Abstract

Ernst Cassirer’s conception of symbolic forms has the important consequence, which he repeatedly stresses, that “the two factors of ‘inside’ and ‘outside,’ of ‘I’ and ‘reality’ are determined … only in these symbolic forms and through their mediation.” In particular, self-awareness does not reveal a subject as it exists independent of its act of reflection; rather, it articulates an “inner” content under a particular form, just as consciousness constitutes “outer” objects in a sensuous manifold by means of symbols. This situation poses the dilemma that “the essence of the I is that it is a subject, while … every concept must become an object in relation to the actually thinking subject.” Cassirer resolves this difficulty by showing how consciousness forms an “I” in counterposition and correlation with a “not-I.”