Human, Symbol, And Culture

Ernst Cassirer, not only the last influential leader of the new Kantian, but alsoone of the leading figures in the symbol aesthetics, originally contributed to SymbolAnthropology with integrating cultural studies, anthropology and the tendency ofsemiotics, continued and extended the research routes of Kant, which made himunique in the modern western aesthetic theory, and made him the pioneer of a newmethod to research human and their culture. In this paper, mainly by means ofstudying Cassirer’s semeiology theory, we mine the connotation of Cassirer’ssemeiology, including human natural, cultural, and artistic, etc. So we study hissemiotic aesthetic ideology from the exploration of cultural anthropology, originalityof semiotic and linguistic and far-reaching impact of his theory.Cassirer is one of the representatives of the new Kantian, who inherited anddeveloped the Kant’s philosophy, and further tried to view the whole human culture ata grand vision and defined the human from the function, which is introduced at thepreface and the first chapter in this paper.Cassirer’s semiotic aesthetics has distinct theoretical features that his symbol,form and culture are triune. Symbol is form, and then culture. The development oflinguistics brought him lots of affects and inspiration, and supplied the linguistic basicof the development of his semeiology. In the second chapter we explore thetheoretical foundation of his theory of semiotic and linguistic as well as research onlanguage.Cassirer’s semiotic theory is threading together with his theory of aesthetics. Inthe third chapter, we emphasize the core of his semiotic and aesthetic, i.e. the artisticaesthetic, emphasize his literature and art theory, and the unique artistic symbols, aswell as Cassirer’s opinions of aesthetic education.Fourthly, Cassirer’s semiotic aesthetics not only studied arts and languages, butalso other forms of human cultures, with the tendency of cultural aesthetics. ChapterIV emphasizes in details about the semiotic thought of other forms of human culture,and exhibits the grand cultural semeiology ideas.fifthly, Cassirer exerted great influence on the later western modern philosophy and aesthetic theory. The theory of semiotic and aesthetic are inherited and developedcompletely, finally leading to semiotic aesthetics. In the fifth chapter, we take SusanneLanger as a example to see the significance and influence.Other discussions include the relationship between Cassirer’s theory andstructuralism, and the distinguishing feature, deep influence and insufficiency of histheory of semiotic aesthetics, as well as the enlightenment to China’s contemporaryconstructions of literature and art theory.