The question to ourself as human nature

Abstract

The topic of this article is a philosophical view of human nature in the context of interreligious debates. Individual religions tend to provide concrete images on the question of human nature in order to give people orientation for the existential challenges of life. Philosophy examines more fundamentally why and what we are actually asking about when we enquire about humanity and  humanity: According to the thesis of the article, behind Kant's question ‘What is man? is therefore the problem of why and how and with what consequences we humans are able to ask questions at all, especially about ourselves. This is what distinguishes philosophical anthropology from all other anthropologies. This critical perspective also has consequences for the question of religious diversity: interreligious discourse is mostly about value-bound expressions of humanity. The point of my paper is that central religious texts can also be read from a philosophical perspective. For example, the myth of Genesis 2-4 contains a philosophy of human nature. Its philosophical anthropology helps to understand religious images of man beyond positional and standardising attributions as an orientation for the formation of a reflected existence of faith as well as for an enriching, non-divisive confrontation with other
confessional positions.