Was ist der Mensch?

The question of the nature of man has occupied human beings everywhere and in every period including the present. The scientists, politicians, theologians, journalists, and writers assembled here give their personal responses to the question in fifty incisive contributions representing different cultural traditions.
What is to be expected? Clearly not a conclusive answer to the question but rather a dazzling spectrum of contemporary positions regarding human self-understanding both critical and constructive, pointed and profound.