My first book as a fledgling philosophy student was Cassirer's
work on the Enlightenment and I was in up over my head, but I stuck it out and learned a lot. So, when his book on myth and language came to my attention, I was familiar with the author and his reputation. I have not read the professional critiques on this work, but my personal opinion is that it is unique in every respect. I have not seen anything else that parallels the growth of myth (religion) and language as this does, nor have I seen anything that deals as effectively with the idea of epistemology that is quite apart from that of science and inductive probabilities. If you want to read what a brilliant man believes and substantiates about knowledge from a really different viewpoint, this may be the book for you. It is deep, but each page will grab you -- perhaps more than once.

This little book is a revelation in 99 pages. It is highly theoretical and while it is not an easy read it is not beyond the comprehension of a layperson either. Cassirer's arguments lead me to think about language and consciousness itself in ways which I never have before, but which seem so amazingly right that I experienced many moments of epiphany. This book is an excellent rebuttal to the argument that reason is the origin and culmination of human thought and that all myth is rooted in ignorance (take that, Carl Sagan). If you are interested in theories of mythology and/or theories of language/linguistics, this book is a must.

I loved this book. If you are interested in linguistics and philosophy, this is the book. After reading this you may have a whole new perspective on the origins of language, that is if you are a student of linguistics. I highly recommend this to those interested in ancient texts and languages, myths, logic and the development of human intellect.

This is by far the best philosophy of human culture. It unifies art, myth, religion, language, history and sciences in a coherent organism. Under the concept of the symbol Cassier brings toghether embodiments of culture that have been thought to be opposite (such as myth and religion). His theory of art is especially sharp and enlighting. A must read for any student of social sciences or philosphy. One of the best systems of human culture. Down the earth, not like many other systems.

man have the obligated to respect all the right by the state and commmunity he live in. there are some man who think that they have the right to their follow human body.

i loved this book, and if you r interested, i recomend it

Yes! Amazing how the eighteenth century is still here today, in our many institutions and political ideals. Cassirer's heady analysis of the culture, debates and ideals of the time informs our current cultural mosaic, where rap lives side by side with the Lincoln Center. I especially return to his synopsis of the debate about faith in the XVIIIth c., that centers on Voltaire's attack against Pascal. When the thoughts of moral titans collide, the sparks endure.

Ernst Cassirer was one of the more important philosophers of the 20th Century, although his work is less well-known in this country than on the Continent. Cassirer was also a Kant scholar who wrote an influential biography of Kant "Kant's Leben und Lehre" (Kant's Life and Teachings). This book, written in the mid-1930s, but not available in English until much later, is perhaps still the best serious survey of the Enlightenment, with more emphasis on the German Enlightenment than we are used to seeing. (The term 'enlightenment' itself comes from the German word "Aufklaerung"). Unlike many of the more recent writers on the Enlightenment, Cassirer is sympathetic to the Enlightenment enterprise and does not have an axe to grind (Peter Gay and Lester Crocker come to mind). Although well-written, and the subject is interesting to anyone concerned about the growth of the modern world, this is not an easy book: Cassirer presents a more nuanced view of the Enlightment and the philosophes than even most educated readers are used to and the reader must actively think about the arguments presented. The effort is absolutely worthwhile.

It has been so long since the original German version of this biography of Kant was written by Ernst Cassirer in 1916 (and first published in 1918, due to "the delay inflicted by the war on the progress of the edition of the complete works," (p. 2) according to the Foreword by Ernst Cassirer dated August 14, 1918) that it might be considered quite proper that the recent biography of Kant by Manfred Kuehn deserves to be much more modern in its point of view. My review of Kuehn's book emphasized how modern Kant ought to be considered for someone who lived in his times. Kuehn also put a major emphasis on Kant's desire for perpetual peace, a topic which might have been considered questionable for anyone writing in German at the time when Cassirer was writing this book for use as a supplement to the study of Kant's complete works.

I should admit that I have not attempted the study of Kant's work in the manner for which this book is meant to be a guide. I might even be considered too political to be offered a position on such a faculty, so I have no expectation of ever becoming a professional philosopher, and furthermore, I might even be so comical that I would dare to consider Cassirer and Kant as representative of philosophers in the way that Merry and Pippin were typical of hobbits in the movie cycle, "The Lord of the Rings." The set of 4 DVD disks covering the first movie, "The Fellowship of the Ring," allows easy access to specific points in the movie, and scene 44, "The Breaking of the Fellowship," on the second disk, shows the two hobbits (knowing that Frodo Baggins was the only important target) acting as decoys, crying, "Hey! Hey, you! Over here!" Logically, this follows scene 40, "The Fighting Uruk-hai," in which Saruman declares his creation, the Uruk-hai, a perfect creature for war, much as Prussia is described as a highly disciplined place during Kant's life in this book. Philosophically, Kant's writings, which reflect his use of thought processes, can be selected and their relevance to "The whole moral voice of the Enlightenment, as it lived in the purest and greatest spirits," (p. 83) are here demonstrated as logically as Pippin and Merry's exclamations, "It's working!" "I know it's working! Run!" could be considered a histrionic reflection of the admiration for tactics similar to the praise for Kant's philosophy which this book exhibits.

This book also exhibits an eagerness to bring God into every discussion in a manner which has become much less popular as the experience of the godly has been tied detrimentally to the likes of Osama bin Laden in the last hundred years or so. My interest in the early part of the book was primarily in comparing the competing Cosmologies of that time. Kant's early work, UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY AND THEORY OF THE HEAVENS (March 14, 1755), which was dedicated just three months before Kant became a doctor of philosophy on the strength of his treatise, DE IGNE (ON FIRE), was not well known in his time because "The publisher had gone bankrupt while the work was in press; his entire warehouse was sealed up, and therefore this book never came onto the market." (p. 40). In attempting to think beyond the laws of motion which had been established by Newton for a Kantian cosmogony which Kant derives from such laws, "The planetary world in which the sun, acting with its powerful attraction from the center of all the orbits," (p. 47) is considered the cause of the planetary system, and particularly accounting for "the `unanimity of the direction and positions of the planetary orbits'." (p. 49) Kant also uses this explanation "in order to think of it as in proportion to the power of the Infinite Being, it must have no limits at all." (p. 47). Newton could have come to the same conclusion about the origins of planetary motion "if instead of seeking the physical bases of the system of astronomical phenomena exclusively in its present state he had turned his gaze backwards to the past of the system, if he had pushed forward from the consideration of the systematic state of the universe to its systematic becoming." (p. 49).

The big jolt in Kant's cosmology was caused by his attempt to comprehend a heavenly system of a different kind, described in Part 3 of the second chapter of this book. "The Critique of Dogmatic Metaphysics: DREAMS OF A SPIRIT-SEER," (pp. 77-92) on Kant becoming "aware of the marvelous tales surrounding the `visionary' Swedenborg, which led him to immerse himself deeper into Swedenborg's work, the ARCANA COELESTIA. We use this account here not to repeat it, but are content to make reference to it. Who will seriously believe that because he had bought the eight quarto volumes of Swedenborg's works, at a considerable outlay of trouble and expense, Kant would have decided to perform a literary analysis on the book?" (p. 79). Kant's book on Swedenborg "appeared anonymously" (p. 78) and he was determined that "I shall never become a fickle or fraudulent person, after having devoted the largest part of my life to studying how to despise those things that tend to corrupt one's honesty." [Kant to Mendelssohn, April 6, 1766] (p. 79). Swedenborg's ARCANA COELESTIA might still be considered a work in which the dreams of a religious writer were collected with more enthusiasm than anyone prior to Freud had shown for understanding his dreams, and Kant's problem stems in large part from Swedenborg's understanding of his dreams being considered an explanation of heavenly forces, or more often, of the conflicts between heavenly and hellish spirits. Cassirer is willing to venture "that the whole idea of the spiritual is due to habit and prejudice, rather than to exact scientific analysis." (p. 81). Lacking such habits, modern people can read this book for a philosophical guide to how Kant's thought went on from that point, or spend their time watching hobbits, with the 4 DVD disks that show how the "Lord of the Rings" movies were made, or make countless other choices. People who believe this book might spend a lot of time studying Kant, as the author certainly did.

Over the past few years, I had increasingly developed an interest in the Kantian system. I had approached several of Kant's most important works in order to gain an understanding of his thought, but I found that I often struggled to make clear sense of many of his ideas. Although I had obtained a basic knowledge of his philosophy and some lasting insights from these works, I found that Kant's method of presentation often presented some difficulties regarding a complete understanding of them.

Ernst Cassirer's book provides the student of philosophy with an excellent elucidation of Kant's system of critical thought and both the characteristics of this philosopher's personality and the currents of thought that were prevalent during and preceding his lifetime that led him to develop the philosophic views for which he is well-known. Cassirer also amalgamates Kant's theoretical, ethical, and aesthetic aims into a whole system that reflects Kant's fundamental philosophical outlook. A great deal of material containing many subtle and frequently misconceived points is presented in a very clear, though well-detailed, way. Cassirer's discussion of the Critique of Judgment, a book that has long stupified many readers, is especially thought-provoking. The impression one receives of Cassirer's deep admiration is understandable given the astonishing intellectual depth and breadth of Kant's achievements This book is highly recommended for anyone seeking a more profound understanding of Kant's life and works.

One of the mysteries of the rise of the modern world is the sudden appearance of the grand phase of German philosophy beginning with the work of Kant, as his thought suddenly flowered late in life with his precipitous Critique of Pure Reason. Like an echo reverberating across the ages, Kant's breakthrough both recovered and surpassed the height to which philosophy had reached in Plato. This thunderclap just at the takeoff of the revolutionary passage to a new era is the prelude to an entire new universe of thinking, and joins the world of science, the Enlightenment, with a world as ancient as the Upanishads and as futuristic as Quantum Mechanics. Cassirer's philosophical biography is one of the clearest and most cogent introductions to the Kant's life and work and is a classic in its own right.

This book is definitely not an easy read. But those who are seriously interested in philosophical history will find this book educational. Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945) is most noted for his books concerning historical philosophy and his accomplishments as a professor of such Universities as Hamburg, Yale, California, and Göteborg. Next to Burckhardt, Cassirer's work is considered by many to be the landmark in the history of Renaissance thought. The Renaissance, according to Cassirer, is a time of philosophical rebirth. Medieval thinkers evaluated and understood things of this world through a transcendence that always led up to God. Renaissance thought, on the other hand, tried to understand the intelligible through sense and reason, but all the while maintaining the idea of God. Thus, the Renaissance arguably represents the first step in modern scientific thought; moreover, the innovative thinkers of the 14th and 15th centuries paved the way for the Reformation. At the beginning of the 1300's, a new life in the liberal arts begins to occur - a movement or 'spiritual renewal,' as Cassirer calls it. Major scholars such as Petrarch begin to question Medieval thought and scholasticism, a philosophical principle that used the mystical and intuitional methods of Augustine and Aristotle. Cassirer uses the ideas and doctrines of the religious humanist Nicholas Cusanus as the hallmark of Renaissance philosophy. In fact, the majority of the book concentrates on Cusanus, who Cassirer considers the most influential and greatest philosopher of that epoch. The cosmos according to Cusanus places God in the center of the world, therefore allowing each individual being to have an intimate and close relationship with God. Cassirer's parable of the Tegernsee Monks and the self-portrait of Rogier van der Weyden is a perfect allegory of Cusanus' theory. Later, during the Reformation, the Catholic Church had to abandon the thoughts of Cusanus because it placed too much emphasis on the individual. He believed God created man, but also gave us the power of intellect, which has an autonomous sphere of thinking that gives everything value. The greatest accomplishment of Cusanus is his creation of balance between ancient humanism and medieval religiosity. In the "De docta ignorantia," Cusanus explains how the universe is divided between the infinite (eternal) and the finite (worldly). The connecting link or 'bracket of the world' that embraces the finite and infinite is Christ. But only through the individual salvation can the unification of the cosmos occur, so the importance of man and humanity without mediators such as the church and pope is stressed. Therefore, redemption is not seen as leaving an inferior world behind like in medieval thought, but instead the salvation of one's soul is what forms the cosmos. Cassirer's book effectively proves how the Renaissance was a time of revolutionary thought as compared to medieval times. However, it seems the author may have overestimated the power and influence that Cusanus had on Renaissance philosophy. This concentration on Cusanus' religious philosophy serves as a great foreshadowing of the Reformation, but more detail should have been given to the social and intellectual aspects which Cassirer did touch on briefly in chapter four.

This is the book for anyone curious about intellectual history, the history of ideas, Renaissance studies, etc. Despite its often-discussed excesses and omissions, it remains the most exciting book available on Renaissance philosophy for the way it comes to terms with the eccentric complexity and imaginative power of Cusanus and later Neoplatonists (whether or not Nicholas influenced Ficino, et al.). The book is densely written, but not as difficult as the previous reviewer suggests; Domandi's translation nicely captures Cassirer's sense of the drama of ideas, of the birth of subjectivity as the mind posits "its own fixed points" rather than relying on stable, objective hierarchies. True, there is little on social (or economic) contexts, but those kinds of approaches are readily found among more recent historians, and those hungering for wider contexts can look at Biechler's book on Cusanus, or Braden and Kerrigan's Idea of the Renaissance, or any of William Bouwsma's or Anthony Grafton's wonderful books on Renaissance thought. But to get inside the actual motions and metaphors of Renaissance thought, Cassirer's the place to begin, and to keep enjoying. No one does it better!

Lofts' approach is rather strange: nevertheless, his unorthodox interpretation is very intriguing. Using the distinction between the signifier and signified, he brings out the internal and systematic structure of Cassirer's philosophy -- which is not at all clear when you read Cassirer himself. One could dispute any one of a number of points (and especially the methodological approach), but this is only because Lofts is, as he himself says, attempting to go "beyond Cassirer" and thus is taking a number of interpretative risks in his reading. At times one wonders, whether this is Cassirer or Lofts' philosophy of culture. However, Lofts skilfully use of quotes assures us that it is indeed Cassirer's. Given that it is one of the few books on Cassirer written in English, given the fact that it is compact and uses material from all of Cassirer's works (no small task as Krois points out in his Preface), and finally given that it is an intriguing reading of Cassirer: this is certainly worth a read.