In a renowned essay, Odo Marquard’s set a cornerstone in defining anthropology from
a history of concepts point of view. In the light of more recent researches, some of his
conclusions are here reconsidered and criticised. The concept of anthropology, as
developed by Herder, Kant, Wilhelm von Humboldt, romantic philosophers and
physicians, and finally by Hegel and some of his followers, offers no evidence for
Marquard’s alleged opposition between anthropology and philosophy of history. On
the one side, in Kant’s or Hegel’s work anthropology is not as peripheral as Marquard
argued; on the other side, romantic anthropologists developed a deep interest towards
historical perspectives. Rather, anthropology was quite often considered as a nonmetaphysical
alternative to psychology. These results also suggest a revision as to the
role of anthropology on a broader historical scale.
