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7 - Infinity or Finitude

The Quest for Existential Orientation

from Part II - ‘What Is the Human Being?’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2022

Simon Truwant
Affiliation:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
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Summary

Compares Cassirer and Heidegger's take on the human being's capacity to orient itself in the world in a meaningful way. Cassirer's theory of the functions of consciousness, the only meat to his functional conception of human subjectivity, is used to describe the diverse, cultural compasses by means of which the 'symbolic animal' navigates the human world (7.1). Heidegger's accounts of 'the they' and of owned ('authentic') existence in turn provide a theory of Dasein's capacity to orient itself within and towards its world (7.2). In view of their shared interest in orientation, I discern an important distinction for both Cassirer and Heidegger between an orienting and an oriented self. With regard to both, they ultimately disagree about the infinite (cultural) or finite (temporal) nature of the human being (7.3).

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Chapter
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Cassirer and Heidegger in Davos
The Philosophical Arguments
, pp. 153 - 176
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Infinity or Finitude
  • Simon Truwant, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
  • Book: Cassirer and Heidegger in Davos
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009019569.010
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  • Infinity or Finitude
  • Simon Truwant, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
  • Book: Cassirer and Heidegger in Davos
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009019569.010
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Infinity or Finitude
  • Simon Truwant, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
  • Book: Cassirer and Heidegger in Davos
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009019569.010
Available formats
×