L. Polo Approach to Transcendental Anthropology_Translation

This article is an English translation of Leonardo Polo’s original Spanish lecture “Antropología trascendental como propuesta,” delivered at the University of Málaga in 1994 and first published in Spanish in 2005. It introduces transcendental anthropology as a non‑dogmatic proposal that expands, rather than replaces, classical metaphysics by arguing that the human person is also primordial, but not in the foundational sense traditionally reserved for being or “ground.” Polo critiques both the classical subordination of anthropology to metaphysics and the modern “symmetrization” that makes the human subject the sole foundation, and instead develops an enlarged transcendental framework that includes specifically human transcendentals such as freedom, intellect, love, and coexistence. Within this framework, freedom is characterized as transcendental yet non‑foundational, giving rise to derived forms of freedom in psychological and moral life, while personal being is understood as coexistence rather than isolated substance, opening new avenues for addressing issues such as intersubjectivity, the unity/multiplicity problem, and the personal character of God.