Cassirer and Heidegger in Davos : the philosophical arguments / Simon Truwant.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Truwant, Simon, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cassirer, Ernst, 1874-1945.

Cassirer, Ernst.

Heidegger, Martin, 1889-1976.

Heidegger, Martin.

Continental philosophy--Switzerland--Davos.

Continental philosophy.

Analysis (Philosophy)--Switzerland--Davos.

Analysis (Philosophy).

Philosophy, Modern--20th century.

Philosophy, Modern.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 266 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Summary:

The 1929 encounter between Ernst Cassirer and Martin Heidegger in Davos, Switzerland is considered one of the most important intellectual debates of the twentieth century and a founding moment of continental philosophy. At the same time, many commentators have questioned the philosophical profundity and coherence of the actual debate. In this book, the first comprehensive philosophical analysis of the Davos debate, Simon Truwant challenges these critiques. He argues that Cassirer and Heidegger's disagreement about the meaning of Kant's philosophy is motivated by their different views about the human condition, which in turn are motivated by their opposing conceptions of what the task of philosophy ultimately should be. Truwant shows that Cassirer and Heidegger share a grand philosophical concern: to comprehend and aid the human being's capacity to orient itself in and towards the world.

Contents:

Introduction: What is at stake in the Davos debate?

Reconstructing the Davos debate

Cassirer's transformation of the critique of reason into a critique of culture

Heidegger's reading of transcendental philosophy as phenomenological ontology

Receptivity or spontaneity : two readings of The critique of pure reason

Cassirer's functional account of the 'animal symbolicum'

Heidegger's existential analytic of 'Dasein'

Infinity or finitude : the quest for existential orientation

Cassirer's functional conception of philosophy

Heidegger's hermeneutic conception of philosophy

Enlightenment or therapy : the cosmopolitan task of philosophy

Conclusion: The terminus a quo and terminus ad quem of the Davos debate.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 07 Apr 2022).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781009019569 (ebook)

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.