“Weltoffenheit”: zeitgenössische philosophische Anthropolo-gie im Zwischenbereich von Geist und Natur

Philosophical Anthropology in 20th century has focused on the relation between natural and cultural dimension in human being. On this issue, of course, there have been many different conclusions. In this paper, I deal with Arnold Gehlen’s and Helmuth Plessner’s points of view. Gehlen considers the “biological deficiency” of man the condition of an unconditioned and full “opening to the world” and the transformation of man innto an “artificial being” (increasingly far from nature). Instead, Plessner thinks that man is always a “natural animal” and that he can be an “eccentric being” only by means offered by his own nature. For this reason his “opening to the world” is conditioned, since culture is always interweaved with nature.