Original
The Notion of Linguistic Pathology in Cassirer’s Theory of Language
– In Connection with Goldstein’s Analysis of “Impairment of Categorical Attitude”–
2012 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 3-12
Details
2012 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 3-12
In this essay the author will consider an aspect of the theory of language in Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbols. In Chap.6, Part 2, Vol. 3 of his Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, he takes up the pathology of symbolic consciousness in discussing the Phenomenology of Knowledge. He examines Kurt Goldstein’s notion of “impairment of categorical attitude”. Goldstein is persuaded that an analysis of symptoms characteristic of amnesic aphasia will finally prove quite important to inquire into the way humans set themselves up against the world. Cassirer regards the same pathological cases as pathways by following which we can discover the process in which human mind acquires its ability to make the symbolic form of language and develops its cognitive powers. How Cassirer incorporates Goldstein’s observations into his own system of philosophy? This is what we are concerned with in this thesis.
