Ernst Cassirer
Personal Information
Description
Ernst Cassirer was a German philosopher. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic philosophy of science; after Cohen's death, he developed a theory of symbolism, and used it to expand phenomenology of knowledge into a more general philosophy of culture. He is one of the leading 20th century advocates of philosophical idealism. At Hamburg Cassirer discovered the Library of the Cultural Sciences founded by Aby Warburg. Warburg was an art historian who was particularly interested in ritual and myth as sources of surviving forms of emotional expression. In Philosophy of Symbolic Forms (1923–1929) Cassirer argues that man (as he put it in his more popular 1944 book Essay on Man) is a "symbolic animal". Whereas animals perceive their world by instincts and direct sensory perception, humans create a universe of symbolic meanings. Cassirer is particularly interested in natural language and myth. He argues that science and mathematics developed from natural language, and religion and art from myth.
Books
Gesammelte Werke
Descartes
Review: 'This new translation is designed as a replacement for the old but still widely used translation by Elizabeth Haldane and G. R. T. Ross ... Unlike the Haldane and Ross edition which was translated from a composite text based on both the French and Latin editions, the present translation is made from the Latin text alone, with significant changes in the French edition indicated in the footnotes. This is clearly much more satisfactory. The translation is generally accurate, and is neither excessively free nor excessively literal ... There is little doubt that this will become the standard translation of Descartes' philosophical writings, and it deserves a warm welcome.' French Studies Basics: Based on the new two volume Cambridge edition of the Philosophical Writings, this anthology of essential texts contains the most important and widely studied of the writings.
Kulturphilosophie
"In this fascinating and highly sensitive work, Albert Schweitzer - one of the most compelling social philosophers of this century - analyzes the human condition and offers his thoughts on its recovery through the collective consciousness of life-affirmation grounded on ethical values."--Page 4 of cover.
The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms: Volume 4
The symbolic form has long been considered by many who knew it in the original German as the greatest of Ernst Cassirer's works. Into it he poured all the resources of his vast learning about language, myth, religion, art, and science- the various creative symbolizing activities and constructions through which man has expressed himself and given intelligible objective form to his experience.
The logic of the humanities
Ernst Cassirer, one of the foremost philosophers of this century, analyzes the basic concepts that underlie our art, our knowledge of history, and our disciplined knowledge of human nature. This philosophy of culture is a key to deeper understanding of the forms of art and aesthetic expression.
Die Philosophie der Aufklärung
The present book aims to be both more and less than a monograph on the philosophy of the Enlightenment. It is much less, for the primary task of such monograph would be to offer the reader a wealth of detail and to trace the genesis and development of all the special problems of this philosophy.
The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Volume 1
“An outstanding contribution to epistemology and to the human power of abstraction.”—F.I.G. Rawlins, Nature The Symbolic Forms has long been considered by many who knew it in the original German as the greatest of Ernst Cassirer's works. Into it, he poured all the resources of his vast learning about language and myth, religion, art, and science—the various creative symbolizing activities and constructions through which mankind has expressed itself and given intelligible objective form to the human experience.