Abstract

The most influential of Portmann’s concepts up to the present is his characterization of early human ontogeny as secondarily altricial. This finding is coupled with the thesis of a social womb: human children are born prematurely in comparison with other primates, and they find a second womb in a social environment nurturing their healthy development. In Portmann’s view, the interconnection of these phenomena forms a basis for the specific position of humans with regards to other forms of life. It is during the first year of extra-uterine life when a specifically human form is acquired in basic charts: it is a triad of an upright posture, linguistic utterances, and rational thought that together constitutes the core of anthropological difference. Although Portmann’s position has strong ties to the tradition of philosophical anthropology, his ambition was to put together the basis for an even more basal and comprehensive account of human beings, which would unite biological, social, cultural, and philosophical aspects. Even though his programme of basal anthropology did not succeed in its original scope, Portmann’s concept of a social womb remains a source for valuable insights into the specificity of processes in human history and a point of departure for any comparisons between the social lives of humans and animal species.