Absolute, the: as Hegelian principle, 22; Cassirer’s concept of, 103, 113–14; as form of truth, 155–56.
Action (das Wirkens–Phânomen): as second basis phenomenon, 34, 132; as distinguished from the work, 134–35, 143–44. See also Other; Will
Analogy: use in philosophy, 92
Animals: and subjectivity, 43; relation to human mentality, 47, 73, 103, 116–18, 144; and life, 72; and objectivity, 74–76; and memory, 74–75, 101; and sense of time, 75, 116–17
Aretino, Pietro, 25
Aristotle, 28–29, 169; class logic of, 13; definition of man, 32; concept of praxis, 133
Art: and language as symbolic form, 63–64, 66–67, 83; and myth, 104; philosophy of, 118–19; as related to basis phenomenon of the work, 147
Basis phenomena (Basisphânomene): as unique in Cassirer’s work, 4–5; as related to Uexküll’s biology, 33–34; definition of first, 129–31; definition of second, 131–33; definition of third, 134–40; as related to symbolic forms, 146–48; as related to life and spirit, 149–52. See also Goethe
Bergson, Henri: concept of metaphysics, 90–112; pragmatic concept of spirit, 97; concept of intellect, 100, 107; as philosopher of first basis phenomenon, 173, 174, 176
Blanshard, Brand, 4
Borgia, Cesare, 25
Bruno, Giordano, 173
Bühler, Karl, 147–48; and reconstructive method, 166–67
Campanella, Tommaso, 173
Cassirer, Ernst: details of career, 1–2, 8, 15; Library of Living Philosophers volume on, 2–3; connection of his thought to recent movements, 6–8; amount of his writings, 9; debate with Heidegger, 11, 28, 30
Cassirer, Toni, 1
Criticism (Critique), 153, 155–56, 159; as method of philosophy, 12–13, 81, 94–95
Cultural sciences (Kulturwissen–schaften), 25; Vico as founder of philosophy of, 27
Culture: and philosophy, 21, 27; as a work, 34, 139; and spirit, 45–46, 70, 79; in relation to nature and freedom, 70–71; and self–knowledge, 93
Culture–concepts (Kulturbegriffe): defined, 25–26
Da Vinci, Leonardo, 25
Death, 70–71; Heidegger’s view of, 78, 89; Cassirer’s concept of, 89
Descartes, René, 9, 12, 26; theory of knowledge, 157, 159–62; as philosopher of first basis phenomenon, 173, 176
Dewey, John, 6
Dialectic: contrast between Cassirer’s and Hegel’s, 20–22; as process of doubling up, 48; between life and spirit, 51–56
Dilthey, Wilhelm: and reconstructive method, 165; as philosopher of third basis phenomenon, 181–84; as source for philosophy of symbolic forms, 190–91
Einstein, Albert, 16
Expressive function (Ausdrucks funktion), 149, 154, 155–56; defined, 18–19; and myth, 66; required by philosophy, 92; and metaphysics, 112
Fabre, Jean Henri, 116
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb: as philosopher of second basis phenomenon, 177–78, 180–81
Ficino, Marsilio, 25
Fictionalism, 179
Fiedler, Konrad, 94
Freedom, 85, 89; and culture, 30, 70–71; and process of symbolic formation, 102
Freud, Sigmund, 31
Functional concept: definition of, 13–14
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 26, 27–28, 30, 147; and definition of first basis phenomenon, 129–30, 143, 145, 150; and definition of second basis phenomenon, 131, 132; and definition of third basis phenomenon, 134; and concept of life, 151; theory of knowledge, 157–63; and metaphysics, 170; and self–knowledge, 187
Hagerström, Axel, 30
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 12–13, 169; concept of logic in, 20, 87; influence on Cassirer, 20–22, 23, 24, 27–28; his principle of true as the whole, 20, 108; concept of Phànomenologie des Geistes, 82, 103; and concept of the work, 150–51; as philosopher of third basis phenomenon, 181–82, 184; as source for philosophy of symbolic forms, 190, 191
Hegelianism, 10, 24, 33; and concept of symbol, 16
Heidegger, Martin: and human freedom, 11, 27, 30, 89; view of death, 78, 89; as philosopher of life, 90; religious approach of, 111–12; as philosopher of second basis phenomenon, 177, 179–80
Helmholtz, Hermann von, 10
Hertz, Heinrich, 16–17
History: as symbolic form, 64–65, 66; relation to recollection, 67–68; and myth, 103
Humbolt, Wilhelm von, 50
Husserl, Edmund, 5, 20; and reconstructive method, 165; as philosopher of first basis phenomenon, 173, 176
I, the (das Ich–Phänomen): as first basis phenomenon, 34, 131, 133, 144; and metaphysics of life, 173–77
James, William, 179
Kant, Immanuel, 9, 24, 26, 28; and Neo–Kantianism, 9–11; as source for philosophy of symbolic forms, 17, 18, 21, 23, 190, 192–93; theory of knowledge, 99, 157, 159–62, 188–89; criticism of his genetic view, 105; and metaphysics, 168; as philosopher of third basis phenomenon, 181, 183–84; concept of ethics, 189
Klages, Ludwig, 50–51, 68, 71; view of myth, in, 111, 112
Lange, Friedrich Albert, 10
Langer, Susanne K., 8
Language: Humbolt’s view of, 50; and dialectic of life and spirit, 52; as symbolic form, 57–58, 66, 85; and naming, 61; and art, 63–64, 83; and representation, 66–67; as distinctive to human beings, 74; and image of water, 77; and philosophy, 92; and myth, 103–4; disorders of, 118; as related to basis phenomena, 148
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 10, 12, 130, 169
Liebmann, Otto, 10
Life (Leben): definition of, 41–44; as subjectivity, 43; organological view of, 44; connected to concept of philosophy, 84; relation to first basis phenomenon, 130–31; as related to basis phenomena, 149–50
Life–philosophy (Lebensphilosophie), 90, 123; as metaphysics, 173–77
Lipps, Theodor, 131, 132, 137, 165
Machiavelli, Niccolò, 25
Mann, Thomas, 27–28
Marburg School. See Neo–Kantianism
Memory, 116–17; in relation to animal mentality, 74–75, 101; and basis phenomenon of the work, 138
Metaphor: Cassirer’s use of water as, 76–78, 141
Metaphysics: as problem in Cassirer’s philosophy, 2–5; Cassirer’s manuscripts on, 4, 22–23; and methodological turn, 99; Cassirer’s concept of term, 122–25
Michelangelo, 25
Monad. See I, the
Myth, 115; and politics, 35–37; and dialectic of life and spirit, 51–52; closeness to life, 56–57, 102; and laws of activity, 61–62; as symbolic form, 63, 64, 66, 69, 85–86; and expression, 66; concept of demonic in, 73; and language, 103–4; and art, 104; as related to basis phenomena, 146–47
Natorp, Paul, 10; Cassirer’s criticism of, 90; intellectualistic concept of spirit, 97; and reconstructive method, 165–67
Naturalistic worldview, 90, 91
Nature–concepts (Naturbegriffe): defined, 25
Neo–Kantianism, 3, 9–11, 14, 17
Newton, Isaac, 88
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 6, 31, 50, 71–72; as philosopher of second basis phenomenon, 177, 179–80
Nominalism, 159
Objectivity: defined by human activity, 72–75; connected to the phenomenon of the work, 136–37, 143–44; and theory of knowledge, 184–85
Other, the (das Phänomen des Andern): as second basis phenomenon, 133, 144. See also Action; Will
Parmenides, 169
Peirce, Charles Sanders, 5
Phenomenology: Cassirer’s use of term, 20; of philosophic spirit, 23–24
Philosophy: as one of the Kultur–wissenschaften, 27; ethical duties of, 28–29, 33; and desire for self–knowledge, 32, 122; and political myth, 36–37; not a symbolic form, 80–85; as activity of spirit, 83–84; connected to life, 84; and mythic origins, 102–3; natural desire for, 119–22
Physicalism, 154–55
Plato, 23, 28–29, 131; as philosopher of third basis phenomenon, 138, 181, 187–88; view of politics, 188; as source for philosophy of symbolic forms, 193
Pope, Alexander, 31
Positivism, 27, 95, 105–6, 112
Pragmatism, 179
Reality (Wirklichkeit, Realität): Cassirer’s use of term, 65n.15; as interaction of life and spirit, 65–68; and individual symbolic forms, 83–84, 107; as term used in basis phenomena text, 140n.5, 140–43
Recollection (Erinnerung), 101; relation to history, 67–68
Reconstructive method (rekonstruktive Methode), 164–68
Representational function (Darstellungsfunktion): defined, 18–19; role of art and language in, 67; and language, 116
Rickert, Heinrich, 10
Romanticism, 112, 136, 182, 191; and organological view of life, 44
Rousseau, Jean–Jacques, 26
Scheler, Max, 3
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 174
Schlick, Moritz, 112
Scholasticism, 159
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 50, 71–72, 178, 179
Schweitzer, Albert, 28–29, 33, 37
Self–knowledge, 8, 34, 93; as form of philosophical knowledge, 32, 80, 84, 88, 122; and spirit, 66; and human freedom, 85; and Socrates, 186–87, 193; and Goethe’s maxims, 187; and Vico, 190
Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3d Earl of, 25
Significative function (reine Bedeutungsfunktion): defined, 19; relation to symbolic form of science, 67
Simmel, Georg, 43, 50; concept of metaphysics, 120; on alienation of spirit, 136
Skepticism, 90–91, 153, 155–56, 159
Socrates, 8, 24, 34; nature of philosophy, 157, 162–64; as philosopher of third basis phenomenon, 181, 185–88; and self–knowledge, 193
Solipsism, 154
Southwest (Baden) School. See Neo–Kantianism
Spencer, Herbert, 106
Spengler, Oswald, 27; organological philosophy of history, 44; and skepticism, 90; life–philosophy, 123
Spinoza, Benedict, 169
Spirit (Geist): connected to concept of philosophy, 23–28, 83–84; definition of, 44n.5, 44–51; and intellect, 46; as objectivity, 49; as subjectivity, 49; as identified with the work, 136; in relation to basis phenomena, 149
Subjectivity: and life, 43; as reached by methodological turn, 98–99
Symbolic forms: definition of, 15; development of philosophy of, 15–23; origin of, 16–17; list of various, 17–18; Linienzugas example of, 19; as related to spirit and life, 56–65; as related to basis phenomena, 146–48; as related to the basis phenomenon of the work, 190–93
Symbolic pregnance (symbolische Prägnanz), 19; definition of, 16
Systematic overview (systematischer Überblick), 21, 81, 14, 172
Systematic reconstruction (systematische Rekonstruktion), 88
Systematic review (systematischer Rückblick), 21, 88, 109, 115
Thales of Miletus, 78
Theoretical thought: as symbolic form, 57–58, 66; and laws of activity, 62; as form of laws, 88; as only one form of spirit, 99; development from other symbolic forms, 104–5
Transcendental method, 11, 14, 17, 21, 189
Truth (the True): as the whole, 20, 108; as relative, 153–57
Uexküll, Jakob von: concept of organism, 32, 33–34, 45; difference between animal and human, 47, 116; and behaviorism, 117
Vico, Giambattista, 27; as philosopher of third basis phenomenon, 189–90; and self–knowledge, 190
Vischer, Friedrich Theodor, 16
Vitalism, 112
Warburg, Aby, 15
Whitehead, Alfred North, 6
Will (das Urphänomen des Willens): as second basis phenomenon, 132–33; as ground of metaphysics, 177–81. See also Action; Other
Windelband, Wilhelm, 10
Work, the (das Werk–Phänomen): as third basis phenomenon, 34, 134, 134n.2, 145; as distinguished from action, 134–36, 143–45; identified with spirit, 136; and culture, 139–40; as basis for type of metaphysics, 181–90; as basis for the philosophy of symbolic forms, 190–93. See also Self–knowledge; Socrates