Exploring Anthropology: Understanding Human Identity and Existence
1.1 Anthropology: Philosophy and Knowledge of Humans Anthropology, namely the study of humans, derives its name from the Greek word ‘anthropos,’ meaning man. However, we must avoid androcentrism and recognize the dual approaches of both men and women. There is also anthropology of education, which aims to raise the general parameters of the human being as a teacher and learner. It inquires into the ways in which a society transmits culture. We can classify anthropology into two categories: AC: Study of man with a scientific method, and AF: Study of man as an object of reflection in philosophical anthropology. The object of study is the subject itself, that is, man. There are different disciplines that study man, such as the humanities or social sciences, but none of these studies man as such.
We study because man needs to know what it is to be, needs to understand what is human in order to recognize what is inhuman and not become a beast. To humanize education is essential, so we present in this course the anthropological question: what is man? This question was posed by Kant. Traditional anthropological approaches focus on the study of nature rather than man, who is considered an element of nature. For example, the Greeks viewed man as a rational animal occupying a place within the cosmos. From the 15th and 16th centuries, with modernity, changes in human knowledge occurred. Science became decoupled from philosophy, which in turn had depended on religion. Physics became independent of philosophy and found its own method with Galileo. With the birth of modern man, man is regarded as the center of the world, the most important piece. Nature transitioned from being the subject to being the object observed, leaving the subject role to man who knows, understands, and dissects the human body, as if we were gods. However, making the body an object of study (dissecting the body) separates nature from spirit. This path begins with Descartes, who was the first to step out of the cosmos and believed that man has only himself. He then rebuilt the world according to the laws of reason. Modern philosophy does not place man within an order but as independent. Yet, man needs an order to live; we cannot live in disorder. Man belongs to a species, perhaps the only one, which may violate the laws of nature. / Throughout the history of mankind, there has been a dual question about man: “What identity does man have in the world?” and “How does he identify with respect to others?” Today, it is clear that the construction of man’s identity depends on the society around us and the culture in which we grow.
1.2 The Originality of Anthropological Questions All first define their purpose: to delineate their field of study. Philosophy has asked what distinguishes humans from all other beings. (Anthropological Question) It is said that man is intelligent and rational, demonstrated by his ability to solve problems and wonder who he is, what life he wants to lead, and how to care for himself. He is aware that he is a problem; the object of his inquiry is not known to man, and he questions himself. Contemporary anthropology acknowledges that man is a complex being. We will see that man is made and transformed throughout history. Man can be studied as a subject or a problem. The answers throughout the history of philosophy to the question What is man? can be grouped into two categories: Dogmatists, who have a clear answer that man is a theme, and those who ask or remain open, suggesting that man is not an issue but a problem. Man as a theme: In traditional thought, ancient cultures and religions had a clear idea of man and his place in the world. For example, the Greeks, the Bible, and the man of the Middle Ages. Man as a problem: It is man (not God or Nature) who clarifies the laws and the order of our place in the world. We discover the laws and use them to meet our needs. There is no longer a clear answer that we are children of God and must obey. We depend on science. In the end, the man of our time has transitioned from being an issue to a dual problem: – Physically, what is the origin of the body and life? – Spiritually, it was once obvious that we had a spirit created in God’s image, but that is no longer the case. Today, man is more problematic than ever. The human being is not like other beings; he is not a thing. The idea of man is formed from empirical observations. For science to understand man, it must go beyond the physiological and instinctive, which are limits that scientific knowledge cannot cross. There are many different aspects of man, but they do not reach the core of the person, the unifying concept of what constitutes being human. We must find a unifying approach because: 1) It is essential to speak of the dignity of persons and human rights (equality, respect, etc.). Empirical sciences extract rich principles from behavior. Man is the only animal that needs to know who he is to act humanely and not like a monster. This is an ethical and political requirement of modern citizenship, finding an essential definition of man as distinct from primitive cultures, where this was not true, where everything was given in advance. The first step in torturing and killing a person is to depersonalize them, not seeing them as such but as a thing. This is to deny the humanity of the other, reducing them to a pig, not like us. Dehumanization occurs when people are unable to see their neighbor in the other, when they torture or kill. 2) We can also relate this to personal identity, by asking Who am I? The question of what man is leads to the inquiry of who the subject is, the foundation of all ideas, feelings, and emotions. Anthropology wonders about human existence and what is human, because the properly human is equal for all. Ultimately, we conclude that there is no single man, but rather men of flesh and blood, individual and unique. However, the problem arises when a man observes another man; he becomes the subject-object. Is this possible when we seek to understand what the subject is?