Ernst Cassirer Society > Information in English
Background > About the Society > On Ernst Cassirer > Upcoming events > Board
Background
In the autumn of 2000 Mats Rosengren, Dr. Phil., Associate Professor, and Ola Sigurdson Dr. Theol., Associate Professor, started a new cross-disciplinary seminar at Göteborg University. The seminar, called Logos/Pathos, was established to address contemporary as well as historical themes and problems in philosophy and theology. As one of many research activities, it was associated with the SCASSS-fellowships in honour of Torgny Segerstedt that Rosengren and Sigurdson were awarded in January the same year.
The aim of the seminar was twofold; partly to create a forum for discussions of contemporary problems, theories and intellectual traditions with relevance for theology and philosophy; partly to invigorate the Swedish academic debate by introducing new themes and inviting international scholars to Gothenburg.
These goals and objectives are still highly relevant. Swedish philosophy and theology are at present at a crossroad where disciplinary conflicts and academic strategy sometimes seem more important than research or intellectual openness. In response to this situation, Rosengren and Sigurdson sought to enlarge the scope of the seminar. Together with Theodor Bjursell they founded the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society. In February 2004 the society had first annual meeting.
Since the intellectual profile of the Logos/Pathos-seminar was very close to the broad range of issues treated in the works of Ernst Cassirer Bjursell, Rosengren and Sigurdson considered it appropriate to expand and prolong the seminar within the framework of the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society. Consequently, since spring 2004 the Logos/Pathos-seminar has been arranged by the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society. (SECS)
About the Society
The Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society (SECS) is a non-profit association. Its purpose is to further research in the spirit of Ernst Cassirer, to awaken public interest in contemporary research in the humanities, and to be a resource for a lively intellectual interchange. One of the ways in which the society will try to accomplish its aims is through creating an institute for advanced studies in the humanities and in the social sciences. SECS is a politically and religiously independent non-profit association.
The Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society has put forward the following agenda:
> To arrange seminars, lectures and conferences in order to stimulate advanced and interdisciplinary exchange between the different sub-disciplines within the humanities and theology – and, in the future, also including the social and the natural sciences – offering contemporary as well as historical perspectives.
> To exert influence on and strengthen the public debate in matters pertaining to the humanities and theology. Consequently, one task will be to publish popular as well as scholarly articles and books. So far, the society has tried to accomplish this task by inaugurating a series of publications, such as the Logos/Pathos series (in cooperation with Glänta Produktion, Göteborg, Sweden) and the Occasional Papers of SECS.
> To invite excellent scholars from Sweden and abroad, thereby hoping to introduce works, texts and research of hitherto, in Sweden, marginalized international theoretical perspectives in the academic discourse.
>To initiate research and support researchers who want to use the resources of the society and who share its aims.
On Ernst Cassirer
Since the turn of the millennium, it has become increasingly clear that the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945) was one of the most significant and foresighted among the philosophers of the twentieth century. Cassirers great work – Philosophie der symbolischen Formen – in many ways anticipates the post-modern development in almost all of the fields it covers, from philosophy to physics, and has proven to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for philosophy, anthropology, ethnology, semiotics, linguistics etc. for generations of scholars.
After studying for neo-Kantian philosophers Hermann Cohen and Paul Natorp, the leading thinkers of the so-called Marburg school, Ernst Cassirer finished his doctor’s thesis 1899 in Marburg. He then pursued a successful career as professor in philosophy in Germany – for instance, he was elected Vice-Chancellor of Hamburg University in the years 1929-1930 – until he left the country for England in 1933, after the Nazi Machtübernahme. Cassirer stayed for two years in Oxford and then, following an initiative from the philosopher and likewise Governor of Göteborg Malte Jacobsson, he came to Göteborg.
Between 1935 and 1941 Ernst Cassirer held a chair as professor of philosophy at Göteborgs Högskola. Fearing an imminent Nazi invasion, he ventured the voyage to the USA and a professorial chair at Yale University in 1941. Ernst Cassirer died 1945, in USA.
Cassirer felt at home in Sweden and especially at Göteborgs Högskola, now Göteborg University. He learned Swedish, entered deeply into Swedish philosophy and wrote important essays on the Swedish philosopher Axel Hägerström. He also carried out a historical study on René Descartes and Queen Christina and wrote a book on the eighteenth century Swedish author Thomas Torild. During his time in Gothenburg, Cassirer took an active part in the Swedish intellectual and cultural debate. Already in 1935 he became a Swedish citizen, and remained so until his death. In his writings Cassirer in a fruitful way integrated historical and systematic studies. The fundament for his philosophy was - as he himself says in Logik der kulturwissenschaften, written in Göteborg - that ”spirit too exists only by virtue of the fact that it constantly exteriorizes itself”. That is, that there cannot be a free floating consciousness beyond or before that which we meet in the form of words, images, or symbols. Consciousness in all its forms exists only in and through a diversity of symbolic forms – images, language, myth, traditions, and institutions. Cassirer’s research into these various symbolic forms thus came to encompass a wide field of human experience and its different ways of taking concrete form in myths, religion, language, art, science, history, technology, and economy. This is one of the reasons why Cassirer’s work still presents itself as highly contemporary and significant. He inspired, and increasingly inspires, scholars from a large number of academic disciplines. The work and thought of many significant philosophers and intellectuals have to a large extent grown out of a confrontation and debate with of Cassirer’s ideas. Among those are thinkers as different as the American pragmatist Nelson Goodman, the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the French historian Michel Foucault and the Russian literature- and cultural theorist Michail Bachtin.
The Future of SECS
In the nearest future, the main undertaking of the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society (SECS) is running a regular seminar, as well as continuing the editing project in the Logos/Pathos series and arranging the annual Ernst Cassirer Lecture at Göteborg University. The first of these lectures was held on May 8, 2004 by Professor John Michael Krois – ”A passion can only be overcome by a stronger passion”: Philosophical Anthropology before and after Ernst Cassirer” – and is now available in the ECS Occasional Papers edition, in extenso. Founding a research institute inspired by the work and thought of Ernst Cassirer is a long term project. The main interest of this institute will be to provide a possibility for Swedish researchers in the human and social sciences to get in touch with colleagues and ideas from countries that, until recently, have been academically and intellectually neglected in Sweden. Through the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Institute, in providing a creative setting for foreign and domestic researchers, Göteborg will have the chance to offer a research institute comparable to the best ones in Europe. Ultimately, the aim of the Ernst Cassirer Institute is to provide a place where, and as a result of inviting excellent international scholars, it will be possible to create a new and prosperous intellectual environment for the human and social science in Sweden.
Background > About the Society > On Ernst Cassirer > Upcoming events > Board
Background
In the autumn of 2000 Mats Rosengren, Dr. Phil., Associate Professor, and Ola Sigurdson Dr. Theol., Associate Professor, started a new cross-disciplinary seminar at Göteborg University. The seminar, called Logos/Pathos, was established to address contemporary as well as historical themes and problems in philosophy and theology. As one of many research activities, it was associated with the SCASSS-fellowships in honour of Torgny Segerstedt that Rosengren and Sigurdson were awarded in January the same year.
The aim of the seminar was twofold; partly to create a forum for discussions of contemporary problems, theories and intellectual traditions with relevance for theology and philosophy; partly to invigorate the Swedish academic debate by introducing new themes and inviting international scholars to Gothenburg.
These goals and objectives are still highly relevant. Swedish philosophy and theology are at present at a crossroad where disciplinary conflicts and academic strategy sometimes seem more important than research or intellectual openness. In response to this situation, Rosengren and Sigurdson sought to enlarge the scope of the seminar. Together with Theodor Bjursell they founded the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society. In February 2004 the society had first annual meeting.
Since the intellectual profile of the Logos/Pathos-seminar was very close to the broad range of issues treated in the works of Ernst Cassirer Bjursell, Rosengren and Sigurdson considered it appropriate to expand and prolong the seminar within the framework of the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society. Consequently, since spring 2004 the Logos/Pathos-seminar has been arranged by the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society. (SECS)
About the Society
The Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society (SECS) is a non-profit association. Its purpose is to further research in the spirit of Ernst Cassirer, to awaken public interest in contemporary research in the humanities, and to be a resource for a lively intellectual interchange. One of the ways in which the society will try to accomplish its aims is through creating an institute for advanced studies in the humanities and in the social sciences. SECS is a politically and religiously independent non-profit association.
The Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society has put forward the following agenda:
> To arrange seminars, lectures and conferences in order to stimulate advanced and interdisciplinary exchange between the different sub-disciplines within the humanities and theology – and, in the future, also including the social and the natural sciences – offering contemporary as well as historical perspectives.
> To exert influence on and strengthen the public debate in matters pertaining to the humanities and theology. Consequently, one task will be to publish popular as well as scholarly articles and books. So far, the society has tried to accomplish this task by inaugurating a series of publications, such as the Logos/Pathos series (in cooperation with Glänta Produktion, Göteborg, Sweden) and the Occasional Papers of SECS.
> To invite excellent scholars from Sweden and abroad, thereby hoping to introduce works, texts and research of hitherto, in Sweden, marginalized international theoretical perspectives in the academic discourse.
>To initiate research and support researchers who want to use the resources of the society and who share its aims.
On Ernst Cassirer
Since the turn of the millennium, it has become increasingly clear that the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945) was one of the most significant and foresighted among the philosophers of the twentieth century. Cassirers great work – Philosophie der symbolischen Formen – in many ways anticipates the post-modern development in almost all of the fields it covers, from philosophy to physics, and has proven to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for philosophy, anthropology, ethnology, semiotics, linguistics etc. for generations of scholars.
After studying for neo-Kantian philosophers Hermann Cohen and Paul Natorp, the leading thinkers of the so-called Marburg school, Ernst Cassirer finished his doctor’s thesis 1899 in Marburg. He then pursued a successful career as professor in philosophy in Germany – for instance, he was elected Vice-Chancellor of Hamburg University in the years 1929-1930 – until he left the country for England in 1933, after the Nazi Machtübernahme. Cassirer stayed for two years in Oxford and then, following an initiative from the philosopher and likewise Governor of Göteborg Malte Jacobsson, he came to Göteborg.
Between 1935 and 1941 Ernst Cassirer held a chair as professor of philosophy at Göteborgs Högskola. Fearing an imminent Nazi invasion, he ventured the voyage to the USA and a professorial chair at Yale University in 1941. Ernst Cassirer died 1945, in USA.
Cassirer felt at home in Sweden and especially at Göteborgs Högskola, now Göteborg University. He learned Swedish, entered deeply into Swedish philosophy and wrote important essays on the Swedish philosopher Axel Hägerström. He also carried out a historical study on René Descartes and Queen Christina and wrote a book on the eighteenth century Swedish author Thomas Torild. During his time in Gothenburg, Cassirer took an active part in the Swedish intellectual and cultural debate. Already in 1935 he became a Swedish citizen, and remained so until his death. In his writings Cassirer in a fruitful way integrated historical and systematic studies. The fundament for his philosophy was - as he himself says in Logik der kulturwissenschaften, written in Göteborg - that ”spirit too exists only by virtue of the fact that it constantly exteriorizes itself”. That is, that there cannot be a free floating consciousness beyond or before that which we meet in the form of words, images, or symbols. Consciousness in all its forms exists only in and through a diversity of symbolic forms – images, language, myth, traditions, and institutions. Cassirer’s research into these various symbolic forms thus came to encompass a wide field of human experience and its different ways of taking concrete form in myths, religion, language, art, science, history, technology, and economy. This is one of the reasons why Cassirer’s work still presents itself as highly contemporary and significant. He inspired, and increasingly inspires, scholars from a large number of academic disciplines. The work and thought of many significant philosophers and intellectuals have to a large extent grown out of a confrontation and debate with of Cassirer’s ideas. Among those are thinkers as different as the American pragmatist Nelson Goodman, the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the French historian Michel Foucault and the Russian literature- and cultural theorist Michail Bachtin.
The Future of SECS
In the nearest future, the main undertaking of the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society (SECS) is running a regular seminar, as well as continuing the editing project in the Logos/Pathos series and arranging the annual Ernst Cassirer Lecture at Göteborg University. The first of these lectures was held on May 8, 2004 by Professor John Michael Krois – ”A passion can only be overcome by a stronger passion”: Philosophical Anthropology before and after Ernst Cassirer” – and is now available in the ECS Occasional Papers edition, in extenso. Founding a research institute inspired by the work and thought of Ernst Cassirer is a long term project. The main interest of this institute will be to provide a possibility for Swedish researchers in the human and social sciences to get in touch with colleagues and ideas from countries that, until recently, have been academically and intellectually neglected in Sweden. Through the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Institute, in providing a creative setting for foreign and domestic researchers, Göteborg will have the chance to offer a research institute comparable to the best ones in Europe. Ultimately, the aim of the Ernst Cassirer Institute is to provide a place where, and as a result of inviting excellent international scholars, it will be possible to create a new and prosperous intellectual environment for the human and social science in Sweden.
The Board of SECS
> Chairman: Associate Professor Mats Rosengren mats.rosengren@sh.se
> Vice chairman/Treasurer: Associate Professor Ola Sigurdson +46 31 7735314; ola.sigurdson@religion.gu.se
> Secretary: PhD Maria Johansen idemajo@hum.gu.se
> Ledamot: Thomas Karlsohn, t.karlsohn@hem.utfors.se
> Member: Ylva Gustafsson, ylva.l.gustafsson@vgregion.se
> Member: Nils Olsson +46 31 7862509
> Chairman: Associate Professor Mats Rosengren mats.rosengren@sh.se
> Vice chairman/Treasurer: Associate Professor Ola Sigurdson +46 31 7735314; ola.sigurdson@religion.gu.se
> Secretary: PhD Maria Johansen idemajo@hum.gu.se
> Ledamot: Thomas Karlsohn, t.karlsohn@hem.utfors.se
> Member: Ylva Gustafsson, ylva.l.gustafsson@vgregion.se
> Member: Nils Olsson +46 31 7862509
