computational design who mihai nadin publication ... articles in books
Ernst Cassirer, (1874-1945) (Born: Wroclaw, Poland, July 28, 1874; died in New York, April 13, 1945) (July 14, 1899, University of Marburg) and culminating with The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms (1923-1929, the fourth and final volume of which was published posthumously). His oeuvre is difficult, with many digressions, covering philosophic subjects ranging from themes originating in ancient Greek philosophy to the subjects of existentialism, positivism, and epistemology. The Problem of Knowledge Substance and Function The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (19..), and The Myth of the State In Cassirerâs view, philosophy and science evolve from myth. Nevertheless, the mythical world is of extreme richness and therefore more dynamic than that of our theories. It is infinitely more impregnated with emotional qualities. "Science, the last step in manâs mental development," appears to Cassirer as the "highest and most characteristic attainment of human culture" (cf. An Essay on Man: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Human Culture , Yale University Press, 1962), and yet the expression of a particular condition summed up in what he called animal symbolicum (man is a symbolic animal). The human being is characterized by a unique ability: that of using symbolic forms. Through them, experiences with non-intuitive meanings are perceived. "Language," he writes, "cannot be regarded as a copy of things, but as a condition of our concepts of things [...]...language is a pre-requisite of our representation of empirical objects, of our concept of what we call the Îexternal worldâ " (cf. | |
|
