La conoscenza come fenomeno originario

[Autom. eng. transl.] "Knowledge has a donative character". This affective assumption in the relationship between reality and the human being is the basis of the text Erkenntnis als Urphänomen, which exposes the definitive and mature formulation of Hengstenberg's theory of knowledge, then eighty-two years old. The philosopher moves from an extended ontology that, in its anthropological application, aims at overcoming the dualism between act and power through a conceptual triad: spirit, body, principle of personality. In particular, the gnoseological applications are innovative, because they go to reaffirm - in strong contrast with the post-Kantian vein and in fruitful dialectics with the Heideggerian suggestions - the trust in the capacity of human reason to relate constructively and clearly with institutions, first of all entities with a "human face".