Nowa Krytyka

Within the period spent in Hamburg, Ernst Cassirer published three subsequent volumes of his most significant and well-known works. Furthermore, he fundamentally expanded his field of interests and turned towards the philosophy of culture. In the spirit of contemplation of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg he scrutinized the aspect of the role of classical, antique tradition of images in the shaping of European culture (Nachleben der Antike). The material found in the library served him as the base of the formulation of the “general systematics of symbolic forms”. Cassirer’s conception of symbolic forms based upon Erwin Panofsky’s iconology, determined philosophical foundations and became an effective instrument for the investigation of products of culture. Cassirer himself, interested in the functional approach to culture, gained an insight into concrete, historical disciplines. Warburg’s ideas became a persistent element of the humanities and so did the philosophy of symbolic forms