Philosophical anthropology in this study does not refer to a philosophical sub-discipline, but rather to a specific theoretical direction in 20th-century German-speaking philosophy, associated with figures such as Max Scheler, Helmuth Plessner, Erich Rothacker, Arnold Gehlen, Adolf Portmann, and others. The first part narrates the complex, sometimes adventurous history of the emergence, rise, and development of this group of thinkers from 1919 to 1975, including their significant impact across various disciplines such as sociology, psychology, biology, and philosophy itself. The second part clarifies the philosophical core identity of this philosophical anthropology as a way of thinking. Fischer's study, published in 2008, has received enormous resonance in over thirty reviews across philosophy, sociology, and the intellectual public.