In his penultimate book, written in 1928, the German philosopher Max Scheler addressed the most profound issues facing human beings: what distinguishes us from other forms of life, and what is our role in the universe? He examined approaches ranging from Greek rationalism, to theism, to natural science, and proposed a framework that he called “philosophical anthropology”. In so doing, he created an approach that has influenced thinkers as varied as Martin Heidegger and Pope John Paul II.
