Кузнецов Михаил Юрьевич
Helmut Plessner Between Nature and Culture

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  • Аннотация:
    Wrote a paper to participate: The human phenomenon. Plessner's crossroads (6-7 November, 2025. Husserl-Archiv der Universität zu Köln. Cologne, Germany). At first it was polite (April 6). Today they sent a refusal, without even addressing me by name! "Dear Sir or Madam, ..." and before that (April 6): "So Mr. Dr. Kuznetsov, I want to ask you for help and I'm interested in your request! We hope you will receive all the abstracts ...". What attentive "doctors" there are these days (Thiemo Breyer and Piero Carreras). I am "glad" that there are more "worthy jobs". I value Pleshner's legacy. His "voice" will not be silenced!

Abstract


  
  Helmut Plessner, a distinguished German philosopher and scientist of the 20th century, regarded humans as beings who transcend purely biological existence through self-reflection and experience, thereby shaping their personality and culture. His analysis centers on the interplay between philosophy and nature, the stages of phenomenological perception (language, music, mathematics), and the laws governing individual and societal development: natural artificiality, mediated immediacy, and utopian location. Plessner eschews moralizing, positing that human nature is neutral and that disparities in community development stem from objective factors. This work constitutes a foundational study of human life experience and its interpretation within the framework of world history and culture. Plessner"s ideas concerning the stages of perception (language, writing, music, mathematics) offer a lens for analyzing the evolution of educational systems and cultural traditions across diverse societies. The concept of "eccentric positionality" is applicable to investigations of individual and collective self-awareness, as well as the factors contributing to social inequality. Plessner"s approach to self-reflection and experience as pivotal elements of personality holds potential for research into identity formation and psychological processes. His philosophy of science, which emphasizes the linkage between nature and philosophy, provides a basis for interdisciplinary studies bridging the natural and human sciences.
  

I. Introduction


  
  Helmut Plessner (1892-1985), a German philosopher of Jewish descent, was also a zoologist (racial scientist) and sociologist, aligning himself with the Baden school of neo-Kantianism. Should one seek a thinker adept in both the categories of zoology and the intricate constructs of philosophical anthropology, Plessner would undoubtedly rank among the foremost candidates. His ideas transcend arid scholasticism or barren speculation, offering instead a vibrant, dynamic exploration of humanity wherein biological origins intertwine with cultural forces, nature with spirit, and the individual "I" with impersonal historical currents. Plessner"s intellectual development unfolded amid the upheavals of the 20th century. The First World War and his subsequent emigration from Germany to the Netherlands in the 1940s, prompted by his Jewish heritage, deepened his fascination with the "utopian location" of humanity-the pursuit of ideals amidst crises. This renders his philosophy a reflection of an era marked by instability.
  Plessner advanced an original existential-ontological framework, contending that philosophy is inseparable from nature. For him, philosophy represents a conscious reworking of reality, with nature serving as existence itself-embodying wonder, novelty, and moments of renewal. Humans, he argued, must continually uncover diverse "existences" (as imprints of being) to maintain their position atop the world"s biological hierarchy.
  At times, civilizations themselves ground nature, yet it is through diffusion that both individuals and societies are enriched [Mul, 2014: 26-31]. In his seminal work, Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch (1928), Plessner aligns with the anthropological worldview of Johann Herder (1744-1803), who posited that each human generation surpasses its predecessor, though this progression may not always be apparent within brief historical spans. Herder"s approach to studying humanity is occasionally conflated with Kant"s deductive method [Michalski, 2013: 22-23].
  As a professor of sociology, Plessner, in Die Stufen des Organischen, delineates three levels of human existence:
  
  Physical (body);
  Psychic (soul);
  Spiritual (culture).
  
  These domains are interdependent and collectively shape human behavior. The core thesis of Plessner"s phenomenology asserts that philosophy, by anchoring life experience within the science of culture and world history, integrates all elements into what is termed a worldview.
  

II. Plessner"s Philosophical Anthropology


  
  Every individual encounters a limit in life, which Plessner terms "eccentric positionality." Upon recognizing their position "in the middle" of their biological being, individuals typically strive to transcend the "implicit" boundary separating them from their "ideal." Life, for Plessner, is not mere existence; rather, experiences constitute the cornerstone of personality, forming the unique "Ego" as a constellation of specific reflexes, secretions, patterns, and more. Through the experience of experiencing these experiences (self-reflection), Plessner contends, a reaction emerges that stimulates personality development.
  Does this imply, for instance, that witnessing another"s death reflects upon ourselves? Or must one eliminate the "non-I" to truly grasp another"s demise? Do such acts stimulate thought? One might bear ten children, kill them, or forgo parenthood entirely-which of these volitional acts serves as a "catalyst" for comprehensive perception? Plessner explores these questions, articulating the structure of the laws of human existence, thereby positioning his anthropology as a foundational discipline for theorizing human life experience.
  Plessner, a professor of philosophy, posits stages of correlation between life forms and life spheres. Each individual perceives reality uniquely, interpreting and reinterpreting both themselves and others based on an array of factors: genetic, geographical, nutritional, occupational, societal, cultural, and beyond. While he does not dismiss the perennial hypothesis of spiritual influences transcending the biological and material, Plessner leans toward positivism rather than mysticism. Is human nature inherently "good" or "evil"? Throughout his oeuvre, Plessner, a doctor of biological sciences, grapples with this question, concluding that it is neither. Human nature simply is. Both the nominal righteous and the nominal murderer stand as equals-units of individual mediation between reason and sensibility, forms of sensory contemplation, and categories. In his philosophical anthropology, Plessner observes that sensory modalities manifest through the nexus of consciousness and objectivity, lending meaning to both matter and spirit [Plessner, 2003, pp. 293-299].
  The notion of "human nature"s neutrality" invites ethical scrutiny: if nature is neutral, how are moral disparities among individuals explained? Critics, including existentialists, might fault Plessner for excessive positivism, neglecting subjective choice. Plessner identifies the stages of phenomenological perception as:
  
  Language and writing;
  Music (sounds, vibrations);
  Mathematics.
  
  These "diana-musical" sciences-divided into static and dynamic forms-enable the expression of thematic meanings and signs within human flesh and society. Each human society (culture) "encrypts" nature through its symbols and signs, yet only the thinker unveils their latent message, decoding unconscious social processes. These phenomenological stages also served Plessner as a metric for distinguishing "higher" and "lower" human communities, gauged by their mastery of language, writing, mathematics, and music, and whether they forge autonomous meaning systems or adapt borrowed ones. Some contemporary small ethnic groups have yet to devise their own alphabets, indicating they have not ascended to the initial evolutionary stage [Plessner, 2019, pp. 155-168].
  
  Though acquainted with the racial theories of his time, Plessner remained unswayed by such biases, embodying the ethos of a "pure scientist" in an academic context. He sought to comprehend why some societies advance, others regress, and some fail to attain a certain intellectual threshold. He asserted that normal or near-normal conditions are requisite for fostering thought tension in individuals and communities, governed by:
  
  The law of natural artificiality;
  The law of mediated immediacy;
  The law of utopian location.
  

III. Laws of Human Existence


  
   1.Law of Natural Artificiality Plessner maintained that humans, as part of nature, simultaneously construct artificial structures (culture, society, technology) that become natural to them. This law encapsulates the duality of human existence, blending biological foundations with conscious world transformation. For instance, language, a natural capacity, evolves into an artificial tool for communication and thought. This tension between the natural and the constructed propels the development of both personality and society.
   2.Law of Mediated Immediacy This law underscores that human perception of the world is not direct but mediated through reflection, symbols, and cultural codes. Immediate experiences-such as emotions or sensations-are invariably processed by consciousness, rendering humans distinct. Plessner viewed this process as the bedrock of self-reflection: we experience not only events but also our responses to them, shaping our "Ego."
   3.Law of Utopian Location Plessner argued that humans perpetually occupy a "middle ground"-between the real and the ideal, past and future, biology and spirit. This "utopian location" signifies a striving toward the unattainable, transcending existential limits. Here, utopia is not a fixed locale but a state of ceaseless meaning-seeking, spurring creativity and growth.
  

IV. Sociological Views of Helmut Plessner


  
  Plessner"s sociology does not constitute a standalone discipline in the conventional sense, being intricately woven into his philosophical anthropology. His sociological insights derive from the concept of "eccentric positionality" and the examination of human interactions with society, nature, and culture. In Grenzen der Gemeinschaft (1924), Plessner framed sociology as part of a broader inquiry into human existence, elucidating social structures and processes through the prism of humanity"s unique worldly position [Landau-Donnelly, Carlsson, & Lagendijk, 2024, pp. 194-195, 199-202].
   Critique of Institutional Fetishism
  
  While bourgeois sociologists such as Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) and Max Weber (1864-1920) fixated on "social institutions" divorced from their material base, Plessner boldly proclaimed society as an extension of nature-a profound materialist insight. He viewed so-called "culture" as reworked natural impulses and "social norms" as instruments in class struggle, cloaked in hypocritical morality.
  Unlike many sociologists who prioritize social institutions, Plessner emphasized the nexus between society and nature. He regarded social forms as products of nature"s "diffusion" through human transformation. Society, in his view, does not oppose nature but extends it, with natural impulses (e.g., needs) reshaped into cultural and social norms.
   Echoing Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Plessner noted that cultural codes are often perceived as assaults on norms, embodying amoralism. Yet, is it not this "morality" that erodes individuality? He highlighted Zarathustra"s defiance of contemporary authorities, achieving renown through reformist endeavors and channeling personal experience into societal revelation.
  Where Nietzsche discerned the "will to power" in individual supermen, Plessner identified a collective process of nature"s transformation. His vision casts humans not as slaves to morality but as perpetual combatants, reshaping themselves and the world! Der Mensch lebt nicht nur, sondern erlebt sich als lebend und setzt sich dadurch über die Grenzen des bloß Organischen hinaus" (Plessner 1975: 290).
  
  Plessner concluded:
  
  Society is a battleground between natural necessity and human freedom;
  Cultural norms are weapons in class struggle, disguised as "eternal values";
  Individuality emerges only through the rejection of imposed norms.
  

V. Helmut Plessner"s Phenomenology


  
  Plessner"s engagement with phenomenology transcends academic nuance, constituting a terrain of acute class struggle within epistemology. Bourgeois professors assert phenomenology"s "neutrality," yet Plessner demonstrates that "pure" phenomena-language, music, mathematics-are products of society"s material evolution and tools in the contest for dominance and survival. His analysis of the "stages of the organic" unveils concrete historical forms of oppression and progress, not abstract essences.
  Often depicted as a "soft" phenomenologist in the vein of Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), Plessner is misrepresented as engrossed in contemplating "pure essences." This is a reactionary distortion. He appropriates phenomenology"s method but reorients it toward a materialistic understanding of human existence. Where Husserl invokes the "transcendental ego," Plessner foregrounds the living respirar, suffering human-a product of biological evolution and social relations. His "eccentric positionality" is no armchair construct but a scientific account of a real contradiction: humans are animals who, through labor and social practice, have broken free from immediacy"s confines, distinct from Søren Kierkegaard"s (1813-1855) introspective self-flagellation.
  Plessner"s phenomenological method is not an exercise in "pure consciousness" self-admiration but a tool for dissecting concrete historical forms of human existence. In exploring the "stages of the organic," he does not merely classify but exposes the dialectic of the natural and social, both theoretically and within the histories of actual societies. In Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch: Einleitung in die philosophische Anthropologie (1928), Plessner first systematically articulated his phenomenological framework, introducing "eccentric positionality" and analyzing perception stages (language, music, mathematics) as cornerstones of human existence. This work laid the groundwork for his philosophical anthropology, bridging phenomenology with biology and sociology [Plessner, 1975, pp. 288-346].
  "Man, unlike animals, possesses eccentric positionality, the capacity to recognize himself as the center of his being while simultaneously distancing himself from it" [Plessner, 1975, p. 291].
  This underscores how self-reflection enables humans to transform nature into culture, exemplifying the law of natural artificiality.
  Plessner elaborated his phenomenological perspectives in subsequent works:
  Macht und menschliche Natur: Ein Essay (1931), examining how power and social relations shape human nature through the lens of self-reflection and world interaction;
  Lachen und Weinen: Eine Untersuchung nach den Grenzen des menschlichen Verhaltens (1941), applying phenomenology to emotional expressions like laughter and crying as manifestations of "eccentric positionality," revealing human transcendence beyond biological responses. He argued that conscious laughter and crying distinguish humans from animals, with the proletarian"s laugh differing from the bourgeois due to being"s determination of consciousness;
  Die verspätete Nation: Über die politische Verführbarkeit bürgerlichen Geistes (1959, originally published in 1935 as Das Schicksal deutschen Geistes im Ausgang seiner bürgerlichen Epoche), a historical-sociological study employing phenomenology to analyze Germany"s collective consciousness and cultural processes;
  Conditio Humana (1964), a collection of essays unified by the theme that humans not only live but are aware of living, creating a distance that fosters creativity, reflection, and meaning-making across daily life, social roles, and historical development. Only dialectical materialism can adequately assess Plessner"s "phenomenological" method-not as an autonomous theory but as a technique within a materialistic historical framework. This offers a lesson for rigorous scholars: bourgeois phenomenology must neither be blindly embraced nor mechanistically (biologistically) dismissed but critically reworked, as Plessner exemplified.
  Helmut Plessner"s philosophy, suffused with scientific positivism and profound anthropological inquiry, constitutes a significant contribution to understanding human existence. His concepts of eccentric positionality and the laws of societal development illuminate the dialectic of nature and culture, furnishing robust tools for social research. Amid a contemporary world where tensions between the biological and social, material and spiritual intensify, Plessner"s ideas assume heightened relevance, reminding us that humans, though part of nature, are also its creators and transformers. Thus, his philosophy not only enriches theoretical discourse but also provides practical frameworks for addressing 21st-century challenges.
  

Conclusions


  
   1.Helmut Plessner was a philosopher who synthesized anthropology, sociology, and biology.
  2. Humans create artificial structures that become natural.
  3. The law of mediated immediacy elucidates reflection"s role in world perception.
  4. Experience is perpetually mediated by cultural and symbolic systems.
  5. Humanity"s ceaseless quest for meaning drives development.
  6. Plessner rejects moralizing, deeming human nature neutral.
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