Pages: 380-383

This paper aims to provide a solid argumentation to the thesis that M. Eliade developed a profound concept of man, which can be organically included in the modern thesaurus of philosophical anthropology. This is done based on M. Eliade’s writings and on his ideas and conceptual structures.
The first argument sustained in the article is that the subject of research in philosophical anthropology and myth is the same – the man as a whole, in the entirety of structures, phenomena, main behavioral norms typical of his/ her surrounding. The second argument is firmly connected with the first one and follows from M. Eliade’s concept of myth. For him, a myth is a structure which is immanent to man, his consciousness, rather than a stage in development of consciousness. Thus, myth is regarded as a component of a human being, i.e. a structure that is built into a human being, and thus the two are regarded as mutually creating and complementing. When one bases on the analysis of myths, “sacral nature” of its “premises”, one thus demonstrates the limited nature of man: he/she always is only a heir (follower), he always has a precedence.  
The author reveals the specific understanding of archetypes by Mircea Eliade, connected mainly with their understanding as «pragmatic models », «examples» by means of which the man gets assured that his/her existence is inevitably a part of a more global, universal system.
The author also analyzed M. Eliade’s contribution to the discussion of anthropogenesis and sociogenesis, which were regarded by him from the point of view of mythological and religious thinking.