Ralf Becker

In general, »anthropomorphism« denotes the humanization of something that is not human itself (e.g. inanimate nature, animals, or God). The first part of thecontribution (cf. AfB 49, 2007) follows the history of this concept from its origins in classical antiquity up to Kant. This second part examines the continuing conceptual history in the 19th and 20th century, commencing from German Idealism and ending with »the end of Man« proclaimed by Foucault and Lyotard. Characteristic of the anthropomorphism discourse of the 19th century is what could be called »Critique of Concrete Reason«: Reason in its concrete manifestation is supposed to be perceived and explicated as human. It follows that every activity of Reason generates anthropomorphisms. In the 20th century, this equation ofReason and Man is criticized (e. g. by Husserl). On the other hand, the origin of humanization, Man itself, becomes the focus of anthropology and anthropologycritique. In a well understood sense, Man itself can be seen as an anthropomorphism, namely as the result of the self-humanization of a being that continuallysearches for its own essence. mehr

Ina Schmidt: Vom Leben zum Sein. Der frühe Martin Heidegger und die Lebensphilosophie; Julia Jonas: Der phänomenologische Text. Eine Studie zu Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger und Franz Kafka; Rudi Visker: The inhuman condition. Looking for difference after Levinas and Heidegger; Anselm Böhmer (Hg.): Eugen Fink. Sozialphilosophie – Anthropologie – Kosmologie– Pädagogik – Methodik; Frank Schalow: The incarnality of being. The earth, animals, and the body in Heidegger’s thought; Lambert Wiesing: Artifizielle Präsenz. Studien zur Philosophie des Bildes mehr