Abstract

This chapter aims at an understanding of the distinctive role of the humanities. The first part offers, with reference to Helmuth PlessnerPlessner, H., an outline under which conditions it is conceivable that a specific life form might develop the capacity to strive for understanding and self-understanding. Such a foundation in philosophical anthropology is needed for the possibility of a hermeneutical understanding of the role of the human being. On the basis of this hermeneutic perspective the second part sketches how knowledge, orientation and morality are possible. The capacity of humans to judge makes ‘reflective knowledge’ possible. Likewise, morality is given with the ability of human beings to form a reflective relationship with themselves. On the basis of such a hermeneutic and critical view of the human being, the societal role of the humanities can be understood. The third part outlines this role by stressing that it is this fundamental role of the humanities, to make understanding in a methodologically reflective way possible, that gives the humanities both intrinsic importance and societal relevance.