Human Nature: Philosophical Anthropology and Key Questions
Introduction to Philosophical Anthropology
Our perspective is that of philosophical anthropology, that is, a critical reflection on the nature or essence of humanity. This debate must take into account the technical expertise of the various sciences that deal with humans. For example, a current philosophical reflection on humanity has to take into account the theory of evolution as well as knowledge of the humanities. Both philosophy and the social sciences should note that the interpretation of social facts always starts from a pre-realization of what a human is. For example, when a cultural anthropologist studies a culture without a written language, they assume that it is a human culture because they recognize certain cultural traits of their own society.
The human sciences and philosophy accept the assumption that to understand or interpret human beings, we must start with a general idea about them. For example, if we accept the assumption that a human is a rational being, we also accept that every human being must belong to a society that uses an articulated and symbolic language, that has a moral code, religion, etc.
Key Questions in Philosophical Anthropology
Philosophical anthropology has to answer a series of questions about humanity:
- Does a human possess an immortal soul or not?
- Does a human have free will or not?
- Does a human have an invariable nature or not?
- Is human existence subject only to certain physical laws, or must it be assumed to have been created by God?
Philosophical Conceptions of Humanity
The philosophical anthropology of today must take into account the findings of social science. However, as these findings give us abundant information on various societies, it is necessary to unify all this data through a philosophical idea of human beings.
Classical conceptions can be classified into two groups:
- Materialistic: Those who deny the existence of spirit, that is, that humans have an immortal soul.
- Spiritualistic: Those who say that humans have an immortal soul.
Materialistic conceptions are usually deterministic in the sense that they maintain that all human behavior is governed by natural or environmental causes, and therefore there is no free will. Instead, spiritualist conceptions accept free will.
Theism, Atheism, and Agnosticism
Philosophical anthropology must also address the question of the existence of God, understood as the creator of human nature and humanity. On this issue, there are three options:
- Theism: The theory that God exists.
- Atheism: The theory that denies the existence of God.
- Agnosticism: The theory that suspends judgment on the existence of God.
The concept we adopt will shape our idea of humanity. For example, theism presupposes that there is a universal morality revealed by God to humans. Furthermore, theism implies that humans cannot alter at will the “natural right,” a set of rules inscribed in the human mind by God.
Atheism also implies a peculiar philosophical anthropology since, from that perspective, humans are masters of their own destiny. Therefore, there is no reward or punishment after death, and the human moral horizon is limited to human standards. Contemporary philosophy shows several instances of atheistic thinkers who have defended moral relativism. The characteristic of atheism is the denial of the existence of a right or natural law inscribed on the understanding of human beings.
Agnosticism is a doctrine that denies that humans can attain any knowledge of the essence or the existence of God. T.H. Huxley denied that human reason can ever know the existence or essence of God and suggested the adoption of a form of skepticism called agnosticism. This term was coined in contrast with the term Gnosticism, which designates a mystical sect of the early Christian era whose followers believed that human reason can know God after a long process of purification of the soul.
Nature or History?
Philosophical anthropology questions whether humans have a nature or essence that is unchanging or if, on the contrary, they lack this and are primarily historical beings.
The claim that humans have an invariable nature presupposes that there are certain cultural traits that are present in all humans since they do exist. That essence was created by God. This theory states that there are certain cultural traits that are always present in humans because they are somehow innate.
On the other hand, Historicism, a German philosophical school of the 19th century, claims that the human condition is essentially historical, and therefore humans have no unchanging nature. José Ortega y Gasset stated that humans have no nature but history. This is strongly influenced by the philosophical school. On the other hand, Jean-Paul Sartre said that only from a theological perspective can we say that humans have an unchanging nature.