Symbolic Forms and Cultural Studies: Ernst Cassirer’s Theory of Culture

318 Pages·2004·1.277 MB·English

by  Cyrus Hamlin (editor), John Michael Krois (editor)

Symbolic Forms and Cultural Studies
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Edited by
C Y R U S H A M L I N and
J O H N M I C H A E L K R O I S
Symbolic Forms and
Cultural Studies
ERNST CASSIRER’S THEORY OF CULTURE
Yale University Press
New Haven &
London
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Published with assistance from the Ernst Cassirer Publication Fund.
Copyright ∫ 2004 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in
any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S.
Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written
permission from the publishers.
Set in Sabon types by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Symbolic forms and cultural studies : Ernst Cassirer’s theory of culture / edited by
Cyrus Hamlin and John Michael Krois.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-300-10329-8 (alk. paper)
1. Cassirer, Ernst, 1874–1945. 2. Culture—Philosophy—History—20th century.
I. Hamlin, Cyrus. II. Krois, John Michael.
b3216.c34s96 2004
306%.092—dc22 2004041987
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on
Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Preface ix
Introduction xi
Abbreviations of Works by Ernst Cassirer xxix
Part One: Culture as a Philosophical Concept
1. The Variety of Symbolic Worlds and the Unity of Mind
Oswald Schwemmer 3
2. Cassirer’s Concept of a Philosophy of Human Culture
Donald Phillip Verene 19
3. The Modern Concept of Culture as Indicator of a
Metaphysical Problem
Ernst Wolfgang Orth 28
4. Cassirer’s Symbolic Theory of Culture and the Historicization
of Philosophy
Louis Dupré 35
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vi Contents
Part Two: Problems in the Philosophical Interpretation of Culture
5. ‘‘Art’’ and ‘‘Science’’ in The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms
Michael Holquist 49
6. The Subject of Culture
Steve Lofts 61
7. Styles of Change: Ernst Cassirer’s Philosophical Writing
Barbara Naumann 78
Part Three: Comparative Studies
8. Bakhtin and Cassirer: The Philosophical Origins of
Carnival Messianism
Brian Poole 99
9. From Culture to Politics: The ‘‘Aufhebung’’ of Ethics in Ernst Cassirer’s
Political Philosophy in Comparison with the ‘‘Political Theology’’ of
Ernst Kantorowicz
Enno Rudolph 117
10. Speaking of Symbols: Affinities between Cassirer’s and Jung’s
Theories of Language
Paul Bishop 127
11. ‘‘Eine zarte Differenz’’: Cassirer on Goethe on the Symbol
R. H. Stephenson 157
12. Goethe as Model for Cultural Values: Ernst Cassirer’s Essay on
Thomas Mann’s Lotte in Weimar
Cyrus Hamlin 185
Part Four: Cassirer’s Philosophical Outlook
13. The Missing Core of Cassirer’s Philosophy: Homo Faber in Thin Air
Gideon Freudenthal 203
14. The Davos Disputation and Twentieth-Century Philosophy
Michael Friedman 227
15. Why Did Cassirer and Heidegger Not Debate in Davos?
John Michael Krois 244
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Contents vii
Appendix: How the Cassirer Papers Came to Yale
Vincent Giroud 263
List of Contributors 271
Index 274
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Preface
The plan to publish this volume originated at a conference held at Yale
University, 4–6 October 1996, under the title ‘‘Philosophy of Culture and
Symbolic Forms: New Perspectives on Ernst Cassirer.’’ The essays in this book
written by Dupré, Freudenthal, Holquist, Krois, Naumann, Orth, Poole, and
Schwemmer are revised versions of papers selected from that conference. The
other contributions were written subsequently, expressly for this project.
About half are written by philosophers and the other half by literary theorists.
All of them deal with various aspects of Ernst Cassirer’s theory of culture.
The conference from which this volume evolved was sponsored by the De-
partments of German and Philosophy at Yale University, the Ernst Cassirer
Publication Fund of Yale University Press, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manu-
script Library, the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, and the Goethe
Institute Boston. Thanks are due to these institutions for their assistance in
making that event possible. Funding for the publication of this volume was
provided by the Ernst Cassirer Publication Fund, for which the editors are
sincerely grateful.
ix
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