Cassirer EssayonMan
Cassirer EssayonMan
Cassirer EssayonMan
Ill
AN C HOR
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IN CANA D A 90 c
AN ESSAY ON MAN
An Introduction
BY ERNST CASSIRER
DOUBLEDAY
ANCHOR
BOOKS
Index 287
26 THE CRISIS IN MAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF HIMSELF 27
been obscured. And reason alone, when left to itself and its event in the history of ideas that it was one of the greatest
own faculties, never can find the way back. It cannot recon- and profoundest geometers who became the belated champion
struct itself; it cannot, by its own efforts, return to its former of the philosophical anthropology of the Middle Ages. When
pure essence. If such a reformation is ever possible, it is only sixteen years old, Pascal wrote tl1e treatise on conic section
by supernatural aid, by the power of divine grace. Such is the that opened a new and a very rich and fertile field of geometri-
new anthropology, as it is understood by Augustine, and main- cal thought. But he was not only a great geometer, he was a
tained in all the great systems of medieval thought. Even philosopher; and as a philosopher he was not merely absorbed
Thomas Aquinas, the disciple of Aristotle, who goes back to in geometrical problems but he wished to understand the true
the sources of Greek philosophy, does not venture to deviate use, the extent, and the limits of geometry. He was thus led
from this fundamental dogma. He concedes to human reason to make that fundamental distinction between the "geometri-
a much higher power than ugustine did; but he is convinced cal spirit ana l1e 'acute or subtle spirit." The geometrical
that reason cannot make the right use of these powers unless spint excels in all these subjects that are capable of a perfect
it is guided and illuminated by the grace of God. Here we analysis-that may be divided into their first elements. 15 It
have come to a complete reversal of all the values upheld by starts with certain axioms and from them it draws inferences
Greek philosophy. What once seemed to be the highest privi- the truth of which can be demonstrated by universal logical
lege of man proves to be his peril and his temptation; what rules. The advantage of this spirit consists in the clarity of its
appeared as his pride becomes his deepest humiliation. The principles and in the necessity of its deductions. ~ut not .an
Stoic precept that man has to obey and revere his inner prin- objects are capable of such treatment. There are tlnngs wh1ch
ciple, the "demon" within himself, is now regarded a because of their subtlety and their infinite variety defy every
dangerous idolatry. attempt at logical analysis. And if there is anything in the
It is not practicable here to describe further the character world that we have to treat in this second way, it is the mind
of this new anthropology to analyze its fundamental motives of man. What characterizes man is the richness and subtlety,
and to follow up its development. But in order to understand the variety and versatility of his nature. l-Ienee mathematic
its purport we may choose a different and shorter way. At the can never become the instrument of a true doctrine of man, of
beginning of modern times there appeared a tl1 inker who gave a philosophical anthropology. It is ridiculous to speak of man
to this antluopology a new vigor and a new splendor. In the as if he were a geometrical proposition. A moral philosophy in
work of Pa c it found its last and perhaps most impressive terms of a system of geometry-an Ethica more geometrico
expression. Pascal was prepared for this task as no other writer demonstrata-is to the mind of Pascal an absurdity, a phil-
had been. He possessed an incomparable gift for elucidating osophical dream. Traditional logic and metaphysics are them-
the most obscure questions and condensing and concentrating
selves in no better position to understand and solve the riddle
complex and sca ttered systems of thought. othing seems to
be impermeable to the keenness of his thought and the lucid- of man. Their first and supreme law is the law of contradic-
ity of his style. In him are united all the advantages of modern tion. Rational tl10ught, logical and metaphysical thought can
literature and modern philosophy. But he uses them as weap- comprehend only those objects which are free from contradic-
ons against tl1e modern spiri t, the spirit of Descartes and his tion, and which have a consistent nature and truth. It is,
philosophy. At first sight Pascal seems to accept all the pro- 15. For the distinction behveen /'esprit geom ~trique and /'esprit de
suppositions of Cartesianism and of modern science. There is finesse compare Pascal's treatise "De l'esl?rit geometrique" and Pas-
nothing in nature that can resist the effort of scientific reason; Pens~es, ed. by Charles Louandre {Paris, 1858), chap. ix, p.
cal's
for tl1ere is nothing that can resist geometry. It is a curioui 231.In the passages which follow I quote the English translation of
0. W. Wight ( ew York, 1861).
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:18 THE CRI SIS IN MAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF HIMSELF
however, just this homogeneity which we never find in ma n. by any natural cau e. or can we account for man' salvation;
The philosopher is not permitted to construct an artificial for this salvation depend on an in crutable act of divine
man; he must describe a real one. All the so-called definitions grace. It is freely given and fre ly denied; there is no human
of man are nothing but airy speculation so long as they are action and no human merit that can deserve it. Religion, there-
not based upon and confirmed by our experience of man. fore, never pretends to clarify the mystery of man. It confirms
There is no other way to know man than to understand h is life and deepens this mystery. The God of whom it speaks is a
and conduct. But what we find here defies every attempt at Deus absconditus, a hidden od. lienee even hi image, man,
inclusion within a single and simple formula. Contradic tion cannot be other than mysterious. Man also remains a homo
is the very element of human existence. Man has no "nature" absconditus. Religion is no "theory" of God and man and of
-no simple or homogeneous being. lie is a strange mixture of their mutual relation. The only answer that we receive from