A Philosophy of Human Culture

The book is divided into twelve chapters, which are themselves divided into two sections of five and seven chapters each, under the headings "What Is Man?" and "Man and Culture." The first section can be seen as preparation for the second section, which seems to this reader the heart of the book and certainly the most compelling, partly because Cassirer is able to focus his laser-like mind on one subject at a time.

The first section explains what the author believes to be the problem facing an age which has more "facts" about human existence than ever before, but no method for organizing or understanding those facts or their deeper meaning or relationship. His book is an effort to right that situation.

He then explains the role of the symbol in human development. One such symbol is Utopia, which to him is not a mere fantasy, but a crucial tool for the race:

The great mission of the Utopia is to

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making choices and taking action in the world as an individual and as part of the race), and becoming more ethical in a bewildering world full of violence and potential for destruction. The last thing in the world Cassirer wants is for the reader to merely see what is and to accept it as the ultimate reality: It follows from the very nature and character of ethical thought that it can never condescend to accept "the given." The ethical world is never given; it is forever in the making. "To live in the ideal world," said Goethe, "is to treat the impossible as if it were possible." The great political and social reformers are indeed constantly under the necessity of treating the impossible as though it were possible (61). Cassirer, then, wants nothing less than to change the world, beginning with the individual reader who will be changed by having his attitude toward life, the world, and himself or herself changed. He wants to increase the possibilities for the free, enthusiastic, autonomous action on the part of the individual who will see his life more as a mission or a calling to be better and do better, to improve not only his own lot but the lot of others around him. He wants to create a Utopia in the minds of his readers tow
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Plato Republic, Man Culture, Accordingly Cassirer, Locke Hume, Human Culture, Plato Socrates, human culture, Haven Yale, human enterprise, various fields, anthropological philosophy, free autonomous, autonomy individual, ideal world, cassirer's book, faith individual's, possibilities free,
Approximate Word count = 1589
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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