scholarly journals Reflections on social and religious pluralism based on the philosophy of Ernst Cassirer

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 338-358
Author(s):  
Drazen Volk
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Central Section ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms

The analysis of possibilities of dialogue as the prerequisite for social and religious pluralism based on Ernst Cassirer?s philosophy of symbolic forms is the main theme of this article. In the central section, the basic elements of the philosophy of symbolic forms are briefly introduced and are followed by a portrayal of the relationship between consciousness, symbolic forms and freedom. The essay then focuses on Cassirer?s general premises for his analysis of myth and also his description of the techniques of modern political myths. These elements of Cassirer?s philosophy are put forth so as to demonstrate the relevancy of his thought with regard to the issue of dialogue and pluralism, and also to indicate the applicability of his analysis concerning the presence of mythical consciousness in modern societies, including also the societies on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The conclusion endeavors to gather the wealth of Cassirer?s analyses and to apply these in a condensed manner to an analysis of the situation in the regions indicated and also to point out directions to be taken in the search for possible solutions.

Kulturphilosophie in Weimar Modernism

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Michael Krois
Keyword(s):  
Conservative Approach ◽  
Georg Simmel ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
Philosophy Of Culture ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
Scientific Phenomena ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms

The Weimar Republic was one of the most fertile epochs in German philosophy, and its effects are still being felt today. The call for “new thinking” was shared by otherwise disparate approaches. The phenomenologists sought to find the “beginnings” of knowing in pre-scientific phenomena, while thinkers at the forefront of what would later be known as analytic philosophy found a new approach to philosophy in the analysis of language. A third approach took its starting point from the fact of culture and sought to find a new orientation for philosophy in the study of the historical world. This movement, known as “Kulturphilosophie” (the philosophy of culture), was often regarded as a more conservative approach to philosophy. This chapter highlights the characteristics of Kulturphilosophie. The discipline was pioneered by the sociologist Georg Simmel and perfected by the philosopher Ernst Cassirer especially in his monumental, three-volume masterpiece, The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms.

scholarly journals Od substancji do funkcji. Ernst Cassirer i pojęcie idealizacji

1970 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 11-32
Author(s):  
Giacomo Borbone
Keyword(s):  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Scientific Concepts ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
Conceptual Apparatus ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Explicit Analysis ◽  
The Difference ◽  
First Time ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms

The German philosopher Ernst Cassirer is well known for his masterful historical works on modern philosophy and also for his philosophy of symbolic forms, but there is an aspect that has been disregarded by those scholars who dedicated several books and essays to Cassirer’s thought, I mean the difference between abstraction and idealization. The philosopher who, for the first time, developed systematically this topic in the field of epistemology was the Polish philosopher Leszek Nowak, but nonetheless, there are philosophical and epistemological works where we can find a very clear analysis of the difference existing between abstraction and idealization and, in this respect, the works of the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer are quite emblematic. It is very difficult to find in the literature on Cassirer some explicit analysis on this topic, so in this essay I will try, through Nowak’s conceptual apparatus, to explain the formation of scientific concepts in Cassirer’s view (especially by taking into account Cassirer’s critique of abstraction).

scholarly journals The Mythical Foundation of Money and its Early Moments of Abstraction. Connections Between Georg Simmel and Ernst Cassirer

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-98
Author(s):  
Timo Klattenhoff
Keyword(s):  
Abstract Thinking ◽  
Georg Simmel ◽  
Symbolic Form ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms

Are there similarities between Georg Simmel's concept of money in its early stages and Ernst Cassirer's works on myth as a symbolic form? To answer this question, this paper discusses parts of Simmel's “Philosophy of Money” and Cassirer's “Philosophy of Symbolic Forms”: By showing how primeval use of objects which carry monetary characteristics can be parallelized with ways of mythic world interpretation, similarities between Simmel's and Cassirer's arguments can be highlighted. It is not only the mind, which gains the ability of abstract thinking their examples and concepts point to, but also an idea of culture, which reflects this development.

Ernst Bloch und Ernst Cassirer

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-112
Author(s):  
Ernst Wolfgang Orth
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Ernst Bloch ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
Systematic Comparison ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
Philosophy Of Culture ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms

Ernst Cassirer and Ernst Bloch are considered from the standpoint of the philosophy of culture as the object of comparative study. Instead of considering possible mutual correlative influences, their work is considered with regard to a possible systematic comparison. Bloch's Materialism, like Cassirer's Philosophy of symbolic Forms, can be read as a kind of philosophy of media, if we take »medium« to mean the dimension in which meaning is generated. Against this background Cassirer and Bloch make use of different means to thematize the mediality of culture.

scholarly journals Ist Kreativität ein subjektives oder ein kollektives Phänomen? Über eine ungeklärte Frage in der Non-representational Theory und eine denkbare Antwort der Philosophie der symbolischen Formen

2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-155
Author(s):  
P. Dirksmeier
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
Interaction Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms

Abstract. The micro-macro-problem of the social sciences is also present in human geographies' discussions of creativity. Creativity could be conceptualized either as a capability of subjects or as emerging from interaction processes. A direct consequence of this theoretical indecision is an inconsistent notion of creativity in Nigel Thrifts' nonrepresentational theory (NRT) that is originally developed to valuate creative praxis. The paper advances a proposal for conceptualizing creativity in NRT by using the philosophy of symbolic forms established by Ernst Cassirer. First, the paper develops a notion of individual creativity that is implied in Cassirers' work on symbolic pregnance and symbolic forms and via Bourdieus' interpretation of Cassirer also in the French sociologists' theory of incorporation. Second, the paper shows two possibilities to include the outlined notion of individual creativity in NRT. Creativity could be linked with NRT by modifying Bourdieus' concept of incorporation as used to establish a notion of nonrepresentational praxis. The second possibility of including creativity is a connection of affect and experience, which leads directly to the emergence of novelty.

Zum Begriff der Wissenschaft bei Cassirer

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-196
Author(s):  
Mathias Gutmann
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
Self Development ◽  
The Status ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms

The concept of sciences holds a central place in the early philosophy of Ernst Cassirer and it provides a conceptual framework even for the philosophy of symbolic forms. This paper identifies Cassirer's concept of sciences as a double barrelled reconstructive approach, which allows to understand not only the constitution of actual scientific semantics but at the same time the transformation of the scientific mode of thought. It is shown, that these principles of transformation are indeed the very form of form, referring to which the transformation of a mode of thought is to be considered as a process of self-determination and self-development, a process that can only be understood re-constructively. It is this reconstructive approach of Marburgian Neokantianism which provides a specific culturalist point of view on the status of sciences and their formal, theoretical and experimental modes of world-making.

Morphologie und Humanismus oder: wie man zur Katze wird

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Thomas Reinhardt
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
The World ◽  
Specific Interpretation ◽  
Ontological Turn ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms

Though the relationship between Goethe, Cassirer and Levi-Strauss has been explored extensively, the focus usually lies on questions of genealogy. This article aims for a different course: Building on the notable similarities between Goethe’s discussion of morphology, Levi-Strauss’ structuralistic approach and Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms we will investigate the epistemological similarities between the three authors. They can be found in a specific form of humanism (or anti-humanism) which connects questions on the conditions of the world and its accessibility with the more global question of humankind and its place within the natural world, thus, by virtue of a specific interpretation of the concept of transformation, opening the door for new approaches which have recently been discussed as ontological turn

Rhetoric's ghost at Davos

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-266
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Discenna
Keyword(s):  
Martin Heidegger ◽  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms ◽  
Central Purpose

This essay takes up a discussion concerning the 1929 debate between the philosophers Ernst Cassirer and Martin Heidegger by reading it as an instatiation of an ongoing dilemma within the field of rhetoric. I argue that the Davos meeting may be productively read through the lens of rhetorical theory and that such a reading can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of this event. The essay concludes by making a case for Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms as a normative ground for a rhetorical theory whose central purpose is to construct a decent, cultured, cosmopolitan, critical humanism.

The Genesis of Symbolic Forms: Basis Phenomena in Ernst Cassirer's Works

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 575-584
Author(s):  
Barbara Naumann
Keyword(s):  
Historical Change ◽  
Philosophical Theory ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
Conceptual Thinking ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
Science And Culture ◽  
Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms

The ArgumentMy thesis in this text is that A. Ernst Cassirer outlines a philosophical theory that proves equally sensitive to historical change and to the consistency of conceptual thinking. B. Cassirer relies on the differential logic of an internally ruptured, and yet undivided “basis phenomenon.” Especially his reading of Goethe has led to the concept of the basis phenomenon existing in a differential symbolic mode. Cassirer's delineation of Goethe's conceptual trivium of Urphänomene — “experience,” “deed,” and “life” — underscores the conceptual rupture in the construction of any basis phenomenon. Furthermore, I argue that C. the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, takes up Goethe's notion of basis phenomena and eventually turns it into a modern, pluralistic theorem about the interrelation of science and culture. Cassirer reaches this aim by (1) focusing on the question of philosophical inquiry as a basis phenomenon in the sense of a basic philosophical activity. I also argue that (2) Cassirer's view retains an essentially ambiguous character, as opposed to a fundamentalist notion of basis phenomena. It is important to see that (3) this ambiguity also informs Cassirer's notion of culture (the plurality of symbolic forms), as well as his delienation of the relation between culture and science.

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