Philosophical anthropology

Introduction
Anthropology and philosophical anthropology
- Origins and terminology
- The concept of the “soul-mind”
- The challenge of materialism
Early conceptions of the soul
The soul in ancient Greece
- Plato
- Aristotle
The way of ideas
- Medieval prelude
- Descartes
- Berkeley and Hume
The idealism of Kant and Hegel
Modern science and the demotion of mind
- Evolution
- Psychoanalysis
- Artificial intelligence
Phenomenology as a response to materialism
- Foundations of phenomenology
- Heidegger and humanism
- The concept of Dasein
The Heideggerian alternative

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Fragment of a Roman fresco showing Socrates seated and draped in a white robe, with Greek text above, on a red background with visible cracks.

Painting by Rembrandt showing Aristotle in rich dark clothing with a gold chain, resting his hand thoughtfully on a marble bust of Homer, illuminated against a dark background.

At a Glance

philosophical anthropology summary

Related Questions

How did 18th-century anthropology approach the study of human nature?
How did 19th-century materialism challenge belief in a soul or mind separate from the body?
How did Aristotle’s view of the soul relate to the body?
How did Friedrich Nietzsche criticize historical humanism?
How did Hegel argue that human nature is shaped by society?
How did Hegel try to reconcile individual freedom with community life?
How did Hegel use the idea of Geist to describe shared human life?
How did Hegel’s Philosophy of Right describe an organic community?
How did Hegel’s writings influence the Young Hegelians and Karl Marx?
How did Immanuel Kant challenge the view that the mind passively copies the world?
How did Kant connect moral autonomy with human personality?
How did Kant describe the mind’s active role in making knowledge possible?
How did Kant’s idea of moral autonomy influence humanism?
How did Kant’s ideas change the traditional contrast between mind and world?
How did Kierkegaard and Nietzsche influence existentialism?
How did Martin Heidegger describe human beings as beings-in-the-world?
How did Plato divide the soul into reason, spirit, and appetite?
How did René Descartes describe the relation between mind and body?
How did Søren Kierkegaard respond to the conflict between finite human life and an infinite God?
How did ancient Greek philosophers understand the soul?
How does Heidegger’s view of human beings challenge the idea of a private inner mind?
How does materialism explain mental functions in terms of physical processes?
How does phenomenology differ from materialism in its study of human beings?
What problems did the Cartesian view of the mind create for later philosophers?
Why did Hegel believe history moved toward freedom?
Why did Hegel think moral duty needs the concrete institutions of society?
Why did advances in natural science strengthen materialist theories of human nature?
Why did many philosophers stop treating immortality as a philosophical claim?
Why do critics argue that a completely materialist theory of human nature may be incomplete?
Why do philosophical anthropologists take everyday human experience seriously?
Why do some philosophers consider philosophical anthropology an essentially contested concept?
Why was Hegel’s teleological view of world history criticized?
Why were early evolutionary theories of culture later criticized by anthropologists such as Franz Boas?
What is ethics?
How is ethics different from morality?
Why does ethics matter?
Is ethics a social science?

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External Websites

University of wisconsin - Stevens Point - Department of philosophy - Anthropology

Philosophical anthropology

philosophy

Also known as: philosophy of man

Written by

Frederick A. Olafson

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego. Author of Heidegger and the Philosophy of Mind and others.

Frederick A. Olafson

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

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Last updated

Nov. 3, 2026 •History

Philosophical anthropology, discipline within philosophy that seeks to unify the several empirical investigations of human nature in an effort to understand individuals as both creatures of their environment and creators of their own values. In the 18th century, “anthropology” was the branch of philosophy that gave an account of human nature. At that time, almost everything in the domain of systematic knowledge was understood to be a branch of philosophy. Physics, for example, was still...

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