Differential Anthropology: World-antecedence, Coexistence and Nature in Eugen Fink and Jan Patočka

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Alexander Schnell
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 538667844

In recent times, fundamental philosophical-anthropological questions such as the place of humankind in the world, its specific being in distinction to other living beings and its coexistence with them have once again aroused particular interest (e.g., Bimbenet 2017; Ebke/Zanfi 2017; as "Negative anthropology" Bajohr/Edinger 2021). Emphasis is here often put on the problem whether a super-ordinated structure of reality exists, which is discussed in the field of "New Ontologies" (Meillassoux 2006; Brassier 2011; Gabriel 2017; Kohn 2015; Harman 2018). However, the same issues have been addressed in the phenomenological tradition since its beginnings. With the present project, we aim to contribute to this discussion with a Differential Anthropology based on the innovative phenomenological perspectives of Eugen Fink and Jan Patocka. Both follow the approach of thinking the human being in terms of its differential relation to the world. Accordingly, world grounds both the being of the human being and his relation to the world as their super-ordinate third. "Differential" here stands for the view shared by both Fink and Patocka that world, on the one hand, can never be fully caught up with by the human being, but, on the other hand, constantly puts the human being in relation to itself. In this respect, we argue, both these authors share the paradigmatic interest of New Ontologies to refuse reducing world to the perspective of human beings. Instead, they hold the assumption of a dimension of reality which constitutes both human and non-human beings, thereby undermining rigid human-nature dualisms and focusing on their connecting link. In their critique, however, New Ontologies, remain in a false alternative; world is either irreducibly superordinate or reduced to human beings. Our research project shows that, with Fink and Patocka, a differential anthropology can be elaborated as an original, systematic position on this research field. Moreover, this position can engage in a productive dialogue with positions of New Ontologies in which it operates as a corrective for philosophical dilemmas existing there.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Czech Republic, France, USA
• Partner Organisation: Czech Science Foundation
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Dr. Natalie Depraz; Professor Dr. James Dodd; Professor Dr. Hans Rainer Sepp