Adolf Portmann a jeho relevance pro filosofickou antropologii

Abstract

Adolf Portmann is counted among the key protagonists of philosophical anthropology, although he was formerly a biologist and zoologist. Thus, the paper presented here poses the question of the legitimacy of such a claim and investigates the philosophical relevance of Portmann’s work. Two of his most renowned conceptions serve as examples: First, the “extra-uterine” year in the “social uterus,” during which the human child grows into the upright carriage of body, learns of speech through words and signs and learns of “technical intelligence,” all of which together make the child become a genuine human being. Second, the conception of “Innerlichkeit,” which is rendered into English as “centricity,” is a common feature of all living beings and is significant through self-manifestation. The two conceptions are intertwined with one another and offer the basis for an eventual conception of the human being as a person. This is a fundamental tenant of classical philosophical anthropology, something which Portmann himself never elaborated on, and it thus remains a desideratum in the scholarship.

Keywords

• adolf portmann
• philosophical anthropology
• extra-uterine year
• social uterus
• upright carriage of the body
• language through words
• technical intelligence
• centricity
• man as person