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Hans Blumenberg’s philosophical project: metaphorology as anthropology

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Abstract

Philosophical anthropology emerges, partly at least, by dissatisfied and critical followers of Husserl’s phenomenology, such as Max Scheler and the young Martin Heidegger. They were dissatisfied with what they saw as a disregard of the concrete human being as an essential part of phenomenological analysis. They tried instead to claim that philosophy must search for, and anchor, its foundations exclusively in the human being, not as an abstract entity, but as an existential, concrete, physical being. In this specific philosophical, as well as historical, context this paper suggests to locate Hans Blumenberg’s philosophical project by reconstructing his unique version of philosophical anthropology. The main aim of the paper is to describe and understand the way Blumenberg combines his theory of metaphors (metaphorology) together with his anthropological considerations regarding the origin and emergence of human culture into his own version of philosophical anthropology. A version that can be seen as joining the original attempt of philosophical anthropology to overcome the deficiency in Husserl’s phenomenological project.

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Notes

  1. The talk was first published in 1941, see Husserl (1941, pp. 1–14). For details of the lecture tour, see Schuhmann (1977, pp. 379–382).

  2. Husserl (1941, p. 1).

  3. Scheler (1928/2009).

  4. Blumenberg (2006).

  5. Blumenberg uses gendered terminology, e.g., Mensch, ‘man,’ though the intended scope of the terms in question encompasses both genders. It should be kept in mind that Blumenberg wrote most of his works when sexist language was still the norm. As the standard translations of his works retain the gendered terminology, and this article cites these translations, I have not ‘adjusted’ Blumenberg’s language.

  6. Blumenberg (2002).

  7. Blumenberg (1989, p. 29). Here and elsewhere, translations of passages from untranslated works are my own.

  8. Ibid., p. 11.

  9. Ibid., p. 22.

  10. There is a broad scholarly consensus as to the proximity between Blumenberg’s philosophical anthropology and that of Scheler and Gehlen; see, e.g., Müller (2005, pp. 272–276).

  11. Blumenberg (1985, p. 7).

  12. E.g., in Blumenber (1987, pp. 438–439) the commitment is absolutely explicit. Elsewhere, e.g., the first chapter of Work on Myth (1985, pp. 3–30), it is also discernible, though not voiced explicitly.

  13. Blumenberg (1987, p. 439).

  14. See the first two chapters of Work on Myth (1985) and the first section of Höhlenausgänge (1989).

  15. Work on Myth (1985, p. 4).

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ibid., p. 5.

  18. Ibid., p. 7.

  19. Höhlenausgänge (1989, pp. 28–37).

  20. Ibid., p. 35.

  21. The most prominent being Ernst Cassirer. Blumenberg repeatedly expresses acceptance of Cassirer’s position, see, e.g., Blumenberg (1985, pp. 160–161, 167–168; and 1987, p. 438).

  22. Blumenberg (2010, p. 2).

  23. See Blumenberg (1993).

  24. See Blumenberg (2010, p. 3; see also 1996).

  25. Blumenberg (2010, p. 4).

  26. Ibid., p. 5.

  27. Ibid., p. 14.

  28. Blumenberg (1989, p. 439).

  29. Blumenberg (2002, pp. 132, 179).

  30. Blumenberg (1996, pp. 81–82; see also 2002, pp. 1–30).

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  1. Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Pini Ifergan

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  1. Pini Ifergan
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Ifergan, P. Hans Blumenberg’s philosophical project: metaphorology as anthropology. Cont Philos Rev 48, 359–377 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-015-9342-4

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