Der Band »Cassirer in Contexts« ist Bestandteil des wiederauflebenden Interesses an den philosophischen Errungenschaften Ernst Cassirers. Die hier versammelten Aufsätze wurden von Forscherinnen und Forschern aus verschiedenen akademischen Disziplinen verfasst, was sich in der Reichhaltigkeit der behandelten Themen widerspiegelt. Der Sammelband enthält Zusammenfassungen und kritische Diskussionen mehrerer für Cassirers Philosophie wichtiger Konzepte – etwa die Bedeutung des Symbolischen oder des Mythos – sowie Erörterungen hinsichtlich des Einflusses von Cassirers Denken auf die Entwicklung bestimmter philosophischer Teildisziplinen, besonders der Sprachphilosophie und Philosophie der Mathematik. Des Weiteren dient der Band als Beleg für die Aktualität von Cassirers Denken, als Beweis dafür, dass dieses nach wie vor eine Quelle theoretischer und philosophischer Inspiration ist und sein Erklärungspotenzial in einer Vielzahl von Kontexten genutzt werden kann

This is the first English-language intellectual biography of the German-Jewish philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945), a leading figure on the Weimar intellectual scene and one of the last and finest representatives of the liberal-idealist tradition. Edward Skidelsky traces the development of Cassirer's thought in its historical and intellectual setting. He presents Cassirer, the author of The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, as a defender of the liberal ideal of culture in an increasingly fragmented world, and as someone who grappled with the opposing forces of scientific positivism and romantic vitalism. Cassirer's work can be seen, Skidelsky argues, as offering a potential resolution to the ongoing conflict between the "two cultures" of science and the humanities--and between the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy. The first comprehensive study of Cassirer in English in two decades, this book will be of great interest to analytic and continental philosophers, intellectual historians, political and cultural theorists, and historians of twentieth-century Germany.

Without recourse to mythology or hyperbole, Gordon demonstrates that the historical and philosophical ramifications of Davos '29 are even more profound than previously understood. The publication of Continental Divide signals a major event in the fields of modern history and Continental philosophy.---John P. McCormick, University of Chicago --

In 1933 eminent philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945) fled Nazi Germany for the United States. His fame in Europe having already been established through a public debate with Martin Heidegger in 1929, Cassirer would go on to become a noteworthy influence on American culture. His most important early writings focused on the symbol and symbolic interaction, exploring how human cultures—from early myth-based ones to our own modern, scientifically oriented time—have used symbols to mediate the basic forms of experience. Following this work, Cassirer extended his insights to encompass a broad spectrum of philosophical themes: from investigations into Western epistemological and scientific traditions to aesthetics and the philosophy of history to anthropology and political philosophy. Reflecting this diversity in Cassirer’s own work, The Symbolic Construction of Reality collects eleven essays by a wide range of contributors from different fields. Each essay analyzes a different aspect of his legacy, reassessing its significance for our contemporary world and bringing much-needed attention to this seminal thinker.

This rich collection of essays addresses all the key aspects of Cassirer's multi-faceted philosophical thought.

Cassirer's conception of culture & theory of symbolism anticipated much of later cultural theory. The essays in this volume explore aspects of his thinking & demonstrate the influence that it had on later scholarship.

Recovering a lost world of the politics of science in Imperial Germany, Gregory B. Moynahan approaches the life and work of the philosopher and historian Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945) from a revisionist perspective, using this framework to redefine the origins of twentieth-century critical historicism and critical theory. The only text in English to focus on the first half of the polymath Cassirer’s career and his role in the Marburg School, this volume illuminates one of the most important – and in English, least-studied – reform movements in Imperial Germany.