author
Ernst Cassirer
1874–1945
A leading twentieth-century philosopher, he explored how language, myth, science, and art shape the way people understand the world. His writing opens big ideas through culture rather than abstraction alone.
1 Audiobook
Heinrich von Kleist und die Kantische Philosophie
by Ernst Cassirer
About the author
Born in Breslau on July 28, 1874, Ernst Cassirer became one of the most important figures in Neo-Kantian philosophy. He studied in Berlin, Leipzig, Heidelberg, and Marburg, where he worked in the orbit of Hermann Cohen and developed an early interest in the foundations of knowledge and science.
Over time, his work widened into a sweeping philosophy of culture. Cassirer is especially known for his idea of symbolic forms: the thought that human beings make sense of reality through systems such as language, myth, religion, art, and science. Among his best-known books are The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms and An Essay on Man, works that helped make his ideas influential far beyond academic philosophy.
Cassirer taught at the University of Hamburg and later left Germany after the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933. He continued his career in exile, teaching in Europe and then the United States, and died in New York on April 13, 1945. His work remains important for readers interested in philosophy, culture, and the ways human beings create meaning.