Diss.--Evangelisch-katholische Fakultät--Universität München, 1996. / Bibliogr. p. 179-184.

Universiẗat, Habil.-Schrift, 2001--Leipzig. / Literaturverz. S. 367 - 387.

O presente trabalho põe a si como tarefa central investigar o pensamento político na obra de Ernst Cassirer, buscando depreendê-lo de seu projeto filosófico geral apresentado ao longo dos três tomos da Filosofia das formas simbólicas. Assim, as obras que são aqui analisadas com atenção especial, quais seja, O mito do Estado e Ensaio sobre o homem, são tomadas à luz desse projeto filosófico que as precede em cerca de duas décadas. A estratégia expositiva adotada nesta dissertação foi a de partir da análise diacrônica do diagnóstico do filósofo acerca do tempo histórico em que vive, buscando os reflexos de tais acontecimentos em sua produção intelectual. Assim buscamos compreender as declarações de abertura dO mito do Estado sobre a situação social e política que tornou possível a efetivação de um programa totalitário como foi o regime nazista. Em seguida, recuamos para a compreensão dos fundamentos da filosofia das formas simbólicas de Cassirer para buscar nela os elementos que, de nosso ponto de vista, teriam suscitado ao filósofo a aplicação de seu projeto filosófico geral para a compreensão de um fenômeno bastante concreto e singular como o da experiência nazista. Após essa análise dos elementos teóricos centrais do projeto filosófico cassireriano, retomamos a análise dO mito do Estado, agora em atenção aos elementos históricos que conduziram, desde o campo da teoria política até o de sua prática efetiva, ao estado de crise e irracionalidade que caracterizam a situação política da primeira metade do século XX. Nos capítulos seguintes, abordamos aquilo que, defendemos, constituiriam os ideais normativos do programa político de Cassirer, depreendidos de sua antropologia filosófica e das premissas gerais de uma noção de humanidade que se pretende inclusiva em relação a todas as manifestações do espírito humano. As duas noções fundamentais que destacamos e que constituiriam as linhas gerais desse programa político são a liberdade e o cosmopolitismo, por meio das quais procuramos ainda compreender a crítica de Cassirer ao hegelianismo e o modo com que se dá, nesse campo da filosofia política, sua releitura do projeto iluminista. / This work gives itself the task of investigating the political thought of Ernst Cassirer, intending to understand it from the point of view of his main philosophical work the three volumes of Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. In this way, the texts which we analyse here with special attention The Myth of the State and Essay on Man are taken into view in the light of this philosophical project that preceeds them in two decades. The expositive strategy adopted is to depart from the diachronic analysis of the diagnosis of Cassirer about the historical time in which he lives, seeking in his intellectual production the reflections of such events. By such manner we try to understand the opening statements in The Myth of the State about the social and political situation that turned possible the accomplishment of a totalitarian political program such as the Nazism. Then we retrace the steps of the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms looking for the fundamental elements which, in our viewpoint, serve as a cornerstone to applying his main philosophical work to a concrete and singular phenomenon such as the Nazi experience. After that we come back to analyzing The Myth of the State, now paying attention to the historical elements that lead, in the field of political theory as well as in its effective practice, to the state of crisis and irrationality that characterizes the political situation in the first half of the 20th century. During the following chapters we take into account what we defend to be the normative ideals of the cassirerian political program, inferred from his philosophical anthropology and from the general premises of a notion of humanity that claims to be inclusive in what concerns all manifestations of the human spirit. The two vital notions which we point out and that constitute the general lines of this political program are freedom and cosmopolitism, by means of which we try to understand Cassirers critic to Hegelianism and the way that follows his reception of the illuminist ideals.

Diss. Univ. Karlsruhe, 2005. / Auch im Internet unter der Adresse http://www.uvka.de/univerlag/volltexte/2007/278/ verfügbar.

O presente trabalho põe a si como tarefa central investigar o pensamento político na obra de Ernst Cassirer, buscando depreendê-lo de seu projeto filosófico geral apresentado ao longo dos três tomos da Filosofia das formas simbólicas. Assim, as obras que são aqui analisadas com atenção especial, quais seja, O mito do Estado e Ensaio sobre o homem, são tomadas à luz desse projeto filosófico que as precede em cerca de duas décadas. A estratégia expositiva adotada nesta dissertação foi a de partir da análise diacrônica do diagnóstico do filósofo acerca do tempo histórico em que vive, buscando os reflexos de tais acontecimentos em sua produção intelectual. Assim buscamos compreender as declarações de abertura dO mito do Estado sobre a situação social e política que tornou possível a efetivação de um programa totalitário como foi o regime nazista. Em seguida, recuamos para a compreensão dos fundamentos da filosofia das formas simbólicas de Cassirer para buscar nela os elementos que, de nosso ponto de vista, teriam suscitado ao filósofo a aplicação de seu projeto filosófico geral para a compreensão de um fenômeno bastante concreto e singular como o da experiência nazista. Após essa análise dos elementos teóricos centrais do projeto filosófico cassireriano, retomamos a análise dO mito do Estado, agora em atenção aos elementos históricos que conduziram, desde o campo da teoria política até o de sua prática efetiva, ao estado de crise e irracionalidade que caracterizam a situação política da primeira metade do século XX. Nos capítulos seguintes, abordamos aquilo que, defendemos, constituiriam os ideais normativos do programa político de Cassirer, depreendidos de sua antropologia filosófica e das premissas gerais de uma noção de humanidade que se pretende inclusiva em relação a todas as manifestações do espírito humano. As duas noções fundamentais que destacamos e que constituiriam as linhas gerais desse programa político são a liberdade e o cosmopolitismo, por meio das quais procuramos ainda compreender a crítica de Cassirer ao hegelianismo e o modo com que se dá, nesse campo da filosofia política, sua releitura do projeto iluminista. / This work gives itself the task of investigating the political thought of Ernst Cassirer, intending to understand it from the point of view of his main philosophical work the three volumes of Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. In this way, the texts which we analyse here with special attention The Myth of the State and Essay on Man are taken into view in the light of this philosophical project that preceeds them in two decades. The expositive strategy adopted is to depart from the diachronic analysis of the diagnosis of Cassirer about the historical time in which he lives, seeking in his intellectual production the reflections of such events. By such manner we try to understand the opening statements in The Myth of the State about the social and political situation that turned possible the accomplishment of a totalitarian political program such as the Nazism. Then we retrace the steps of the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms looking for the fundamental elements which, in our viewpoint, serve as a cornerstone to applying his main philosophical work to a concrete and singular phenomenon such as the Nazi experience. After that we come back to analyzing The Myth of the State, now paying attention to the historical elements that lead, in the field of political theory as well as in its effective practice, to the state of crisis and irrationality that characterizes the political situation in the first half of the 20th century. During the following chapters we take into account what we defend to be the normative ideals of the cassirerian political program, inferred from his philosophical anthropology and from the general premises of a notion of humanity that claims to be inclusive in what concerns all manifestations of the human spirit. The two vital notions which we point out and that constitute the general lines of this political program are freedom and cosmopolitism, by means of which we try to understand Cassirers critic to Hegelianism and the way that follows his reception of the illuminist ideals.

Zugl.: Marburg, Univ., Diss.

Zugl.: København, Univ., Diss., 2007.

The problem of a method of historical analysis played an integral part in the scholarship of Ernst Cassirer, German philosopher and historian. An Essay on Man, the work for which he is best known in the United State, includes his most lucid discussion of the tasks and aims of the historian. The historian must reconstruct the past, infusing it with the immediacy of a living expression. “Rebirth of the past” gives man a better view of his potentialities, a freedom to see beyond the demands, characteristics, and contingencies of the moment. This view of history and the historian’s task was reiterated by Cassirer in several of his works on theory and was implicit in a number of his books and articles on historical topics. The following critique will focus on Cassirer’s discussion of history and on his historical method as it was demonstrated in several of his writings. Despite the criticism of Cassirer’s penchant for structure and affinity for schemata, he has had a profound influence on the general community of historians. His work in many areas was unique and he did considerable original research. He has had some influence on subsequent historians, especially with some of the specifics of his data. Even the abundance of criticisms of his works attests to the to the seriousness with which he has been viewed as a historian.

I denna uppsats undersöker jag hur det är möjligt att med hjälp av bland annat Ernst Cassirers teorier kring myter och genom att se hur dessa tar sig i uttryck i ett narratio, nå en utökad förståelse för argumentation genom att ta fasta på det som ligger utanför logikens och det rationella förnuftets område. Med utgångspunkt i Cassirer, kompletterad av Jean-Pierre Vernant, Cornelius Castoriadis och Jesper Svenbro, visar jag hur mŷthos hela tiden är närvarande i vårt tänkande, hur mŷthos skapar och omskapar mening samtidigt som denna mening sätts i spel genom olika myter. I argumentation tar dessa myter formen av det som i den antika dispositionen för ett argumenterande tal kallades narratio. En av de viktigaste funktionerna för narrationen är att skapa trovärdighet åt ett mŷthos och detta sker på fyra olika sätt: prosans genrekarakteristiska, diakrona handlingskopplingar, anagnorisis, samt den synkrona sammanlänkningen. Den sistnämnda ger också övergången till en annan viktig aspekt av trovärdighetsskapandet; elocutio, där jag undersöker två typer av figurer och troper: överförande och förstärkande. I de överförande figurerna kan vi se hur mŷthos bricoleras av betydelser hämtade från andra fält, medan vi i de förstärkande figurerna kan se vad som skapat ett specifikt mŷthos och vilket pathos som varit viktig för mytskaparen. Uppsatsens slutsats blir därmed att människan, trots vår uppfattning om argumentation som en rationell företeelse byggd på logik, istället alltid är, med Derridas ord, mytopoetiska bricoleurer. Vi kan därmed inte bortse från myterna när vi undersöker argumentation samtidigt som vi därmed också måste lämna önskan om att värdera, rangordna och systematisera all argumentation, en tro som ur detta perspektiv bara blir till en myt. För denna argumentationssyn med grunden i retoriken blir istället Aristoteles ideal fronesis viktigt, då detta synsätt innebär förståelse, som i förlängningen ger en klokhet om vilka handlingsval som i slutändan gör gott. / In this essay I examine how we, with the help of Ernst Cassirers theories concerning myths and by examining how these are expressed in a narratio, can achieve an expanded understanding of argumentation by also taking to account that which lies beyond the area of reason and logic. By building on Cassirer, complemented with the thinking of Jean-Pierre Vernant, Cornelius Castoriadis and Jesper Svenbro, I’m able to show how mŷthos always is present in our thinking, and how mŷthos always creates and recreates meaning while at the same time putting that meaning to use in various myths. In argumentation these myths take the form of the roman concept narratio. One of the key features of the narrative is to provide credibility to mŷthos, and this is done in four ways: through the characteristics of the prosaic genre, the diachronic linking of events, anagnorisis and the synchronic linking of events. The latter also provides the transition to another of the vital parts in the process of credibility¸ elocutio, where I examine two types of figures and tropes: transferring and emphasizing. The transferring figures gives us an insight of how we create mŷthos by taking in meaning from other fields, while the emphasizing figures show us how pathos always is important to the myth-maker. The conclusions of this essay is thus that man, despite our conception of argumentation as a rational phenomenon based on reason and logic, rather is, in Derrida’s words, a mythopoetic bricoleur. We can not ignore this when we set out to investigate argumentation and we have to abandon our wish to evaluate, rank and systematize all argumentation. Instead Aristotle provides us with an answer in his rhetorical ideal fronesis, because when we reach understanding of our myth-making it’s also possible for us to make decisions that will hopefully do good.

Diese Studie möchte am Beispiel der Freiheit bei Zhuang Zhou und Ernst Cassirer zur Verständigung zwischen der chinesischen und der abendländischen Kultur beitragen. Ihre Vorstellungen vom Subjekt bezeichne ich jeweils als „das unbestimmte Ich“ und „das zu bestimmende Ich“. Während Zhuang Zhou die Entfaltung jener Unbestimmtheit angesichts ihrer Kehrseite als Eingrenzung offen lässt, erkennt Cassirer das Sich-selbst-Entfalten als Sich-selbst-Bestimmen und definiert die Natur des Menschen als Wirken, besonders kraft des symbolischen Denkens. So entwickelt der Letztere aus dem Bestimmen im positiven Sinne die Freiheit als Selbstbefreiung, während der Erstere aus demselben im negativen Sinne die Freiheit als Befreiung von Selbst gestaltet. Lassen sich die beiden Ansichten miteinander vereinbaren, so kann das Ich sich bei der Selbstbefreiung zugleich von seinem entfremdeten Selbst befreien. Auf dieser Kompatibilität der beiden kulturellen Perspektiven beschreibe ich die Freiheit als „die Möglichkeit zur Verwirklichung der Möglichkeiten“. Mit dieser Studie setze ich mir ein Ziel, ein Verfahren zum interkulturellen Dialog anhand des Schrifttums zu gestalten, und zwar derart, die Äußerungen in den ausgewählten Schriften verschiedener Kulturen miteinander so zu verflechten, als ob die Autoren ihre Thesen zu dem gleichen Thema ausgetauscht hätten. Für einen offenen und vorurteilsfreieren Vergleich gehe ich von keiner bestimmten Definition der Freiheit aus und konzipiere dabei eine Methode zur rekonstruierenden Interpretation, die ich als „Hauptthemen Nachspüren“ nenne. Für mich ist das Verstehen ein Prozess, sich für das Andere, das Unbekannte zu öffnen. Im Sinne dieser Offenheit bitte ich die Leser darum, meine Beschreibung der Freiheit als „die Möglichkeit zur Verwirklichung der Möglichkeiten“ nicht als eine strenge Definition zu verstehen, sondern als eine Anregung zur Erweiterung dieses Begriffs. / This study describes the freedom written by Zhuang Zhou and by Ernst Cassirer in order to contribute to understanding between the Chinese and Western culture. Their conceptions of the subject I characterize respectively as “the undefined Ego” and “the Ego to be defined”. Zhuang Zhou leaves the development of this indefiniteness open because the definiteness of ego connotes his limitation. Cassirer on the other side recognizes the self-development as self-defining and defines the nature of man as work, especially by means of the symbolic thought. Therefore, the latter views the defining in the positive sense and develops the freedom as self-liberation, while the former views the same in the negative sense and forms the freedom as liberation from self. If the two views could be reconciled, the ego will can liberate himself from his estranged self during his self-liberation. On the basis of compatibility of the both cultural perspectives, I describe the freedom as “the possibility to realize the possibilities”. With this study I set myself a goal to develop a procedure for the intercultural dialogue based on the literature, i.e. the utterances in the selected writings of different cultures should be interwoven with each other as if the authors have exchanged their theses on the same theme. To draw a comparison open-mindedly and free of prejudice I do not take a certain definition of freedom as the starting point, conceive a method of reconstructing interpretation, which is called by me “tracing the main-themes”. For me is the understanding a process of opening into the others, the unknown. In the sense of this openness I ask to read my description of freedom as “the possibility to realize the possibilities” not as a strict definition, but as an inspiration to broaden this concept.