Čovjek: Njegova priroda i njegov položaj u svijetu

Gehlen emphasizes the special position of humans and bases his “anthropological schema” on action as the approach. For him, humans are, first and foremost, a biological "deficient creature" that, unlike animals, is not adapted to a specific environment and is at the same time characterized by a "life-threatening lack of real instincts." This gives rise to man's drive to cultivate nature. He has to “learn to control the world and himself” in order to survive and, for Gehlen, is therefore “a cultural being by nature”.