Online research in philosophy

Introduction -- The symbolic form of art -- Kant's theory of the mathematical sublime and the boundlessness of the symbolic form of art -- The classical sublimity of Judaism -- The classical form of art -- The original epic -- The ideal -- The transition to the revealed religion and the romantic form of art -- The revealed religion -- Representational thought and the romantic form of art -- Traces of left-hegelianism in Hegel's lectures on aesthetics -- The end of mythology -- The significance of Kierkegaard's interpretation of Don Giovanni in relation to Hegel's theory of the end of art -- The end of art -- The opera as a modern art form -- Hegel and Lukács's on the possibility of a modern epic -- The problem of a modern epic -- The modern epic and history -- Civil society as the background to the modern epic -- Myth and society : a common theme in the thought of Hegel and Sorel -- Sorel's myth of the general strike -- Myth and modern ethical life.

This article discusses the question whether or not Cassirer’s philosophical critique of technological use of myth in The Myth of the State implies a revision of his earlier conception and theory of myth as provided by The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms . In the first part, Cassirer’s early theory of myth is compared with other approaches of his time. It is claimed that Cassirer’s early approach to myth has to be understood in terms of a transcendental philosophical approach. In consequence, myth is conceived as a form of cultural consciousness which is constituted by specific symbolic processes. In the second part, the theoretical assumptions underlying Cassirer’s criticism of myth are discussed and compared with his earlier theory. It is argued that there is a strong conceptual and theoretical continuity between Cassirer’s early views on myth as a symbolic form and his later critique of technological use of myth.

The article investigates Cassirer’s developing interest in the cultural sciences to display how his Philosophy of Symbolic Forms constitutes a philosophy of culture. The core concept in such a philosophy of culture is the symbolic formation that both possesses a structured-structuring dimension and appears as an historical process in which culture shows itself as a temporal creation. The philosophy of culture displays ‘life in meaning’, that is reality as it exhibits human reality manifested in and through the medium of linguistic, artistic, religious, scientific “and so on” action and behaviour. This reality, therefore, is mediation between culture and nature through human spirit. Cassirer’s philosophy of culture connects back to Kant’s transcendental idealism by emphasizing that any concept of reality establishes itself through a modalization of reality, e.g. that reality constitutes itself in the mode of interpretation. This makes the basis for Cassirer’s characteristic understanding of hermeneutics where cultural development is regarded as drama.

My purpose in this paper is to look at Cassirer’s relation to critical philosophy from a new perspective. Most discussions concerning Cassirer’s Kantianism have so far centered on his relation to neo-Kantianism and the Marburg school. My focus will not be on neo-Kantianism but on Cassirer’s notion of a “critique of culture.” In an often cited paragraph from the introduction to The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms , Cassirer says that his aim is to broaden Kant’s critical approach to all various forms of culture, to language as well as myth and art, and thus to transform the “critique of reason” into the “critique of culture.” I will explore Cassirer’s concept of the “critique of culture” and suggest that it can best be understood by placing it in the context of early twentieth century German philosophy. More precisely, I will aim to show that Cassirer’s critique can be seen as an effort to find a middle path between Lebensphilosophie and the positivism of the Vienna Circle.

Biographical material.--Descriptive and critical essays on the philosophy of Ernst Cassirer.--The philosopher speaks for himself.--Bibliography of the writings of Ernst Cassirer.

L'article traduit ici parut dans le Contemporary Jewish Record, Review of events and digest of opinion, 7 (Juin 1944), pages 115 à 126. Cette revue, l'une des nombreuses publications de l'American Jewish Committee, vit le jour peu avant la guerre, en septembre 1938, et finit avec elle en juin 1945, ne trouvant plus sa raison d'être, à savoir dénoncer les crimes allemands et travailler à la paix. Figurent aussi dans ce volume sept un article de Hannah Arendt : « Concerning Minorities » et la traduction de la communication de Renan à la Société des Études Juives, le 26 mai 1883 : « Judaïsme et Christianisme ». Sur les thèmes évoqués, on se référera aux textes suivants : — « Judaism and the Modem political Myths », Symbol, Myth and Culture, Yale University Press, 1979, p.233-239. Il s'agit du texte, incomplet, d'une épreuve manuscrite (Cassirer Deposit 162 b), restée inachevée, de l'article traduit ici. — « The Myth of the State », Fortune, vol. 26, n° 6, juin 1944. — « Der mythos als politische Waffe », Die Amerikanische Rundschau, Munich, n° 11. — « Philosophy and Politics », in Symbol, Myth and Culture, Essays and Lectures of E. Cassirer, ed. by D.P. Varene, Yale University Press, 1979. Traduction française : « Philosophie et politique », in E. Cassirer, L'idée de l'Histoire, les inédits de Yale et autres écrits d'exil, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1989. — « The Technique of our Modem Political Myths », in Symbol, Myth and Culture, Essays and Lectures of E. Cassirer, ed. by D.P. Varene, Yale University Press, 1979. — The Myth of the State, Yale University Press, 1946. — T. Cassirer, Aus meinem Leben mit Ernst Cassirer, New York, Prìvately issued, 1950, notamment p. 291-296.