Study of human nature conducted by the methods of philosophy.
It is concerned with questions such as the status of human beings in the universe, the purpose or meaning of human life, and whether humanity can be made an object of systematic study. Among the most important works in philosophical anthropology are Man's Place in the Universe (1928), by Max Scheler ; The Levels of the Organic and Man (1928), by Helmuth Plessner; Being and Time (1929), by Martin Heidegger ; Der Mensch (1940), by Arnold Gehlen; and An Essay on Man (1944), by Ernst Cassirer .