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Ernst Cassirer

1874–1945

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

Humans are symbol-making animals: we never meet reality raw but always through myth, language, art and science.

Placement

Science & Human Sciences · Eastern Europe · Epistemology, Language, Science, Society & History

Neo-Kantian of the Marburg School: the human being is an “animal symbolicum” who builds a world in myth, language, art and science.

Key ideas

  • Symbolic forms
  • Animal symbolicum
  • Philosophy of culture

Teachers: Hermann Cohen, Paul Natorp

Students: Hans Reichenbach

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Influence

Influenced by 8

  • Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

    influenced by

    Cassirer’s first book reconstructed Leibniz’s system from its mathematical and scientific foundations (Leibniz’ System in seinen wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen, 1902); he also edited Leibniz’s main writings (1904–06). E. Cassirer, Leibniz’ System in seinen wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen (1902); G. W. Leibniz, Hauptschriften zur Grundlegung der Philosophie, ed. E. Cassirer (1904–06); SEP “Ernst Cassirer”

    Evidence: AI draft

    Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz › 1646–1716

  • Immanuel Kant

    influenced by

    Cassirer, trained in Marburg Neo-Kantianism, widened Kant’s critique of reason into a critique of culture covering myth, language and science (Philosophie der symbolischen Formen, 1923–29). E. Cassirer, Philosophie der symbolischen Formen I–III (1923–29); Substanzbegriff und Funktionsbegriff (1910); Kants Leben und Lehre (1918); SEP “Ernst Cassirer”

    Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO

    Immanuel Kant › 1724–1804

  • Johann Gottfried Herder

    influenced by

    Cassirer read Herder’s theory of the origin of language from reflection (Besonnenheit) as a forerunner of his philosophy of symbolic forms (Philosophie der symbolischen Formen I, 1923). E. Cassirer, Philosophie der symbolischen Formen I: Die Sprache (1923); Die Philosophie der Aufklärung (1932); J. G. Herder, Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache (1772); SEP “Ernst Cassirer”

    Evidence: AI draft

    Johann Gottfried Herder › 1744–1803

  • Hermann Cohen studied with

    studied with

    Having learnt of Cohen’s writings from Simmel, Cassirer studied with Cohen at Marburg from 1896 to 1899 and took his doctorate there with a dissertation on Descartes’ analysis of mathematical and scientific knowledge. SEP “Ernst Cassirer”

    Evidence: AI draft

    Hermann Cohen › 1842–1918

  • Jakob von Uexküll

    influenced by

    Cassirer adopted Uexküll’s functional circle of receptor and effector systems and added a ‘symbolic system’ to define the human being as animal symbolicum (An Essay on Man, 1944). E. Cassirer, An Essay on Man (1944); J. von Uexküll, Theoretische Biologie (1920); SEP “Ernst Cassirer”

    Evidence: AI draft

    Jakob von Uexküll › 1864–1944

  • Albert Einstein

    influenced by

    Cassirer interpreted Einstein’s relativity as confirming the critical idea that physical objectivity rests on invariant relations, not substances; Einstein read the manuscript (Zur Einsteinschen Relativitätstheorie, 1921). E. Cassirer, Zur Einsteinschen Relativitätstheorie. Erkenntnistheoretische Betrachtungen (1921); T. Ryckman, The Reign of Relativity (2005); SEP “Ernst Cassirer”

    Evidence: AI draft

    Albert Einstein › 1879–1955

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  • Paul Natorp studied with

    studied with

    Cassirer studied at Marburg from 1896 under Cohen and Natorp and took his doctorate there in 1899. J. M. Krois, Kurzbiographie Cassirer (Universität Hamburg, digitalisate.sub.uni-hamburg.de); Mathematics Genealogy Project lists Cohen and Natorp as advisors

    Evidence: AI draft

    Paul Natorp › 1854–1924

  • Aby Warburg

    influenced by

    Cassirer worked from 1920 in Warburg’s library, published studies on myth in its series (Die Begriffsform im mythischen Denken, 1922) and dedicated Individuum und Kosmos (1927) to Warburg. E. Cassirer, Die Begriffsform im mythischen Denken (Studien der Bibliothek Warburg 1, 1922); Sprache und Mythos (1925); Individuum und Kosmos in der Philosophie der Renaissance (1927); SEP “Ernst Cassirer”

    Evidence: AI draft

    Aby Warburg › 1866–1929

Influenced 2

  • Hans Reichenbach taught

    taught

    Reichenbach studied physics, philosophy and mathematics in Berlin, Munich and Göttingen with, among others, Cassirer, Planck, Sommerfeld and Hilbert; his doctorate (Erlangen, 1915) was accepted by Paul Hensel, not Cassirer. Course attendance, not supervision. SEP “Hans Reichenbach”

    Evidence: AI draft

    Hans Reichenbach › 1891–1953

  • Susanne K. Langer

    influenced

    Langer took from Cassirer’s Philosophy of Symbolic Forms the idea of humans as symbol-making animals (Philosophy in a New Key, 1942) and translated his Language and Myth (1946). S. K. Langer, Philosophy in a New Key (1942); E. Cassirer, Language and Myth, tr. S. K. Langer (1946)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Susanne K. Langer › 1895–1985

Criticism

Mutual critique 1

  • Martin Heidegger ⇄ mutual

    criticised

    At Davos (1929) and in a review of Heidegger’s Kant book (1931) Cassirer objected that Heidegger reduced Kant’s reason to finite imagination, neglecting objective and ethical validity. E. Cassirer, ‘Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik’, Kant-Studien 36 (1931); P. E. Gordon, Continental Divide: Heidegger, Cassirer, Davos, 2010

    Evidence: AI draft

    criticised by

    At Davos (1929) Heidegger rejected Cassirer’s neo-Kantian reading of Kant as a theory of knowledge and culture, stressing human finitude (Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik, 1929). Davoser Disputation (1929), appendix to M. Heidegger, Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik (4th ed. 1973); Heidegger, review of Cassirer, Philosophie der symbolischen Formen II, Deutsche Literaturzeitung (1928); SEP “Ernst Cassirer”

    Evidence: AI draft

    Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976

Criticizes 1

  • Arthur de Gobineau

    criticised

    Cassirer traced in Gobineau’s racial theory a modern political myth that replaced ethics and history with the worship of race (The Myth of the State, 1946, ch. 16). E. Cassirer, The Myth of the State (1946), ch. 16 ‘From Hero Worship to Race Worship’

    Evidence: AI draft

    Arthur de Gobineau › 1816–1882

Works

  • 1923The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms

    Language, myth and science as forms in which the mind builds its world – Kant’s critique extended to culture.

  • 1944An Essay on Man

    The human being as “animal symbolicum” – a summary of the philosophy of culture written in exile.

Position

Cassirer began as a Neo-Kantian historian of science, showing how modern physics replaced the idea of substance with relations and functions. He then widened Kant’s question: we do not only know the world through science but shape it in many “symbolic forms” – myth, language, art, religion and science each build a world of meaning in their own way. The human being is therefore best defined not as a rational animal but as an “animal symbolicum.” In the famous Davos debate of 1929 he defended this humanism of culture against Heidegger. In exile he turned to the political myths of his time, above all the myth of the state.

Life & context

Cassirer was born in 1874 in Breslau into a wealthy Jewish merchant family and studied with Hermann Cohen in Marburg. After years as a lecturer in Berlin he became professor at the new University of Hamburg in 1919 and later its rector. In 1933 he left Germany, teaching in Oxford, Gothenburg and finally Yale and Columbia. He died in New York in 1945.

Further main works

  • Substance and Function (1910)
  • The Myth of the State (1946)

Appears in

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata

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