Was ist der Mensch?

Not only in the theater, such as in "Oedipus," is the enigmatic question of the nature of humanity of central importance. That it also summarizes all other questions in the listing of fundamental philosophical questions is demonstrated by Peter Leitzen, host of the philosophical evening café. Anyone who inquires about the possibilities and limits of our cognitive abilities, seeks to clarify our normative orientations for action, or wants to discuss the justifiability of our hopes, cannot ignore the question of humanity. The attempts to answer this question in philosophy are extremely diverse. They range from Plato's ancient definition that man is a "cleverly devised plaything of the gods" to the modern thesis that he is merely a "naked ape"; from Aristotle's assumption that language and reason are what make a human to Karl Marx's distinction that only humans are capable of acting "according to the laws of beauty." This keynote lecture, followed by a discussion, unfolds a spectrum of these various positions.