavals that modernity has produced in the field of philosophical anthropology, as collected in this volume. ...
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This introductory chapter traces the evolution of the various hypotheses concerning the upheavals that modernity has produced in the field of philosophical anthropology, as collected in this volume. It credits the formation of this book to its initial conception as a response to a question raised by Jean-Luc Nancy—“Who comes after the subject?” The chapter also summarizes the contents of the book in brief—breaking it down into three paths which help to interrogate the utterances of the subject of philosophy (autoreference, community, judgment)—and provides an overview into the theoretical approaches that inform the studies conducted in the following chapters.Less
This introductory chapter traces the evolution of the various hypotheses concerning the upheavals that modernity has produced in the field of philosophical anthropology, as collected in this volume. It credits the formation of this book to its initial conception as a response to a question raised by Jean-Luc Nancy—“Who comes after the subject?” The chapter also summarizes the contents of the book in brief—breaking it down into three paths which help to interrogate the utterances of the subject of philosophy (autoreference, community, judgment)—and provides an overview into the theoretical approaches that inform the studies conducted in the following chapters.
William J. Richardson
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823222551
- eISBN:
- 9780823235247
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823222551.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
The word “humanism” is a specifically Roman phenomenon, since the word humanus was used to distinguish the homo romanus from the homo barbarus by reason of the ...
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The word “humanism” is a specifically Roman phenomenon, since the word humanus was used to distinguish the homo romanus from the homo barbarus by reason of the Romans' cultural superiority. This was based upon the appropriation of the Greek παιδεί. The essence of the παιδεί is to render man free and steadfast for the intuition of essence. If humanism is taken out of purely historical context, it may be described as the liberating of man unto the dignity that is proper to his nature. This gives it a broader meaning that can apply to any type of philosophical anthropology. Meanwhile, Heidegger interprets man purely out of his relationship with Being—as transcendence.Less
The word “humanism” is a specifically Roman phenomenon, since the word humanus was used to distinguish the homo romanus from the homo barbarus by reason of the Romans' cultural superiority. This was based upon the appropriation of the Greek παιδεί. The essence of the παιδεί is to render man free and steadfast for the intuition of essence. If humanism is taken out of purely historical context, it may be described as the liberating of man unto the dignity that is proper to his nature. This gives it a broader meaning that can apply to any type of philosophical anthropology. Meanwhile, Heidegger interprets man purely out of his relationship with Being—as transcendence.
Jonathan Jacobs (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199583157
- eISBN:
- 9780191728952
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199583157.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book explores the significance and enduring relevance of Judaic roots and sources of important European and Western moral and political ideas and ideals. The book focuses on the distinct ...
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This book explores the significance and enduring relevance of Judaic roots and sources of important European and Western moral and political ideas and ideals. The book focuses on the distinct character of Judaic thought concerning moral value, the individual human being, the nature of political order, relations between human beings, and between human beings and God. In doing so, it shows how Judaic thought contains crucial resources for engaging some of the most important issues of moral and political life. The currents of thought that have shaped the so-called ‘Judeo-Christian’ tradition involve diverse perspectives and emphases. The chapters in this volume bring into relief the distinctly Judaic origins of many of them and explicate how they remain valuable resources for moral and political thought. These are not about Jewish intellectual history; rather, their purpose is to clarify the conceptual resources, insights, and perspectives grounded in Judaic texts and thought. To realize that purpose the chapters address important topics in philosophical anthropology, exploring the normative dimensions of human nature and fundamental features of the human condition.Less
This book explores the significance and enduring relevance of Judaic roots and sources of important European and Western moral and political ideas and ideals. The book focuses on the distinct character of Judaic thought concerning moral value, the individual human being, the nature of political order, relations between human beings, and between human beings and God. In doing so, it shows how Judaic thought contains crucial resources for engaging some of the most important issues of moral and political life. The currents of thought that have shaped the so-called ‘Judeo-Christian’ tradition involve diverse perspectives and emphases. The chapters in this volume bring into relief the distinctly Judaic origins of many of them and explicate how they remain valuable resources for moral and political thought. These are not about Jewish intellectual history; rather, their purpose is to clarify the conceptual resources, insights, and perspectives grounded in Judaic texts and thought. To realize that purpose the chapters address important topics in philosophical anthropology, exploring the normative dimensions of human nature and fundamental features of the human condition.
Stefanie Buchenau
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198779650
- eISBN:
- 9780191824708
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198779650.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This paper focuses on Herder’s contribution to the development of philosophical anthropology by seeing Herder’s philosophy as a response to recent discoveries in medicine and physiology. The major ...
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This paper focuses on Herder’s contribution to the development of philosophical anthropology by seeing Herder’s philosophy as a response to recent discoveries in medicine and physiology. The major impulse came from Haller’s discovery of the irritability of muscle and sensibility of nerves, which challenged philosophical and theological dogmas about the existence of an immaterial soul and its ability to cause what the mind perceives as voluntary motion. It blurred the traditional division of labor between the physician investigating the body and the philosopher and theologian studying the soul. The chapter will explore how Herder makes creative use of Haller’s concept of irritability as a way of demonstrating a neo-Aristotelian account of the soul as pervading and informing the entire body.Less
This paper focuses on Herder’s contribution to the development of philosophical anthropology by seeing Herder’s philosophy as a response to recent discoveries in medicine and physiology. The major impulse came from Haller’s discovery of the irritability of muscle and sensibility of nerves, which challenged philosophical and theological dogmas about the existence of an immaterial soul and its ability to cause what the mind perceives as voluntary motion. It blurred the traditional division of labor between the physician investigating the body and the philosopher and theologian studying the soul. The chapter will explore how Herder makes creative use of Haller’s concept of irritability as a way of demonstrating a neo-Aristotelian account of the soul as pervading and informing the entire body.
Fabien Capeillères
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226036861
- eISBN:
- 9780226036892
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226036892.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter, which examines the treatment of philosophy and history in Ernst Cassirer's theory of symbolic forms, analyzes the nature of history as a symbolic form, how history became a rigorous ...
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This chapter, which examines the treatment of philosophy and history in Ernst Cassirer's theory of symbolic forms, analyzes the nature of history as a symbolic form, how history became a rigorous knowledge, and the essential methodological and historical steps of the phenomenology of historical knowledge sketched by Cassirer. It also evaluates the function of history in the final synthesis of the Cassirerian system, his philosophical anthropology.Less
This chapter, which examines the treatment of philosophy and history in Ernst Cassirer's theory of symbolic forms, analyzes the nature of history as a symbolic form, how history became a rigorous knowledge, and the essential methodological and historical steps of the phenomenology of historical knowledge sketched by Cassirer. It also evaluates the function of history in the final synthesis of the Cassirerian system, his philosophical anthropology.
Cheryl Mattingly
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780520281196
- eISBN:
- 9780520959538
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520281196.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
Chapter 9, the final chapter, revisits the theoretical discussions surrounding emerging discussions around virtue ethics in anthropology. It explores the interplay of suffering and struggles for a ...
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Chapter 9, the final chapter, revisits the theoretical discussions surrounding emerging discussions around virtue ethics in anthropology. It explores the interplay of suffering and struggles for a good life. As befits a first-person virtue ethics outlined throughout the book, the final sections return to the families who have been primary protagonists in earlier chapters through a series of epilogues or “end notes.” It concludes with the recounting of one last funeral to ask how tragedy, critique, experimentation, and moral possibility can be so intimately linked in everyday life and why this matters, both ethically and ethnographically.Less
Chapter 9, the final chapter, revisits the theoretical discussions surrounding emerging discussions around virtue ethics in anthropology. It explores the interplay of suffering and struggles for a good life. As befits a first-person virtue ethics outlined throughout the book, the final sections return to the families who have been primary protagonists in earlier chapters through a series of epilogues or “end notes.” It concludes with the recounting of one last funeral to ask how tragedy, critique, experimentation, and moral possibility can be so intimately linked in everyday life and why this matters, both ethically and ethnographically.
Charles Taylor
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198779650
- eISBN:
- 9780191824708
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198779650.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This interview explores Charles Taylor’s understanding of philosophical anthropology and its relationship to Herder. Taylor argues that human culture can be properly understood only in a genetic ...
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This interview explores Charles Taylor’s understanding of philosophical anthropology and its relationship to Herder. Taylor argues that human culture can be properly understood only in a genetic fashion, through hermeneutics and phenomenology, and names Herder as an important precursor here. Taylor illustrates this through the difference between a purely normative political theory and a contextual political philosophy. On the relationship between naturalism and philosophical anthropology, Taylor identifies what he calls a “good naturalism,” associated with Herder, that explains what kind of animal human beings are, and a “bad naturalism” that explains human beings in reductive, natural scientific terms. Finally, Taylor outlines his current work on language, in which a similar opposition arises, between language as necessarily emerging as a rich set of language games/practices and language as pure description. Theories of language that interpret it only in terms of the latter are thus fundamentally flawed and inaccurate.Less
This interview explores Charles Taylor’s understanding of philosophical anthropology and its relationship to Herder. Taylor argues that human culture can be properly understood only in a genetic fashion, through hermeneutics and phenomenology, and names Herder as an important precursor here. Taylor illustrates this through the difference between a purely normative political theory and a contextual political philosophy. On the relationship between naturalism and philosophical anthropology, Taylor identifies what he calls a “good naturalism,” associated with Herder, that explains what kind of animal human beings are, and a “bad naturalism” that explains human beings in reductive, natural scientific terms. Finally, Taylor outlines his current work on language, in which a similar opposition arises, between language as necessarily emerging as a rich set of language games/practices and language as pure description. Theories of language that interpret it only in terms of the latter are thus fundamentally flawed and inaccurate.
Michael Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231178280
- eISBN:
- 9780231541985
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231178280.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter two considers the seemingly incompatible perspectives of philosophy and ethnography. While philosophy has traditionally presumed to make universal claims about the human condition, modern ...
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Chapter two considers the seemingly incompatible perspectives of philosophy and ethnography. While philosophy has traditionally presumed to make universal claims about the human condition, modern socio-cultural anthropology has, for the most part, avoided such claims, preferring a vision of human diversity, ethnic distinctiveness, and moral relativism. The challenge for reinventing philosophical anthropology is working out how we can accommodate both these orientations, recognizing difference and sameness, dissonance and consonance. I evoke Schönberg’s atonal music, Adorno’s negative dialectics, and Keats’ negative capability in taking up the question of how it is possible to do justice to both our empirical knowledge of the linguistic, cultural, and individual diversity of humankind and our quest to identify modes of thought, action and being that are common to all humanity and, in many cases, are shared with other life forms.Less
Chapter two considers the seemingly incompatible perspectives of philosophy and ethnography. While philosophy has traditionally presumed to make universal claims about the human condition, modern socio-cultural anthropology has, for the most part, avoided such claims, preferring a vision of human diversity, ethnic distinctiveness, and moral relativism. The challenge for reinventing philosophical anthropology is working out how we can accommodate both these orientations, recognizing difference and sameness, dissonance and consonance. I evoke Schönberg’s atonal music, Adorno’s negative dialectics, and Keats’ negative capability in taking up the question of how it is possible to do justice to both our empirical knowledge of the linguistic, cultural, and individual diversity of humankind and our quest to identify modes of thought, action and being that are common to all humanity and, in many cases, are shared with other life forms.
Michael Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231178280
- eISBN:
- 9780231541985
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231178280.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter one addresses the ubiquity and scope of analogical reasoning, calling into question the ways in which we conventionally distinguish between modern and premodern thought and, by extension, ...
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Chapter one addresses the ubiquity and scope of analogical reasoning, calling into question the ways in which we conventionally distinguish between modern and premodern thought and, by extension, distinguish between philosophy and common sense.Less
Chapter one addresses the ubiquity and scope of analogical reasoning, calling into question the ways in which we conventionally distinguish between modern and premodern thought and, by extension, distinguish between philosophy and common sense.
