The essay takes as its starting point the specific social experiences of the composer with the radio, in other words, the relationship of the radio to contemporary music in particular, and to the broader problem of musical reproduction. This leads to questions which extend beyond the immediate orbit of the composer.The content of musical broadcasts is examined first. The production of serious and advanced modern music plays but a minor role. The content of the programs stems largely from the reservoir (...) of „cultural goods“, and in a deteriorated form at that. On the one hand, banal works are pushed to the fore in consideration of the pre-formed taste of the public, and on the other hand, great music undergoes a process of banalization on the radio. — The thesis of the article is that the declining musical forms take on an „informatory“ character in order to make the listener more susceptible to propagandistic information. Such music distracts him and has a general tendency to „entertain“. Radio business aims to have music received as a mere background, not as a central figure. Music on the radio is nothing more than an „applied acoustical articraft for the embellishment of everyday life“, a veil.The types of radio organization are examined next. In Europe, the state-controlled public utility type predominates, whereas in America the radio, like the press, is largely dependent on the interests of the advertisers. In the authoritarian states, economic interests are both concealed and conveyed through the totalitarian propaganda.Finally the author poses the problem of the way in which the radio affects the work of art and its social manifestation. The progressive moment is emphasized, for the new mode of presentation fosters an appropriate, anti-illusory attitude on the part of the listener which is conducive to knowledge. It is an attitude which is also necessary for the interpreter on the radio. The unillusory self-presentation of the work of art is construed as the positive aim of radio transmission. The progressive trends are seriously restricted, however, by the contemporary function of the radio. Today, under favorable circumstances, it can help „reveal the mass of contradictions in the existing world.L'article part des expériences sociales spécifiques que la radio livre au compositeur : d'abord la relation de la radio à la musique actuelle, plus généralement aux problèmes de la reproduction musicale. L'étude arrive à des conclusions qui débordent le cadre de l'expérience immédiate du compositeur.On examine en premier lieu le programme musical de la radio. La production contemporaine n'y figure que dans une très faible mesure. Le programme est alimenté surtout par le réservoir des „biens traditionnels de la culture44, à vrai dire défigurés. D'un côté, par égard pour le goût du public, les productions banales s'imposent ; quant aux oeuvres de la grande musique de l'autre côté, elles n'échappent pas, à la radio, à une sorte de banalisation. L'auteur soutient que la musique en décadence prend de plus en plus un caractère d'information, c'est-à-dire : elle veut rendre l'auditeur plus ouvert aux informations de propagande. Elle le distrait et tend à la récréation. L'exploitation bureaucratique de la radio vise à faire de la musique non plus une figure, mais un arrière-plan. La musique à la radio n'est plus qu'une „activité artisanale pour enjoliver la vie quotidienne44 et un décor dont la fonction est de dissimuler.Par la suite, on passe en revue les différents types de l'organisation de la radio. En Europe, c'est „l'entreprise mixte44, contrôlée par l'État, qui domine. En Amérique, la radio — comparable alors à la presse — dépend de celui qui passe les commandes de publicité. Dans les États totalitaires, la propagande est à la fois camouflage et intermédiaire des intérêts économiques.Enfin, K. pose la question de savoir de quelle façon la technique de la radio influe sur l'oeuvre d’art et sur sa condition sociale. Le facteur de progression est souligné : le nouveau mode de représentation exige de la part de l'auditeur une attitude objective, curieuse, critique, hostile au rêve. En même temps, cette attitude doit être celle de l’interprète lui-même. Présenter l'oeuvre d’art dépouillée, libre de tout faux semblant — voilà le but positif de l’émission radiophonique. Les tendances progressives, cependant, sont malheureusement inhibées par la fonction actuelle de la radio. Aujourd'hui, celle-ci peut, tout au plus, contribuer à rendre „évidentes les multiples contradictions de notre monde44. (shrink)

The existence of objective knowledge and the possibility of communicating it by means of language have traditionally been taken for granted by educators. Recent developments in the philosophy of science and the historical study of scientific accomplishments have deprived these presuppositions of their former plausibility. Sooner or later, this must have an effect on the teaching of science. In this paper I am presenting a brief outline of an alternative theory of knowing that takes into account the thinking organism''s cognitive (...) isolation from reality. This orientation was proposed by Vico at the beginning of the 18th century, disregarded for two hundred years, and then propounded independently by Piaget as a developmentally grounded constructivist epistemology. The paper focuses specifically on the adaptive function of cognition, Piaget''s scheme theory, the process of communication, and the subjective perspective on social interaction. In the concluding section it then suggests some of the consequences the shift of epistemological presuppositions might have for the practice of teaching. (shrink)

This new translation of The Logic of the Cultural Sciences _ _makes Ernst Cassirer’s classic study, long out of print, available to English readers. A German Jew living in exile at the beginning of the Second World War, Cassirer wrote this book—one of his clearest and most concise—in response to the crises besetting his era. It represented to him a rethinking and completion of his magnum opus _The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. _S. G. Lofts’s translation stays close to the (...) original German and accurately reflects the echoes of the philosophical debates of Cassirer’s day. In the book’s five linked studies, Cassirer considers the intellectual structure of the disciplines we commonly refer to as the humanities. He defines and justifies the basic philosophical perspective of the philosophy of symbolic forms, and he contributes a wealth of ideas to continuing debates about culture and what is unique in human nature. (shrink)

Egocentricity and Mysticism is a philosophical milestone that clarifies our relationship to language, social interaction, and mortality. Ernst Tugendhat casts mysticism as an innate facet of what it means to be human--a response to an existential need for peace of mind.

Jewish German philosopher Ernst Cassirer was a leading proponent of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. The essays in this volume provide a window into Cassirer’s discovery of the symbolic nature of human existence—that our entire emotional and intellectual life is configured and formed through the originary expressive power of word and image, that it is in and through the symbolic cultural systems of language, art, myth, religion, science, and technology that human life realizes itself and attains not only its (...) form, its visibility, but also its reality. Thought and being are set in opposition and united in genuine correspondence by the symbolic strife between them that Cassirer calls _Auseinandersetzung,_ which determines the ethical relationship of the self to the other. (shrink)

An abridged and translated edition of two of Wolfgang Ernst’s major works, representing the ambitious claim of a comprehensive knowledge-oriented analysis of media temporalities.

Die Philosophie der symbolischen Formen gilt als eine der wichtigsten Fortschreibungen bzw. Transformationen der Kritischen Philosophie Immanuel Kants. Zugleich kann Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945), der die philosophischen Grundlagen zum Verständnis kultureller Phänomene als Produkte und Medien der Auseinandersetzung des Menschen mit seiner Umwelt gelegt hat, als der Vordenker verschiedener aktueller 'turns' gelten, die in immer kürzerer Folge von den Kulturwissenschaften ausgerufen werden. Während hier jedoch ein Paradigma mit dem anderen konkurriert, lassen sie sich vor dem Hintergrund der Theorie symbolischer Formung (...) Ernst Cassirers als Akzentuierungen grundlegender Bedingungen menschlicher Kreativität begreifen, die in ihrem Zusammenwirken verstanden werden müssen. Der vorliegende Band ist sowohl als Einführung in die Philosophie der symbolischen Formen als auch als Ergänzung zu der Beschäftigung mit dem 3-bändigen Hauptwerk Ernst Cassirers konzipiert. Er enthält Texte, in denen Cassirer auf engem Raum konzise in die Programmatik der Philosophie der symbolischen Formen einführt, aber auch solche, in denen die gedankliche Herkunft und der Kontext, in welchem er seine Symbolphilosophie entwickelt, erläutert werden. Die hier abgedruckten Aufsätze und Vorträge folgen der Ausgabe Ernst Cassirer, Gesammelte Werke, Hamburg 1998-2009. (shrink)

This book reveals the numerous ways in which moral, ethical and legal principles are being violated by those who provide, recommend or sell ‘complementary and alternative medicine’. The book analyses both academic literature and internet sources that promote CAM. Additionally the book presents a number of brief scenarios, both hypothetical and real-life, about individuals who use CAM or who fall prey to ethically dubious CAM practitioners. The events and conundrums described in these scenarios could happen to almost anyone. Professor emeritus (...) of complementary medicine Edzard Ernst together with bioethicist Kevin Smith provide a thorough and authoritative ethical analysis of a range of CAM modalities, including acupuncture, chiropractic, herbalism, and homeopathy. This book could and should interest all medical professionals who have contact to complementary medicine and will be an invaluable reference for patients deliberating which course of treatment to adopt. (shrink)

Angeregt von Freunden und Kollegen, hat Ernst Cassirer im amerikanischen Exil mit diesem Werk eine Summe seines Denkens vorgelegt, in der seine Philosophie der symbolischen Formen in ihren Hauptgedanken fortgeführt wird, und zwar in einer Weise, die auch einem breiteren Kreis interessierter Leser zugänglich ist. Cassirer stellt die alte Frage nach dem Wesen des Menschen neu und beantwortet sie, indem er die klassische Antwort mit weitreichenden Folgen abwandelt: Er bestimmt den Menschen als ein Wesen, das Symbole schafft und sich (...) durch Symbole mit seinesgleichen und der Welt verständigt. "Der Begriff der Vernunft ist höchst ungeeignet, die Formen menschlicher Kultur in ihrer Fülle und Mannigfaltigkeit zu erfassen [...]. Alle diese Formen sind symbolische Formen. Deshalb sollten wir den Menschen nicht als animal rationale, sondern als animal symbolicum definieren.". (shrink)

In this classic work of intellectual history, Ernst Cassirer provides both a cogent synthesis and a penetrating analysis of one of history's greatest intellectual epochs: the Enlightenment. Arguing that there was a common foundation beneath the diverse strands of thought of this period, he shows how Enlightenment philosophers drew upon the ideas of the preceding centuries even while radically transforming them to fit the modern world. In Cassirer's view, the Enlightenment liberated philosophy from the realm of pure thought and (...) restored it to its true place as an active and creative force through which knowledge of the world is achieved. In a new foreword, Peter Gay considers The Philosophy of the Enlightenment in the context in which it was written--Germany in 1932, on the precipice of the Nazi seizure of power and one of the greatest assaults on the ideals of the Enlightenment. He also argues that Cassirer's work remains a trenchant defense against enemies of the Enlightenment in the twenty-first century. (shrink)

The essey The concept of Reality is a part of the first systematic work of Ernst Cassirer, the alumnus of the Marburg school, titled Substanzbegriff und Funktionsbegriff. Untersuchungen über Grundfragen der Erkenntniskritik . It developed certain position concerning the problem of reality, which is representative for this school. This conception, and especially the shift of cognitive perspective, from substantial to functional, contained in it, is crucial as far as the whole later Cassirer’s work is concerned and it comes as (...) the foundation for the subsequent theory of symbolic forms. (shrink)

https://revistes.uab.cat/enrahonar/article/view/v37-ernst.

The texts in this volume constitute highlights in the movement called transcendental idealism.

The author considers Pope John Paul II's 1998 encyclical, Fides et ratio, as bringing into view new horizons for Catholic philosophical theology by virtue of its endorsement of a constrained philosophical pluralism. Through a retrospective examination of the history of magisterial interventions as depicted in the encyclical, the author notes how a progressive openness to philosophical pluralism relates to the changed status of Thomism within magisterial teaching on the practice of Catholic philosophical theology. Fides et ratio describes an evolution in (...) magisterial emphasis from proscription to prescription, which corresponds to change in the status of Thomism from an absolute to an exemplary norm. Attention to this decisive shift in the normative status of Thomism, as implied within the encyclical itself, provides both new illumination on the Pope's general intentions and new clarity with regard to some contested interpretive issues. Finally, the author highlights several new challenges that are implied by this development in magisterial teaching. (shrink)

Kontextualistische Wissenstheorien wurden bisher hauptsächlich zur Auseinandersetzung mit dem Skeptiker entwickelt. Meines Erachtens sind sie dabei wenig erfolgreich, bieten aber einen vielversprechenden Ansatz zur Auflösung des bekannten Gettier-Problems. In diesem Aufsatz setze ich mich vor allem mit einer Überlegung Stewart Cohens auseinander, die zu zeigen scheint, dass auch der Kontextualist eine vom Wissenszuschreiber unabhängige „anti-Gettier-Bedingung“ braucht. Hätte er damit recht, so wäre vom Kontextualismus kein Fortschritt bei der traditionellen Wissensanalyse zu erwarten. Zur Widerlegung seines Arguments schlage ich zunächst eine Wissensdefinition (...) vor, die als „radikal kontextualistisch“ bezeichnet werden kann, insofern darin allein Faktoren, die dem Kontext des Wissenszuschreibers zuzurechnen sind, eine Rolle spielen. Indem ich deutlich mache, wie ich zu meinem radikalen Kontextualismus komme, zeige ich, wie man Cohens Argument entgeht. Bei dieser Überlegung spielt allerdings die enge Verbindung zwischen dem Begriff des Wissens und dem des guten Informanten, gegen die vor allem Ansgar Beckermann argumentiert hat, eine entscheidende Rolle. Auch mit Beckermanns Argumenten setzte ich mich daher auseinander. (shrink)