Abstract

»Anthropomorphism« generally means the humanization of something that is not human itself (e. g. inanimate nature, animals, or God). The contribution follows, in its fi rst part, the history of this concept from its origins in classical antiquity via the long theological tradition in which »Anthropomorphite« becamea combat term up to Kant, who differentiates the neologism coined by Leibniz and distinguishes a dogmatic from a symbolic anthropomorphism. With Kant,at the latest, the concept is no longer limited to theological discourse; henceforth, it stands for the humanization of God and world. »Anthropomorphism«marks the line between transcendental philosophy and anthropology and correlates the transcendental subject with its incarnation in the human body. –The second part which shall examine the history of the concept in the 19th and 20th century will be published in the next volume of the Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte.