Cassirer and structuralism of perception: an application of group theory to Gestalt psychology

Ernst Cassirer's task was to set up an account of perception as objective judgement. We can trace Cassirer's view of perception through three different accounts each of which aimed to give an answer of how perceptual judgements can be possible. These three accounts started from (1900-1923) where he presented his view depending on Functional- Relational analysis of perceptual experience. The second account started from (1923-1933) where he presented his view of perception depending on symbolic analysis of perceptual experience, and finally the third account started from (1933-1945) where the analysis of perceptual phenomena has been made depending on his apprehension of Group Theory. The main target of Cassirer in the third account was to show that there is similarity between geometry and perception with respect to the ways both of these two disciplines build up their objects. Having the same logical base, Cassirer claimed that there is similarity between geometrical determination of the object and perceptual determination of the experienced object. For Cassirer, this similarity is what allows an application of "group theory" to perception. As a result of that claim, Cassirer shifted mathematical terms such as "invariance", "frame of reference" and "transformation" from the province of geometry and reused them in the field of perception for setting up what he called psychology of thought. This thesis discusses Cassirer's first two accounts and focuses on the third account by giving examples of how the mathematical concept of "group" can be used as an analogy to provide an intrinsic explanation of the nature of the objects and their characteristics one experiences during the perceptual situation. The explanations of the perceptual phenomena represented in the perceptual experience, as given by Cassirer, based on Gestalt psychology, reflected this understanding. The ample examples created by the Gestalt psychologists and used by Cassirer indicated how both understood the object of perceptual experience as constructed and not as a thing or hic et nunc. I will show that in these three accounts, there are non-physical elements, which defined here as structural elements, involved in the perceptual experience. By the virtue of these non-physical elements, perceptual judgements are possible. Cassirer and the Gestalt psychologists emphasized that these structural elements are presupposed in every perceptual experience and this understanding will lead to the claim that both Cassirer and the Gestaltists presupposed the constructive unity of mind based on a transcendental analysis of the nature of mind and its cognitive processes

The Modern Construction of Myth [Review]

The Modern Construction of Myth, by Andrew yon Hendy, is an interdisciplinary survey of the construction of myth in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author\u27s thesis is that modern theories of myth can be divided into three broad groups, folkloristic, ideological, and constitutive, and that they all derive from an original, romantic, construct. The survey is organized diachronically, with some attention to taxonomy and axiology. I find the author\u27s thesis entirely persuasive: what follows is meant to serve as a guide to the overall argument and additionally to highlight various important threads that remain somewhat diffuse in a book of this scope

How Successful Middle School Band Directors Display Supplemental Illustrations, Instructions, and Reference Material in Their Classrooms

Although presenting visual information is commonplace in a learning environment, many music educators could do this more effectively. This grounded theory project aimed to determine how successful middle school band directors display supplemental illustrations, instructions, and reference material in their classrooms. School administrators often require teachers to exhibit material related to the curriculum. Music educators are typically permitted autonomy with their wall displays if they maintain the educational parameters. Despite the potential benefits of displaying quality visual information, not all middle school band directors ensure that the auxiliary material presented in their room is relevant and constructive. Available resources that discuss classroom wall exhibits do not specifically reference middle school band rooms. The researcher surveyed successful middle school band directors to determine how they incorporate supplemental illustrations, instructions, and reference materials into daily teaching and learning. The results revealed various responses, but a few replies share similarities. Popular findings included band directors utilizing traditional posted classroom visuals and electronic display boards. Participants noted employing supplemental information while teaching foundational concepts such as musical terminology, fingerings, rhythms, key signatures, and scales. Band directors also reported prominently displaying information relevant to the day’s topic and strategically displaying information in locations near particular instruments. The findings may help middle school band directors feel secure knowing what supplemental illustrations, instructions, and reference material to display in their band rooms

Concepts of myth and ritual, and criticism of Shakespeare, 1880-1970

This work is a study of the various concepts and theories of myth and ritual as they are found in some non-literary disciplines, especially anthropology, in literary theory, and in the criticism of Shakespeare. It is divided into two parts. Part I discusses various theories of myth and ritual and the relation of these theories to literature in general. It consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the allegorical theory of myth, and tries to show that the idea of myth as allegory persists in literary criticism, even though it has generally been discarded in theory. It suggests that the majority of criticism in terms of myth and ritual can, in fact, be seen as the extension to literary material of the kind of allegorical and typological exegesis that has been widely practised in scriptural hermeneutic from very early times. This suggestion is tested with reference to Shakespeare-criticism in Chapter 6 in Part II. Chapter 2 discusses the idea of ritual and the specifically anthropological theories concerning the connexions between myth, ritual, and drama. It is suggested here that the idea of ritual as such, and a psychological-cum-sociological extension of the concept of the scapegoat may be critically more valuable than the mere tracing of the origins of works of art in primitive rituals. Chapter 3 discusses ideas concerning a special mythical mode of thought, emphasis being placed here on the theory of Ernst Cassirer. Chapter 4 is concerned with the theories of Northrop Frye and Levi-Strauss, who are both, in their very different ways, interested in the 'structural' approach to myth. Chapter 5 surveys theories concerning the social role of myth and ritual and also discusses the relation between myth and ideology. It is proposed here that application of anthropological theories of myth and ritual in literary criticism should logically lead to a sociological approach to the work of art. Part II is also divided into five chapters, each surveying the existing 'myth' criticism of Shakespeare in the light of the theories outlined in the corresponding chapter in Part I. It emerges from this survey that contrary to the common impression, the influence of anthropological theory, especially of the theories that come after Frazer and the 'Cambridge' anthropologists, has been relatively slight where actual criticism is concerned. In fact, we find that the overwhelming majority of the criticism of Shakespeare in terms of myth is really an extension of allegorical mythography to secular, literary works. In such criticism there is usually an assumption that the work under consideration is of mythical or scriptural status and hides some profound and universal truth. Sometimes, however, such criticism may also be seen as an attempt to raise the work of art to the status of myth

Open Sesame! The Magical Words of the World of Meaning of Human Beings: Dialectical Harmony of the Symbolical Forms

Ernst Cassirer made an original contribution to twentieth century philosophy with his genuine series of the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Cassirer evaluates the various moments of culture from an integral perspective in this multi-faceted study that covers the symbolic dimension of human communication and interaction with the world. Cassirer's contribution to the philosophical agenda was reinforced by the works An Essay on Man and The Myth of the State, published posthumously. These latter works, however, go beyond mere repetition and summary of Cassirer's thought. Particularly, The Myth of the State is important to confront a problem left open by Cassirer's integral philosophy of culture; the return of myth that consolidates contemporary political thought and action. Cassirer defines culture as the progressive process of human emancipation; analyzes the elements of culture in dialectical harmony, without reducing one to the other. It is doubtful that a metaphysics of culture will eliminate existing problems, but a philosophical framework that will offer an integral view of culture is still a current need. Although Cassirer presents such a framework, it triggers a series of questions waiting to be resolved within itself. In this study, first, the aspects of Cassirer's philosophy of culture that give the opportunity to comprehend the various dimensions of the human beings’ world of meaning will be discussed in detail. Then, it will be tried to describe the depth and limit of the original cultural analysis revealed by this systematic approach to update itself in the face of a historical problem. Within the first half of the twentieth century, totalitarianism, as an experience that completely shook the world of meaning of the West, documented the violence and destruction of the culture's transformation into cult. Thus, the challenge concerning Cassirer's assumption of dialectical harmony of symbolic forms that move culture raises the need for a political horizon. Although The Myth of State has tried to present this necessary complementary horizon of interpretation, it is far from the comprehensive dimension offered by the critical philosophical interventions bolstered mainly by Cassirer’s thought

Mytické paradigma avantgardy a její doby

Tato studie se snaii ukazat, jak zmeny mytologie, v Losevove pojeti, ovlivnily umeni, literaturu a pffstup k basnickemujazyku. Studie prezentuje avantgardnf hnutf ve vsech jeho heterogennfch formach jako umenf casu krizf, ktere se objevily v evropske kulture a prinesly velke zmeny do lidskeho vedomi. Popisem umeleckeho postoje k prostoru a casu uvadfme pffklady, jak toto nove vedomf zachazelo s prostorovymi a casovymi vztahy. Tato studie se take zabyva obecnymi myty, ktere jsou ukazovany na pffkladech avantgardnich del. Vybrane myty by mely ukazat touhu avantgardnfch hnutf prestavet, rekonstruovat a pochopit podstatu jazyka umenf a poezie. A vantgardni umenf a literaturu nemuzeme pochopit bez znalosti dobovych souvislostf. Tato hnutf nicmene obsahujf ve sve podstate neco, co je charakteristicke pro myticke myslenf jako takove - periodicky, instinktivnf mivrat k zakladnf a puvodnf cistote se snahou 0 obnovenf vyznamu vyvoje a procesu tvorby. Tento fenomen analyzujeme prostrednictvfm my tu, ktere jsou vsudyprftomne v evropskych a dalSfch kulturach a objevujf se take v avantgardnfch dflech.This paper is trying to present how changes of mythology, in Losev's sense, influenced art, literature and attitude towards poetic language. The study presents the Avant-garde movements in all theirs heterogenic forms, as the art of the period of crises, which appears in European culture and brought big changes in the consciousness of people. By describing an artistic attitude towards space and time we give examples how this new consciousness dealt with the spatial and time relations. Also this paper deals with the universal myths that are shown on the examples of the Avant-garde works of art. The chosen myths should present a desire of the Avant-garde movements to rebuilt, reconstruct and understand the very essence of the language of art and poetry. The Avant-garde art and literature cannot be understood if separated from the time when they appeared. Nevertheless, these movements carry in essence something that is generally characteristic of mythical thinking as well - that is, the periodical, instinctive return to essence and original purity with an aspiration to reconstruct the genetic moment and the act of creating. This phenomenon we analyze through myths that are omnipresent in European and other cultures and which appear in Avant-garde works as well.Institute of Slavonic and East European StudiesÚstav slavistických a východoevropských studiíFilozofická fakultaFaculty of Art

Signs and classrooms : historical perspectives on the role of signs in human development, with particular reference to an urban classroom

Abstract\ud The role of language in development has been a central theme in post-war English. However, the European history of ideas about the role of signs has been insufficiently appreciated. I aim to enrich readings of contemporary urban classrooms by recovering something of this history. As the culmination of this work, I trace the story of a poem, written by a Black student in a London classroom, back into the history of discussions and debates that a class conducted with itself over five years. From perspectives provided by the history of ideas and recent work in social memory, I show how the student's representation of a childhood recollection (a visit to the site of a former plantation) was mediated and shaped by 'pedagogical artefacts'. I give a history of one such artefact as an instance of the role of signs in a contemporary classroom.\ud A picture of language as human invention was drawn in the first instance during the European Enlightenment. From this picture a seminal theory about the role of signs in the mastery of mental operations emerged. On this view, memory and imagination depend upon signs. In the aftermath to the French Revolution, language was linked to conceptions of citizenship and human advancement. In Germany, the picture of language was redrawn in the light of Kant's epistemology, and connected to an educational ideal of selfcultivation.\ud In the nineteenth century, 'cultural' psychology attempted\ud unsuccessfully to combine a notion of signs in the development of higher mental functions with findings in experimental psychology. Subsequently, the introduction of a distinction between mental 'contents' and mental 'acts' fostered new research into the role of signs in consciousness. Concurrently, an ethical vision of symbolisation as the 'common ground' of humanity issued from a philosophy of symbolic forms. As a whole the thesis seeks to show the continuing relevance of this history