REFLECTIONS ON THE METHODOLOGICAL BACKGROUNDS OF PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

This article aims to clarify and emphasize the importance of general and essential characteristics that constitute the definition of man in philosophical anthropology. The methodology used is based on the tradition of the essential approach in the conception of man, and it is associated with a consistent application of a holistic approach. The question 'What is man?' and the associated definition is not the issue of the individual existence; it is an attempt to find common characteristics of humans. The holistic methodology allows overcoming inadequate nominalist interpretation of the general features. General characteristics of humans are conceived in the spirit of epistemological realism. Explicitly, two different approaches to human knowledge are compared: "object -centrism" and "system -centrism", which are interpreted as two consecutive steps in the understanding of man. The first step focuses attention on the individual being, and in the second one, we proceed to a general understanding of human nature. The human society is considered a substance of man. The society conceived as a human substance is the bearer of attributes, i.e. the general character of man. Human attributes are conceived as a socio-cultural structure. The article discusses possible human attributes forming the core of its definition. The analysis in the article offers a methodological implications of realistically conceived and essentialist philosophical anthropology. The result of the analysis helps to justify the elaboration of philosophical anthropology as a discipline fulfilling integrating functions in human knowledge.