Cassirer and Consciousness

While the main focus on Cassirer's Philosophy is usually, and justifiably, on its main theme, Symbolic Forms, it also entails an original and profound theory of Consciousness. Supported by studies of childhood development, his thesis is that at its most fundamental, awareness is a 'Thou' consciousness of physiognomic expression, e. g. of parental friendliness or anger. Furthermore, it is at an early phase of subsequent development, that a nascent I-Thou-He experiential contrast is refined to One-Two-Three. It is only later that a transition to impersonal it-consciousness, and, thence, to theory and science, begins to emerge. Hence, what are traditionally posited as the foundations of Consciousness, e. g. the Sense-Datum, of Empiricism, or the Mathematical Forms, of Rationalism, are, according to Cassirer, far removed from the origin of Consciousness. Also, one notable specific application of his theory is to the problem of 'Knowledge of the Other'. Traditional accounts, despite their differences, present analyses that treat the problem as a derivation of an I from an experiential It; even non-cognitive solutions, e. g. Sensualist Sympathy, or Levinas' Ethics, formulate the problem as one of supplying a link between two discrete entities. For Cassirer, theoretical interpersonal knowledge is a refinement of a connection that already exists. Likewise, the impersonal sciences are only special branches of human culture, in his System.