Cassirer Studies

The journal «Cassirer Studies» is glad to have joined the Internationale Ernst Cassirer-Gesellschaft (IECG).
We would like to thank Christian Möckel and Birgit Recki for their support!

On 7 and 8 November, 2011, the University of Naples “L’Orientale” will host a conference on Ernst Cassirer. Participants will include Fabien Capeillères (Université de Caen), Steve G. Lofts (King’s University College at The University of Western Ontario) and Stephen Watson (University of Notre Dame, Indiana). The seminar will address boundary questions concerning the philosophy of symbolic forms and the artistic theories of the nineteenth century, from a historical-philosophical as well as aesthetical and theoretical perspective. The keyword “Kunstkritik” – in its meaningfulness and problematic translation as “art criticism” or “critique of art”, in its philosophical matrix –  may provide a thread for our reflection.

Born of an idea of John Michael Krois, the third volume of Cassirer Studies offers a thorough discussion of Cassirer’s “originary phenomena”, starting from the most famous of Cassirer’s posthumous works: On Basis Phenomena. Each contribution paves the way for a multifaceted Auseinandersetzung between the philosophy of symbolic forms and the contemporary philosophies of the origin and the fundament.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FABIEN CAPEILLÈRES, On John Michael Krois as a portraitist p. 11
DONALD PHILLIP VERENE, In Memoriam John Michael Krois p. 21

ARTICLES p. 23

THORA ILIN BAYER, The problem of (Self)Knowledge: Kultur
and Werk p. 25
STEVE G. LOFTS, The Symbolic Auseinandersetzung of the
Urphänomene of the Expression of life p. 41
CHRISTIAN MÖCKEL, Cassirers “Basisphänomene” – eine Synthese
von Goethes “Urphänomenen” und Carnaps “Basis” der
Konstitutionssysteme? p. 67
DETLEV PÄTZOLD, Ernst Cassirers Grundlegung der Kultur:
Vom Apriorismus zu den Basisphänomenen p. 89
GIULIO RAIO, Transitional Phenomena. From Ausdrucksphänomen
to Urphänomen p. 109
DONALD PHILLIP VERENE, Cassirer’s Dasein p. 129

ABSTRACTS p. 147

T.I. BAYER, The Problem of (Self)Knowledge: Kultur and Werk

In his theory of the basis phenomena in the fourth volume of the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Cassirer connects the third basis phenomenon – that of the work – to the ancient Socratic problem of self-knowledge. The self acquires knowledge of its own nature by apprehending the various symbolic forms of culture, which are made by the self. The self does not have a substantial nature apart from what it produces as human culture. The self knows itself through its distinctive cultural activity. It is, in fact, this activity itself. The meaning of this activity is to be found in the phenomenon of the work, which is the basis of culture. All forms of knowledge are the products of man as animal symbolicum. Thus all forms of knowledge are in fact forms of self-knowledge. Cassirer’s philosophy of self-knowledge is not achieved in a metaphysical system in which all symbolic forms are absorbed into a single logical order. Cassirer replaces the idea of philosophical system with that of “systematic overview”. This approach allows the self access to its own activity in terms of how symbols function in any given context without reducing the uniqueness of the various contexts to something more universal.

Key-words: basis phenomena – self-knowledge – systematic overview – Werk

S.G. LOFTS, The Symbolic Auseinandersetzung of the Urphänomene of the Expression of Life

This paper explores Cassirer’s theory of the Urphänomene as a theory of the symbolic expression of life and as an extension and development of his philosophy of symbolic forms in response to the contemporary movement of Lebensphilosophie in general and Heidegger in particular. The paper argues that the theory of the Urphänomene is connected to “the great process of Auseinandersetzung” that is undertaken by the symbolic forms. In part one, the philosophical issues at stake in this debate between Cassirer and Heidegger are set out in reference to the historical context of Cassirer’s engagement with Lebensphilosophie. In part two, we consider the meaning and function of Auseinandersetzung within Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms. Finally, we turn to an examination of how this Auseinandersetzung is grounded by Cassirer’s later theory of the Urphänomene.

Key-words: Heidegger – originary phenomena – Auseinandersetzung – Urphänomen – Lebensphilosophie

CH. MÖCKEL, Cassirers “Basisphänomene” – eine Synthese von Goethes “Urphänomenen” und Carnaps “Basis” der Konstitutionssysteme?

This paper examines to what extent Ernst Cassirer, in choosing the fundamental term “basis phenomena” – which is of crucial importance to a metaphysical theory able to serve as a foundation for his philosophy of symbolic forms –, is influenced by Goethe’s “primary phenomena” of artistic life-activity and Carnap’s “bases of constitutional systems” for the concepts of empirical sciences, that is, to what extent Cassirer unites both inspirations in his newly coined term. Proofs for both influences considered are presented, sourced from Goethe’s and Carnap’s writings as well as from Cassirer’s. Any doubt about the close relationship of the terms “basis phenomena” and Goethe’s “primary phenomena” is removed, and the connection with Carnap’s concept of different “bases of constitutional systems” is shown to be at least highly probable.

Key-words: expression – Basisphänomen – life – intellect – perception

D. PÄTZOLD, Ernst Cassirers Grundlegung der Kultur: Vom Apriorismus zu den Basiphänomenen

Cassirer’s revised version of Kantian apriori forms that we find in his Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, does not seem to be the last stage in his search for principles underlying all the various kinds of cultural forms. In the decade following, the Kantian epistemological terminology, as well as Cassirer’s own symbolic philosophy of culture, is replaced in the new theory of basic phenomena, by a Goethean approach. In this article we deal with the question of what kind of alternative the foundation of culture in basic phenomena is supposed to be, whether it is an “alternative” to his earlier symbolic philosophy at all. In this context we also take a closer look to Cassirer’s criticism of Husserl’s phenomenology as a monadic epistemology.

Key-words: apriori forms – phenomenology – basic phenomena

G. RAIO, Transitional phenomena. From the Ausdrucksphänomen to Urphänomen

The theory of the expressive phenomenon, formulated in the Phenomenology of Knowledge (1929), is marked by a fundamental unconceptuality; at the basis of the perception of the other it posits the fluidity of the mythical world, or of its correlate. This unconceptuality is destined to a metaphysical or metaphorical outcome. The theory of the perception of expression, formulated in the Logic of the Cultural Sciences (1942), resolves the pregnancy of expression in the fundamental structure of the symbolic world. That the theory of the originary phenomena, I, Thou and Es, formulated in the posthumous work On Basis Phenomena (1940), represents the missing link in the transition from expression to perception of expression, in the translation of the expressive character from the I-Thou relation to the relation with the Es, is possible on the basis of the theory of the work and first of all of the work of art.

Key-words: expression – perception – visibility – work of art

D.PH. VERENE, Cassirer’s Dasein

In his review of Cassirer’s second volume of Philosophie der symbolischen Formen, Heidegger questions whether the account of mythical thought it contains is adequate for an understanding of Dasein. Heidegger’s doubts are based on his claim in Sein und Zeit that a proper phenomenology of Dasein cannot be derived from an examination of the results of the ethnological and cultural sciences. Cassirer later grounds his account of myth as a symbolic form in his analysis of the Ausdrucksphänomen but it is doubtful that Heidegger would have found this adequate. Cassirer is intent on upholding his doctrine of Dasein as objective. In the fourth volume of Philosophie der symbolischen Formen, done from Cassirer’s Nachlass, Cassirer criticizes Heidegger’s Dasein as established by a subjective phenomenology derived from a philosophy that is religious in form. Cassirer holds that Heidegger’s philosophy is not only wrongheaded, it is politically dangerous, for it offers no basis for human freedom that is necessary for moral judgment.

Key-words: Ausdrucksphänomen – Basisphänomene – Dasein – Heidegger – Lebensphilosophie

We are happy to inform you that the second issue of Cassirer Studies has just come out with the title “Theory of Figuration”.
Each contribution brings a new perspective to bear on the studies concerning Cassirer’s three functions Ausdruck, Darstellung, Bedeutung, which still stands as a boundary topic between the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms and the theories of representation in general, as they all tend towards a “theory of figuration” as such.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NACHLAß

FABIEN CAPEILLÈRES, “K” for “Kunst”. Cassirer’s pages on Art for PdsF IV. With a note on Francis Bacon

ARTICLES

WERNER HOFMANN, Meine Wege zu Cassirer. Eine Skizze
ANGÈLE KREMER MARIETTI, La philosophie comme science du symbolique
STEVE G. LOFTS, “Who are we?”. Toward an Ontology of Sense
CARMEN METTA, A cassirerian-kleean casuistry of occurrences of “Form” and “Figure”

 ABSTRACTS

F. Capeillères, “K” for “Kunst”. Cassirer’s pages on Art for PdsF IV. With a note on Francis Bacon

Through a reexamination of Cassirer’s manuscript on art, the author strives to develop the principles of a cassirerian aesthetics and exegesis of the works of art. The paper first addresses the transcendental mode of constitution of the work of art, art as a genuine process of objectivization. Then Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for a Crucifixion is submitted to an exegesis following these cassirerian principles. This example was chosen for the unarguable distance it bears with the usual cassierian examples, chosen within the realm of the Weimarer Klassik. It hence shows the validity and fertility of Cassirer’s aesthetics.

Key-words: Wölfflin – Panofsky – Bacon – art as symbolic form

W. Hofmann, Meine Wege zu Cassirer. Eine Skizze

The inclusion of mimesis in the cassirerian model of the three dimensions of figuration allows the author to dwell upon the symbolic nature of the work of art, in which form and “thingness” are superimposed as in a palimpsest, determining factual reality’s character as a “potential readymade”, which Lévi-Strauss defines as a “potential totem” of Gegenformen, and which the art of caricature, Gegenkunst par excellence, describes as the realm of double-sided figures, polymorphous, capable of changing into something else when the perception of expression, prevailing over the perception of things, determines the harmony of opposites that informs the world of meanings in which we live.

Key-words: potential totem – Selbstwiderspruch – Ausdruckswahrnehmung

A. Kremer Marietti, La philosophie comme science du symbolique

Proposing philosophy as the science of the symbolic, the author addresses the problem of how judgment can lean toward symbolism and/or schematism. The symbolic thought informing cognition may imply the enigma of the arrangement of logical signs, as identified by Husserl in his essays on semiotics. Improper representations may accompany concepts and may be used instead of concepts, because the représentations de substitution generate higher concepts, without allowing their content to be intuited. Through a word such as “transcendentality”, taken as symbol, what is to be seen is also a symbol of a law. Even if it places us at the core of the philosophical fiction, this word and its atemporal meaning can exert its power over our lives, since it belongs to the Symbolic.

Key-words: esthetical ideas or force of knowledge – rational ideas or power to know – transcendentality

Steve G. Lofts, “Who are we”?. Toward an Ontology of Sense

The primary purpose of this paper is to clarify the cassirerian project of symbolic forms as a theory of Gestaltung through an analysis of the three functions, Urphänomen des Ausdrucks, Darstellungsfunktion, reine Bedeutung in which the different modes of symbolic Gestaltung are to be situated. To this end, Cassirer’s concept of Gestalt and Gestaltung, following Cassirer’s own lead, is understood as a form of Structuralism avant la lettre. Our analysis is situated in the debate at the beginning of the twentieth century between Lebensphilosophie and transcendental philosophy around two competing notions of experience: Erlebnis and Erfahrung.

Key-words: Structuralism – Erlebnis – Erfahrung

C. Metta, A cassirerian-kleean casuistry of occurrences of “Form” and “Figure”

The distinction between the terms Form and Gestalt and that between Vorstellung and Darstellung, as they are functions of representation, refers to the difficulty in representing the continuum in its differential relation to the points it is composed of. The reference to infinitesimal calculus and the possibility to render time oscillation by means of spatial figuration accounts for the role of art in the configuration of reality, while the occurrences of the terms Form and Figur, and those of Vorstellung and Darstellung in Ernst Cassirer’s and Paul Klee’s thought account for their complementarity.

Key-words: Form – Gestalt – Figur

We would like to remember John Michael Krois
for his unremitting work as a scholar in the Cassirer studies,
for having put historiographical research at the service of philosophical research,
and having shared his generous and most valuable ideas with us.

The first number of Cassirer Studies sketches a picture of the present relation between the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms and Iconology, by examining new texts and posthumous materials which come on top of the classical literature concerning the Cassirer-Warburg dialogue.
The consolidated and historicized cultural image of their relationship, emblematically reflected by the “structure” of the Bibliothek Warburg, is awakened by this unprecedented topography, which accounts for their strenuous effort to construct a common line of thought: the mythical/symbolical thought, between the permanence of myth (Cassirer) and the survival of primitive paganism (Warburg); the conception of the “work”, layered on different structural niveaux; the interpretation of Giordano Bruno.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DONALD PHILLIP VERENE, Foreword

NACHLAß

ABY WARBURG, Giordano Bruno, ed. by Maurizio Ghelardi
and Giovanna Targia
ABY WARBURG-ERNST CASSIRER: Correspondence, ed. by
Maurizio Ghelardi

ARTICLES

FABIEN CAPEILLÈRES, Art, estétique et Geistesgeschichte.
À propos des relations entre Warburg, Cassirer et Panofsky
JOHN MICHAEL KROIS, Cassirer’s “Symbolic Values” and Philosophical
Iconology
ANDREA PINOTTI, Symbolic form and symbolic formula: Cassirer
and Warburg on morphology (between Goethe and Vischer)
ENNO RUDOLPH, Bild und Symbol

SEMINAR

Warburg, Cassirer and Giordano Bruno “thinker through images”.
Papers by LORENZO BIANCHI, MAURIZIO GHELARDI, RICCARDO
NALDI-FABIO SPERANZA, JEAN SEIDENGART