The solution to this dilemma may be found in the manner in which the question is posed. Marx’s view of history as shaping man who simultaneously impresses himself on the world makes it quite impossible to ascribe to man any a priori essence. On the other hand, man’s world-shaping function itself becomes the empirical content of human existence. This process makes man into man, differentiates him from animals and lies at the bottom of his ability to create and change the conditions of his life. The contents of this continual creation, dynamic and changing, furnish the contents of the his- torical process. What is not changing and not modified is historical creation as constant anthropogenesis, deriving from man’s ability to create objects in which he realizes his subjectivity.