The Study of the Nature, Function and Embodiment of "Number" in Mythological Consciousness based on the Approach of Ernst Cassirer

Abstract

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"Myth" is, in the view of the great Neo-Kantianism philosopher Ernest Cassirer, the most primitive and at the same time the most different human methodological method. According to him, in order to be aware of his existence and his surroundings, man has not started from the rational form of cognition at once, and before that, he has led a long period with elementary knowledge, which is the initial form of human knowledge called "mythical consciousness". is introduced to us. Perceptions and the world formed in this form of consciousness have contents and characteristics that are not easy to understand and accept by today's standards of theoretical knowledge; Therefore, these contents should be studied in the context of mythological system. In mythological consciousness, categories such as "space", "time" and "number", like today's rational consciousness, are introduced to us as "perceptual mediators"; But the nature, function, and embodiment of these intermediaries are in the consciousness of myths quite different from our perception of them today. The main issue in this research is to identify the nature of the "mythical number" and the sources that identify it. To achieve this goal, by carefully studying the works and views of Cassirer, in addition to identifying the nature, position and type of number representation in mythical consciousness, the factors that shape the specific nature of number in this form of consciousness are examined.

Keywords

• ernest cassirer
• mythical awareness
• mythical number
• epistemology
• symbolic form