Ernst Cassirer: The Last Philosopher of Culture

This is the first English-language intellectual biography of the German-Jewish philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945), a leading figure on the Weimar intellectual scene and one of the last and finest representatives of the liberal-idealist tradition. Edward Skidelsky traces the development of Cassirer's thought in its historical and intellectual setting. He presents Cassirer, the author of The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, as a defender of the liberal ideal of culture in an increasingly fragmented world, and as someone who grappled with the opposing forces of scientific positivism and romantic vitalism. Cassirer's work can be seen, Skidelsky argues, as offering a potential resolution to the ongoing conflict between the two cultures of science and the humanities--and between the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy. The first comprehensive study of Cassirer in English in two decades, this book will be of great interest to analytic and continental philosophers, intellectual historians, political and cultural theorists, and historians of twentieth-century Germany.

Author: Edward Skidelsky
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 11/13/2011
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780691152356

About the Author
Edward Skidelsky is lecturer in philosophy at the University of Exeter, and a regular contributor to the British national press, including Prospect, the Daily Telegraph, and the New Statesman.