Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • Ernst Cassirer: A German philosopher whose work focused on the processes of concept formation in human thought and the role of symbolic forms—such as language, myth, art, religion, and science—in structuring human culture and experience.

Usage

• Proper noun:
  • Ernst Cassirer is a key figure in the Marburg school of neo-Kantian philosophy.
  • The philosophy of Ernst Cassirer emphasizes the symbolic nature of human understanding.
  • In his work, Ernst Cassirer argued that humans are essentially "symbolic animals."

Advanced Usage

• "Cassirer's philosophy": Refers to the body of work and ideas developed by Ernst Cassirer.
  • Cassirer's philosophy bridges epistemology and the philosophy of culture.
• "in the tradition of Cassirer": Describing work that follows or is influenced by his ideas.
  • Her analysis of myth is very much in the tradition of Cassirer.

Variants and Related Words

• Cassirerian (adj): Pertaining to or characteristic of Ernst Cassirer or his philosophical ideas.
  • A Cassirerian approach to cultural studies.

Synonyms

• Philosopher: A person engaged or learned in philosophy, especially as an academic discipline.
• Neo-Kantian: A philosopher belonging to a movement that revived and reinterpreted the ideas of Immanuel Kant, particularly concerning epistemology and the philosophy of science.

Related Phrases

• "symbolic forms": A central concept in Cassirer's philosophy, denoting the various systems (like language, myth, science) through which humans construct and understand reality.
  • Ernst Cassirer's magnum opus is titled The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms.
• "animal symbolicum": A Latin term meaning "symbolic animal," which Cassirer used to define the human being.
  • For Cassirer, man is defined not as a rational animal but as an animal symbolicum.

Noun

1. German philosopher concerned with concept formation in the human mind and with symbolic forms in human culture generally (1874-1945)