Journal of Philosophical Investigations

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

PhD in Philosophy, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Helmuth Plessner, beside Max Scheler and Arnold Gehlen, is known as one of the great founders of new philosophical anthropology movement. From among new anthropological theories, however, perhaps none has recently come to the center of attention and begun to flourish more than Plessner’s, not only in the field of philosophical anthropology, but also in science and technology. The ground for such a so-called “Plessner Renaissance” shall be immediately known in this article, once the special place Plessner’s theory occupies in both the prominent contemporary explanatory paradigms, in general, and philosophical-anthropological theories, in particular, is specified. In doing so, Plessner’s philosophical contribution is determined as:

A non-reductive naturalistic explanatory paradigm as a middle ground between new Darwinism, social-cultural-historical constructivism, and naive transcendentalism.
A phenomenological-hermeneutical account of the biological life, in general.
A biological-based transformational philosophical anthropology, in particular.

The focus of the present article is on Plessner’s contribution to the philosophy of biology as well as philosophical anthropology.

Keywords

Main Subjects

  • Allen, Colin and Jacob Neal (2020 Ed.) "Teleological Notions in Biology", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/teleology-biology/>.
  • Chrobak, K. (2015) “Helmuth Plessner's Philosophy of Life” Teoria. Rivista di filosofia fondata da Vittorio Sainati. XXXIV/2014. 65-82.
  • Darwin, Ch. (1990) The Descent of Man and the Relation to Sex. Chicago and London: Encyclopedia Britannica.
  • Darwin, Ch. (2001) The Origin of Species. Trans. by Noor-al-din Farhikhteh. Tehran: Zarrin. (in Persian)
  • De Mul, J. D. (2014a) “Artificial by Nature: An Introduction to Plessner’s Philosophical Anthropology”, in Plessner’s Philosophical Anthropology. Perspectives and Prospects, edit. Joes de Mul: 11-40, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
  • De Mul, J. D. (2014b) “Philosophical Anthropology 2.0. Reading Plessner in the Age of Converging Technologies”, in Plessner’s Philosophical Anthropology. Perspectives and Prospects, edit. Joes de Mul: 457-476, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
  • Delitz, H. (2014) ““True” and “False” Evolutionism. Bergson’s Critique of Spencer, Darwin & Co. and Its Relevance for Plessner (and Us)”, in Plessner’s Philosophical Anthropology. Perspectives and Prospects, edited by Joes de Mul: 79-98, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
  • Dennett, D. (1995) Darwin's Dangerous Idea. Evolution and the Meanings of Life, Penguin Books.
  • Dierkes, H. (2012) Philosophische Anthropologie. Trans. by Mohammadreza Beheshti. Tehran: Hermes. (in Persian)
  • Dreyfus, H.; Rabinow, P. (2015) Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Trans. Hossein Bashiriyeh. Tehran: Ney. (in Persian)
  • Ewing, A. C. (2009) A Short Commentary on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Esmaeal Saadati Khamseh, Tehran: Hermes. (in Persian)
  • Fischer, J. (2006) “Der Identitätskern der Philosophischen Anthropologie (Scheler, Plessner, Gehlen)”, In Philosophische Anthropologie im 21. Jahrhundert, Herausgegeben von Hans-Peter Krüger und Gesa Lindemann, 63–82, Akademie Verlag, Berlin.
  • Fischer, J. (2014) “Philosophical Anthropology. A Third Way between Darwinism and Foucaultism” in Plessner’s Philosophical Anthropology. Perspectives and Prospects, edit. Joes de Mul, 41-56, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam.
  • Heidegger, M. (1977) Sein und Zeit, GA 2, Herausgegeben von F. W. Von Hermann, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main.
  • Kant, E. (2014) Kritik der Urteilskraft. Abd-al-karim Rashidian. Tehran: Ney (in Persian)
  • Marx, K. Thesen über Feuerbach. In: DERS./ENGELS, Friedrich: Studienausgabe. v. Iring Fetscher. Bd. I: Philosophie. Frankfurt a.M.
  • Müller, K. (2010) Glauben Fragen Denken, Band III, Aschendorff, Münster.
  • Plessner, H. (1975) Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch. Einleitung in die philosophische Anthropologie, Dritte unveränderte Auflage, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin-New York.
  • Plessner, H. (1983a) Über einige Motive der Philosophischen Anthropologie, in: Gesammelte Schriften 8: Conditio Humana, hg. v. Dux, G., Marquard, 0., u. Ströker, E., Frankfurt am Main,
  • Plessner, H. (1983b) “Ein Newton des Grashalms?”, in: Conditio humana, GS VIII, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main.
  • Plessner, H. (2007) “Philosophische Anthropologie”. In: Religion in Geschichte Und Gegenwart: Handworterbuch Fur Theologie Und Religionswissenschaft. Bande 1. Germany: Mohr Siebeck GmbH KG.
  • Scheler, M. (1991) Die Stellung des Menschen im Kosmos, 12. Auflage, Bouvier Verlag, Bonn.
  • Sloan, Phillip (2019 ed.) "Darwin: From Origin of Speciesto Descent of Man", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2019/entries/origin-descent/
  • Weber, Bruce (2018 ed.) "Life", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/ entries/life/
  • Wunsch, M. (2018) “Vier Modelle des Menschseins”, Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, Bd. 66, Heft 4. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH.
CAPTCHA Image