Arno Schubbach – författare

Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of culture has been much discussed in recent years. However, it remains unclear how it evolved from his older theory of knowledge. This study deals with this question on the basis of Cassirer’s ‘disposition’ of a ‘philosophy of the symbolic’, reconstructed here for the first time. This text shows that the ‘symbolic’ refers to culture as a whole and to its inherent diversity. Therefore, ‘the symbolic’ includes the relationship between the general transcendental conditions of culture and its empirical specificities in language and languages, art and the arts, myth and myths, science and disciplines. Cassirer does not comprehend this empirical and specific reality of symbolization depending on pre-existing transcendental conditions. Instead, he proceeds from the empirical diversity of the symbolisations and reflects on their simultaneously general and specific conditions. Thus, Cassirer embarks on a path that he finds paved in Kant’s "Critique of Judgement": He consequently defines ‘the symbolic’ as the horizon for a reflective approach based on empirical findings – and not as the foundation of a systematic derivation of the diversity of culture in the style of the idealistic tradition.

Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of culture has been much discussed in recent years. However, it remains unclear how it evolved from his older theory of knowledge. This study deals with this question on the basis of Cassirer’s ‘disposition’ of a ‘philosophy of the symbolic’, reconstructed here for the first time. This text shows that the ‘symbolic’ refers to culture as a whole and to its inherent diversity.

Therefore, ‘the symbolic’ includes the relationship between the general transcendental conditions of culture and its empirical specificities in language and languages, art and the arts, myth and myths, science and disciplines. Cassirer does not comprehend this empirical and specific reality of symbolization depending on pre-existing transcendental conditions. Instead, he proceeds from the empirical diversity of the symbolisations and reflects on their simultaneously general and specific conditions.

Thus, Cassirer embarks on a path that he finds paved in Kant’s "Critique of Judgement": He consequently defines ‘the symbolic’ as the horizon for a reflective approach based on empirical findings – and not as the foundation of a systematic derivation of the diversity of culture in the style of the idealistic tradition.

Ernst Cassirers Kulturphilosophie wurde in den letzten Jahren viel diskutiert, die philosophische Relevanz des in seinen Texten ausgebreiteten kulturhistorischen Materials wurde dagegen selten befragt. Die Studie behandelt diese Frage anhand von Cassirers hier erstmals rekonstruierter ''Disposition'' einer ''Philosophie des Symbolischen'' von 1917. Den Begriff des ›Symbolischen‹ führt Cassirer zunächst ein, um sich auf die Kultur insgesamt wie auf ihre inhärente Vielfalt zu beziehen. Er nimmt damit aber zugleich eine innovative Bestimmung des Verhältnisses zwischen den allgemeinen Bedingungen der Kultur und ihren empirischen Besonderungen in Sprache und Sprachen, Kunst und Künsten, Mythos und Mythen, Erkenntnis und Disziplinen vor.Cassirer begreift die empirische und je spezifische Wirklichkeit der Symbolisierungen nicht in Abhängigkeit von vorgeordneten, allgemeinen Bedingungen des Symbolischen. Stattdessen geht er von der empirischen Vielfalt der Symbolisierungen aus und reflektiert auf ihre zugleich allgemeinen und spezifischen Bedingungen. Wie ''Die Genese des Symbolischen'' zeigt, schlägt Cassirer damit einen Weg ein, den er in der ''Ersten Einleitung'' der Kritik der Urteilskraft durch Kant selbst vorgezeichnet sieht: Er bestimmt den Begriff des Symbolischen konsequent als Horizont für ein reflektierendes Vorgehen – und nicht als Grundbegriff für eine systematische Ableitung der Vielfalt der Kultur im Stile der idealistischen Tradition.

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the category of the -sublime became a central concept of the fledgling field of aesthetics. Originally located at the margins of discourses on rhetoric, it became a source of fascination in literary and artistic production, but quickly proved to be a complicated matter, especially for the visual arts. Artists and philosophers contended with the question of whether the sublime can be depicted at all or whether the events that can cause viewers to experience the sublime can be adequately represented in painting. The contributions of this special issue suggest, however, that the contested visual representability of the sublime might have spurred visual artists to devise innovative, experimental solutions in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.