Psychological anthropology

The Psychological anthropology is part of the empirical anthropology, i.e., the experience-based doctrine of man.

Conceptual history

The phrase " psychological anthropology " appears at the beginning of the 19th century as the title of the textbooks of Gottlob Ernst Schulze ( Psychological Anthropology, 1816) and Jakob Friedrich Fries (Handbook of psychological anthropology, or doctrine of the nature of the human mind, 1820 /21, 2nd edition 1837/38 ) and means as much as empirical anthropology here.

The dual task of Psychological Anthropology

Within a comprehensive, interdisciplinary anthropology, psychology has two complementary tasks: the general human psychology and the psychology of human images.

General psychology of human

According to the Psychological anthropology would remain only a philosophical, spiritual-scientific or theological anthropology in central areas in content, if not psychology, social science and biology would be included of man. All branches of psychology are considered here as relevant: General psychology, developmental psychology and social psychology, applied psychology, but a prominent role, the Differential psychology and personality research. Here there is a large variety of heterogeneous, more or less of molded personality theories. An overarching vision to develop a meta-theory of different personality theories, does not succeed in Psychological Anthropology.

Psychology of Human Images

The psychology of human images has several perspectives. She asks for one, to be found which basic assumptions about the people in the individual and in the population and on the other hand, what scientific theories can be found in the textbooks of psychology. Another perspective give the specific content of the textbooks, because the writers would inevitably reveal their own beliefs when they select certain theories and present. Finally, the biographies, particularly autobiographies of psychologists, psychotherapists or philosophers can be evaluated content if they provide a reference to the image of man. Basically, this perspective also extends to the attempts of biographical and ( ideology ) critical interpretations of human images of individual philosophers and philosophical directions. - In addition to Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche psychologizing and the self-critical theme of Johann Gottlieb Fichte in his science teaching can be quoted: " What kind of philosophy one chooses depends THEREFORE depends on what kind of a person you are " (1797, p 195 ).

In the question of the human image of psychologists and philosophers, it was essentially to the question of whether the author was more or less on the ground of Christianity or the Jewish religion. The Psychological anthropology assumes that it was probably irrelevant for them for psychotherapists such as Viktor Frankl, Carl Gustav Jung, and Carl Rogers, in their view, to provide more accurate information about their religious beliefs, as they founded their human image directly as theologically understood. The Psychological Anthropology want to make this inarticulate confessions visible.

In his book, The God of the philosophers Wilhelm Weischedel has shown the history of ideas, like the great philosophers developed their thinking in relation to central content of Christian dogma, as they grappled with the problem of God and the proofs of God, and occupied themselves with the theodicy.

The Psychological anthropology demands that any philosophical thinking will interpret the people against the backdrop of religious belief and of atheism or agnosticism. From many a philosophical point of view are such attempts at interpretation, as well as the link to the author's biography, criticized as an expression of psychologism.

The significant diversity in the psychology of personality theories and images of humanity expects itself to recognize unilateral assumptions about the people in many contributions of psychology and also of philosophical anthropology.

Psychological and Philosophical Anthropology

The Philosophical Anthropology waived their method according to empirical anthropology and reflects on man par excellence. Is the part of the Psychological anthropology - the misunderstanding of philosophy - the exclusion of empirical anthropology criticized.