Syllabus
The goal of these lectures is to offer a basic introduction to Cassirer´s Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Cassirer developed it as a kantian based analysis of culture in relation to basic forms of symbolic worlds we live in.
His analysis differentiates between the expressive function prevalent in the original mythical world, the representative function characteristic of natural language and the significative function, which is dominant in the relational concepts of modern natural sciences. I will try to present these concepts and their history in a clear manner in short lectures which will be followed by us reading selected texts on Cassirer´s Philosophy.
This should help students to understand Cassirer´s thesis that we create world we live in by creating the forms of representations in the flow of history. The topics to be discussed are the following: I.) General Introduction II.) Expressive Perception I.
III) Myth and Perception I. III.) Myth and Perception II IV.) Myth and the Self I.
V.) Myth and the Self II. VI.) The function of Language VII.) Function of Representation I.
VIII.) Function of Representation II. IX.) The Structure of Modern Science I.
X.) The Structure of Modern Science II. XI.) Symbolic Forms and History XII.) Problems of the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms XIII.) Miscellanea