6 Anthropological Types

 Man as Homo Sapiens

 Man is a Homo Faber
 Man as Deserteur de la Vie
(Deserter of Life)
 Man as Ubermensch
 Man as Homo Religiosus
 Man as a Social Being
I. Introduction

 Studies in Philosophical Anthropology could readily be

reduced to at least 6 Anthropological Types. Therse
characterizations historically evolved through various
traditions starting from the Ancient to the
Contemporary times.

 These Types are not exclusively contained within the

boundaries of philosophy. It influenced Christian
Theology but most especially its doctrines and
Spirituality
 The 6
Anthropological
Types
1. The First Anthropological Type: Man as Homo
Sapiens
 In its very general description, man is viewed as a thinking
being. Corollary concepts could refer to man as a soul/spirit.
In the Ancient Greek Tradition, it is called Pneuma or breath
or "spirit" or "soul“ or ruach in Hebrew [Bible].

 Pneuma, "air in motion, breath, wind", is equivalent in the

material monism of Anaximenes to aer ("air") as the
element from which all else originated.

 In Aristotle, it is loosely applied to life [anima] that inhabits

any life form.
 The notion that man is spirit is scattered in the
writings of Plato either directly or indirectly.
 His Metaphysics and Epistemology highlight the
supremacy of the spiritual/ideal world.
This distinction is displayed in his famous Divided Line.
The line is divided into four
parts signified by the main
horizontal and vertical lines:
(1)Everything below the
horizontal line represents the
sensible world; everything
above it, the world of the
forms. Plato means us to
proceed from the bottom to
the top, from images to
higher forms, from the lowest
level of reality to the highest.
Thus one uses imagination to
grasp images, perception to
grasp sensible things, and so
on.
(2) The image is further divided by
the vertical line. Everything on the
left-hand side of the vertical line
represents particular dimensions of
reality within the sensible world and
the world of the forms. Everything
on the right hand side represents
the particular faculties one uses to
grasp the corresponding dimension
of reality.
The higher up one goes on the
right-hand side of the image the
greater the degree of intellectual
certainty one attains. Thus the
highest degree of certainty is
attained by using our understanding
which enables us to grasp higher
forms.
 Plato’s Epistemology and Theory
of the Soul

SOUL INTEREST CLASS VIRTUE

reason knowledge philosophers wisdom

spirit honor warriors courage justice

desire pleasures commoners temperance

Plato’s theory of the soul (proposed in the Phaedrus)

The soul has three parts, which correspond to three different kinds of interests, three kinds of virtues, three kinds of personalities –
 The soul has three parts, which correspond to three
different kinds of interests, three kinds of virtues, three
kinds of personalities –depending on which part of the
soul is dominant — and so, properly, to three kinds of
social classes that should be based on the three
personalities, interests, and virtues.
SOUL INTEREST CLASS VIRTUE

reason knowledge philosophers wisdom

spirit honor warriors courage justice

desire pleasures commoners temperance

Justice applies to them all in the sense of their

organization. Reason (and the philosophers) should
be in control, with the help of spirit (and the warriors).
The philosophers and the warriors are thus the
“Guardians” of Plato’s ideal state. This does not seem
like a familiar sort of definition for justice, but the
result, Plato says, is that each interest is satisfied to
the proper extent, or, in society, everyone has what is
theirs.
 SOUL INTEREST CLASS VIRTUE

reason knowledge philosophers wisdom

spirit honor warriors courage justice

desire pleasures commoners temperance

The philosophers have the knowledge they want; the

warriors have the honors they want; and the
commoners have the goods and pleasures they want,
in the proper moderation maintained by the
philosophers and warriors.

The root of all trouble, as far as Plato is concerned, is

always unlimited desire.
III. Metaphor of the sun

 In The Republic (507b-509c) Plato's Socrates uses the

sun as a metaphor for the source of "intellectual
illumination," which he held to be The Form of the Good.
 The metaphor is about the nature of ultimate reality
and how we come to know it. It starts with the eye, which
Socrates says is unusual among the sense organs in that
it needs a medium, namely light, in order to operate.
 The strongest and best source of light is the sun; with
it, we can discern objects clearly. Analogously for
intelligible objects The Form of the Good is necessary in
order to understand any particular thing.
 Thus, if we attempt to understand why things are as
they are, and what general categories can be used to
understand various particulars around us, without
reference to any forms (universals) we will fail
completely. By contrast, "the domain where truth and
reality shine resplendent" is none other than Plato's
world of forms—illuminated by the highest of the forms,
that of the Good.
IV. The Allegory of the cave
 The Allegory of the Cave is an allegory used by
Plato in his work The Republic to illustrate "our nature
in its education and want of education" (514a). It is
written as a fictional dialogue between Plato's teacher
Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon at the beginning
of Book VII. The Allegory of the Cave is presented
after the metaphor of the sun (507b–509c) and the
analogy of the divided line (509d–513e).
 In the dialogue, Socrates describes a group of
people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all
of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch
shadows projected on the wall by things passing in
front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms
to these shadows
 According to Socrates, the shadows are as close
as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then
explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is
freed from the cave and comes to understand that the
shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as
he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the
mere shadows seen by the prisoners.
The Allegory is related to Plato's Theory of Forms,
according to which the "Forms" (or "Ideas"), and not
the material world of change known to us through
sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental
kind of reality. Only knowledge of the Forms
constitutes real knowledge. In addition, the Allegory of
the Cave is an attempt to explain the philosopher's
place in society: to attempt to enlighten the
"prisoners".
 V. Charioteer Myth
 Plato's charioteer myth is found in Phaedrus 245c-257b.
The ascent of the mind to celestial and trans-celestial
realms is likened to a charioteer and a chariot drawn by two
winged horses, one dark and one white.
 Figuratively represented is the famous Platonic tripartite
model of the soul: the charioteer represents reason, or
intellect, the dark horse appetitive passions, and the white
horse irascible nature. Only by taming and controlling the
two horses can the charioteer ascend to the heavens and
enjoy a banquet of divine knowledge. Key epistemological
features of the charioteer myth are (1) an emphasis upon
true knowledge as ascent, (2) and the need to tame one's
passionate nature to obtain true knowledge.
 In Stoic philosophy, pneuma is the concept of the "breath of life," a
mixture of the elements air (in motion) and fire (as warmth).

 In its highest form, pneuma constitutes the human soul (psychê),

which is a fragment of the pneuma that is the soul of God.

 Another Stoic concept which offered inspiration to the Church was

that of 'divine Spirit’.
 The notion of the Divine Spirit secures the position of the Church
that reality is not just material. There is more to the things that we
see.
 This notion has substantially been the focus of reflection in the Pre-
Medieval and the Medieval Period especially in Scholastic
Philosophy and in Thomistic Philosophy especially.
Implicit Deduction of Man as Homo Sapiens

 That the soul is valorized, more special, more important

than the body
 The body is viewed negatively as a corrupt, unessential,
and disruptive to the spiritual journey
 Christian Theology and Spirituality advocates purgation of
the body [purification] in order to strengthen the soul’s
resolve to pursue the spiritual.
 GRADED GROUP ACTIVITY

Direction: Go to your group and discuss, thoroughly

the question. Assign a spokesperson for the group.
Both written and oral presentation is graded.

THE QUESTION:

What do you think are the inherent weaknesses of the

Greek and Medieval understanding of man as Homo
Sapiens?
2. The Second Anthropological Type: Man as
Homo Faber