What is Man?

"IT is dangerous to make man see too clearly his equality with the brutes without showing him his greatness. It is also dangerous to make him see his greatness too clearly, apart from his vileness. It is still more dangerous to leave him in ignorance of both. But it is very advantageous to show him both. Man must not think that he is on a level with either the brutes or with the angels, nor must he be ignorant of both sides of his nature; but he must know both."

~ Blaise Pascal: Pensées No. 418

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci

Anthropic Principle the Opposite of Anthropocentrism

“By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like a dot; by thought I encompass the universe.” ―Pascal, Pensées No. 265


"THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE, in itself, “merely states that the universe has from its earliest stage been on an evolutionary track along which alone was the emergence of man ultimately possible. The anthropic principle certainly does not mean that modern cosmology has shown the emergence of man to be a necessary outcome of the primordial mix. The anthropic principle is, however, certainly indicative of the extent to which man is able to conquer the universe by his knowledge of it. Yet this knowledge is so specifically objective as to constitute a proof that man cannot be conquered by the universe. Man certainly would suffer his worse defeat at the hands of the universe if it could be shown that what is known of the universe is merely man man’s imposing of his own stamp on reality. In this case the anthropic principle would be the highest form of anthropocentrism. Since anthropocentricism is the worst disservice to man, once harnessed in its service the anthropic principle would turn into a misanthropy principle. The specificity of the universe strongly discourages a view of the anthropic principle as the harbinger of anthropocentrism. . . . The anthropic principle has an all-important epistemological significance and carries by the same token a far-reaching message for an anthropology which has the courage to face head-on the question: what is man?”

~Fr. Stanley L. Jaki: “Angels, Apes, and Men,” Chap. III―Unconquerable Man. (1983)

An approximate timeline for the evolution of the universe
from the Big Bang to the present. From phys.libretext.org