The Anthropological Turn of the 21st Century: Rethinking Anthropodicy and the Subject

Abstract

Contemporary philosophy is shifting its research focus from the metaphysical foundations of humanity to an analysis of the structures of discourse within which norms, values, and identities are formed. Thus, 21st-century anthropology is taking on the character of a critical study of the linguistic and symbolic practices that define the boundaries of human understanding. Within this focus, the monograph “Anthropodice” by Kazakhstani philosophy professor B.E. Kolumbaev occupies a special place, as its central thesis, “For philosophy, it is not the human being within humanity, but humanity within the human being”, [1] should be considered a relevant contribution to contemporary philosophical discourse on the subject, seeking to reconcile the historicity, vulnerability, and ontological depth of human existence.

Philosophy of the second half of the 20th century - from structuralism to poststructuralism - subjected the classical subject to radical critique. In the works of Michel Foucault, the subject is treated as an effect of discursive practices and power relations; in Derrida, it is deconstructed as a center of presence; and in Deleuze, it is dissolved in processes of becoming and multiplicity. As a result, the subject loses its status as an autonomous and self-identical foundation. It becomes derivative of language, structure, ideology, desire, and so on. This is the “crisis of the subject” that defined the intellectual climate of the late 20th century.