Readings on Anthropology

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be reading about anthropology. As described in the "Introduction to Political Philosophy" essay, the study of man has two parts Philosophical anthropology inquires into the place of man in the cosmos: the “nature of man.” Empirical anthropology studies the observable behavior of man commonly referred to as “human nature.” Philosophical anthropology is tied directly to ontological and cosmological inquiry; empirical anthropology is based on our observation of people's behavior and our experience of human interaction. Psychology, sociology, economics, management, marketing, military strategy—in short, all of the social sciences are different fields of empirical anthropology.

When studying philosophic anthropology, it is particularly helpful to ask the author’s understanding of the highest human good, what people want most out of life. Since this good is often described as “happiness,” or “felicity” in some texts, it is important to ask the author what happiness is. This is a key to understanding the particular nature of being human: the nature of man.

In the study of politics, empirical anthropology is a most significant factor. Depending on one’s understanding of human nature, one can—indeed, practically speaking, one must—draw very different conclusions about the primary goals and purposes of government. “If men were angels,” as Madison famously said, “no government would be necessary.” If, following Hobbes, men are essentially predatory beasts, however, the purpose of government is to restrain them. If men are less threatening and more docile, a greater range of goals and purposes is available to governors, if government is necessary at all. We will see representatives of the same philosophic traditions adhere to one or the other of these two general alternatives and propose significantly different purposes of government and civil society.

1. Epicurean anthropology. The Epicurean philosophers that we study discuss the nature of man by explaining how human thought and action take place in a totally materialistic ontology. How does man interact with his environment? How is “happiness” understood in this environment? Epicureans, unlike Classical theorists, also address the historical development of human society as part of their explanation of how the very nature of man has influenced human behavior.

Please read the Epicurean writers on anthropology: Lucretius, On the Nature of Things:

· II.1-61, 865-1049, in which he discusses the nature of human life in materialistic terms;

· III.95-349, 397-462,- in which he discusses the nature of the “mind,” the “spirit,” the “soul,” and “life” itself;

· V.925-1241, in which he discusses the history of human development.

Hobbes, Leviathan, ch. 6 (partial) & 13. In chapter six, Hobbes explains human behavior and motivation in light of his theory of human nature. Note his redefinition of the basic virtues and goals of life—his “transvaluation of all values,” if you will. The term “felicity” in the last paragraphs of chapter six is a synonym for “happiness.” Compare Hobbes’s explanation of human will and action in chapter six with Lucretius’s account in Book IV, lines 877ff, of the Nature of Things.

Chapter thirteen of Leviathan is one of the most famous and best-known essays in all English literature, if not all world literature. From his account of human motivation in chapter six, he projects the social consequences of such behavior and describes the “natural” condition of mankind without government. Man’s natural state contains no ethical or moral rules or restrictions based on a natural moral order and this natural or animal condition of man leads to a yearning for peace, order and government, which Hobbes goes on to describe in chapters sixteen and thereafter. Compare Hobbes’s conception of the supreme evil, or summum malum, in chapter thirteen to the Classical and Classical Christian conceptions of the supreme good, the summum bonum.

Here, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, the last few paragraphs of Part One of the Discourse and the first paragraphs of Part Two, provide a contrast to Hobbes’s empirical anthropology and an interesting comparison to Lucretius’s account of the history of human development in On the Nature of Things, Book V above. Conceptions of human nature can differ markedly within the Epicurean (and the other) traditions. Here are a few study questions.

Which aspects of anthropology—philosophical or empirical—is Lucretius, Rousseau, and Hobbes discussing in each of these writings? Compare them to one another. Do these three Epicureans agree about the nature of man? About human nature?

2. Classical anthropology.

a. Plato, Republic, Books II.358c-362d and VI.489d-497a. In Socrates’s parable of the masses and the plight of the young philosopher, he comments upon the attitudes of most people (“hoi polloi”) towards their goals in life and upon the philosopher’s attitude towards the same. In the course of this, he describes typical human behavior or “human nature” and the true nature of man. Study questions.

b. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book I Parts 1, 4, 5, 7, 8. Keep in mind as you read this that "purpose,""end,""goal," and "intent" are synonyms of "good." The highest good is the highest goal, highest end. "Happiness," in Greek, is eudaimonia: "eu" is Greek for "good;" "daimonia" connotes an activity, an active power (a demon). Study questions. Ask yourself whether Aristotle's discussions in these readings reflect philosophical or empirical anthropology: speculations on man's (ontological) nature or observations about man's behavior. (There are examples of both kinds of anthropology in this assignment.)

3. Classical-Christian anthropology.

St. Augustine, City of God excerpts on anthropology (Book X.1 (first 3 paragraphs only), XIV.1, 13, 28; XIX.11 & 13; and XXII.22, 24). Study questions. Same questions here:

1. What type of anthropology is Augustine discussing in each of the different excerpts?

2. How do people behave?

3. Does man have an end or purpose?

4. What, according to Augustine, is "happiness," also called “felicity” and “blessedness”?

5. What is the greatest or highest good for man?

6. What is the “city of God”?

7. What is the “city of man”?

8. What is the “human condition”—the essential character of our earthly life?

4. Esoteric anthropologies.

a. Please read the Iranian Gnostic Hymn of the Pearl (also called In Quest of the Priceless Pearl) and the Hermetic Poemandres.

With the Hymn of the Pearl, you will have to speculate about the Hymn's views on empirical and philosophical anthropology. Be prepared to give reasons or evidence for your conclusions.

The story is allegorical:

1. What does the young man’s home in the East symbolize?

2. What does his journey to Egypt symbolize?

3. What is the pearl?

4. His royal robes?

5. His deep sleep?

6. His friend from home?

7. What happens to him when he returns home?

Compare the symbols of light and sleep to I Thessalonians 5:1-11.

The Poemandres is also an allegorical story or myth about the origins and the nature of man (“anthropogeny”).

1. Though sometimes referred to as Gnostic, does it reflect the Gnostic cosmology that you are familiar with?

2. Who is Man-Shepherd (“Poemandres”)? All-father Mind? The Enformer?Man”? Light?

3. Does it reflect the same kind of salvation that ancient Gnosticism maintains?

4. What is the nature of man?

5. What is his ultimate purpose or his distinguishing characteristic?

6. His relation to God? His relation to nature?

b. Alternate reading: Review paragraphs 1-12, 18-21, and 30-33 from the Oration on the Dignity of Man by the Renaissance writer Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Note the similarity of Pico’s understanding of the nature of man to the philosophical anthropology of the Poemandres. (The complete Oration is here.)

c. Ibn Arabi, Sufi mystic (1165-1240) excerpt on The Structure of the City of Man Whose King is the Soul, The Deputy of God.

d. Hans Jonas on the main Gnostic tenets, from The Gnostic Religion. Jonas, one of the foremost experts on ancient Gnostic religion, summarizes Gnostic theology, cosmology, anthropology, eschatology, and morality.