The genesis of symbolic farms: Basis phenomena in Ernst Cassirer's works

My thesis in this text is that A. Ernst Cassirer outlines a philosophical t heory that proves equally sensitive to historical change and to the consist ency of conceptual thinking. B. Cassirer relies on the differential logic o f an internally ruptured, and yet undivided "basis phenomenon." Especially his reading of Goethe has led to the concept of the basis phenomenon existi ng in a differential symbolic mode. Cassirer's delineation of Goethe's conc eptual trivium of Urphanomene - "experience,""deed," and "life" - underscor es the conceptual rupture in the construction of any basis phenomenon. Furt hermore, I argue that C. the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, takes up Goethe' s notion of basis phenomena and eventually turns it into a modern, pluralis tic theorem about the interrelation of science and culture. Cassirer reache s this aim by (1) focusing on the question of philosophical inquiry as a ba sis phenomenon in the sense of a basic philosophical activity. I also argue that (2) Cassirer's view retains an essentially ambiguous character, as op posed to a fundamentalist notion of basis phenomena. It is important to see that (3) this ambiguity also informs Cassirer's notion of culture (the plu rality of symbolic forms), as well as his delienation of the relation betwe en culture and science.