CASSIRER, ERNST

CASSIRER, ERNST (1874–1945), philosopher; with Heinrich Rickert,* Germany's leading neo-Kantian between 1900 and 1930. Born in Breslau of German-Jewish parentage, he studied philosophy and German literature, coming into contact with Hermann Cohen (1842–1918) while at Berlin*; in 1896 he transferred to Marburg to continue studies with Cohen. On his own, Cassirer identified both his method and his philosophy as an example of Cohen's Marburg School of neo-Kantianism (the Baden School, embracing Freiburg, Strassburg, and Heidelberg, was distinct from the Marburg School). In 1899 he took a doctorate with a thesis on Leibniz's theory of knowledge. His appointment as Privatdozent at Berlin was owed largely to Wilhelm Dilthey, who appreciated his genius. Despite barriers in Germany owing to his Jewish heritage, Cassirer rejected a 1914 offer to teach at Harvard. In 1919 Cassirer joined Hamburg's new university. While he was evolving his concept of symbolic forms, he earned a reputation as a brilliant teacher. His life, marked by broad intellectual interests, was an exemplar of the German tradition of Bildung. In 1930 he was promoted to university rector. It was his good fortune to form rich friendships at Hamburg with Erwin Panofsky* and Aby Warburg,* and he later assisted with the transfer of Warburg's library to London. When Hitler* came to power in 1933, Cassirer resigned his positions and taught successively at Oxford (1933–1935), Go¨teborg (1935–1941), Yale (1941– 1944), and Columbia (1944–1945). Always a neo-Kantian, he was broadly attracted to the formation and interrelationship of scientific and cultural concepts. His publications included Philosophie der Symbolischen Formen (Philosophy of symbolic forms, 1923) and Sprache und Mythos (Languages and myth, 1925).