The Cassirer–Heidegger debate was an encounter between the philosophers

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

and

Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( , ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic philosophy of science. Aft ...

from March 17 to April 6, 1929 during the Second Davos Hochschulkurs ( Davos University Conference) which held its opening session in the Hotel Belvédère in

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...

on 17 March 1929. Cassirer gave four lectures and Heidegger gave three lectures. The debate was about the significance of

Kantian Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The term ''Kantianism'' or ''Kantian'' is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, ...

notions of freedom and rationality. Cassirer argues that while Kant's '' Critique of Pure Reason'' emphasizes human temporality and finitude, he also sought to situate human cognition within a broader conception of humanity. Cassirer challenges Heidegger's relativism by invoking the universal validity of truths discovered by the exact and moral sciences. After this series of debates, Heidegger wrote ''Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik'' (1929), perhaps in response to this encounter with Cassirer. In '' Continental Divide: Heidegger, Cassirer, Davos'' (

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, 2010), Peter E. Gordon reconstructs the debate between Heidegger and Cassirer, demonstrating its significance as a point of rupture in Continental thought that implicated all the major philosophical movements of the day. ''Continental Divide'' was awarded the

Jacques Barzun Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and ...

Prize from the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 2010.

Rudolf Carnap Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. He ...

Friedman (2011:7). and

Joseph B. Soloveitchik Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ( he, יוסף דב הלוי סולובייצ׳יק ''Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveychik''; February 27, 1903 – April 9, 1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion ...

were also in the audience at Davos.

Notes

References

Otto Friedrich Bollnow Otto Friedrich Bollnow (; 14 March 1903 – 7 February 1991) was a German philosopher and teacher. Biography He was born the son of a rector in Stettin in what was then northwest Germany (now Szczecin, Poland) and went to school in the town of A ...

and

Joachim Ritter Joachim Ritter (; 3 April 1903 – 3 August 1974) was a German philosopher and founder of the so-called Ritter School (german: Ritter-Schule) of liberal conservatism. Biography Born in Geesthacht, Ritter studied philosophy, theology, German liter ...

, "Davoser Disputation zwischen Ernst Cassirer und Martin Heidegger" (transcription: March 25, 1929), in Martin Heidegger, ''Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik'', 5th ed., Vittorio Klostermann, 1991, Appendix IV, pp. 274–96. In English as "Davos Disputation Between Ernst Cassirer and Martin Heidegger," in ''

Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics ''Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics'' (german: Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik) is a 1929 book about Immanuel Kant by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. It is often referred to by Heidegger as simply the ''Kantbuch'' (''Kantbook''). ...

'', 4th ed., Indiana University Press, 1990, pp. 171–85. * Michael Friedman, ''A Parting of the Ways: Carnap, Cassirer, and Heidegger'' (Open Court, 2011

000 Triple zero, Triple Zero, Zero Zero Zero, Triple 0, Triple-0, 000, or 0-0-0 may refer to: * 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number * "Triple Zero", a song by AFI (band), AFI from ''Shut Your Mouth and Open Your ...

See also

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Further reading