How Does Art Effect The Culture From Cassirer’s Point of View?

From Ernst Cassirer’s point of view, Culture must be understood as an organic whole which has different sectors with special functions. Language, myth, religion, art, history and science are different “symbolic forms” that form “inner world” of human and at the same time “outer world”; shape “ego” and “reality”. It may say Cassirer’s “philosophy of symbolic forms” however develops Kantian critical philosophy which recognizes a priori categories as a frame of human cognition of reality. Cassirer by developing Kantian epistemology to areas more than scientific cognition, means language, myth, religion, art and history, consider a priori categories for each cultural form which are frame of human cognition of reality. Each one of these forms gives a symbol for cognition that is a kind of world view. Art, as a “symbolic form”, has a function of forming and ordering sense impressions. Another special peculiarity that signifies art from other symbolic forms and supplies it with a particular function in human culture is that aesthetic intuition reminds us to see different aspects of reality. Seeing is a creative action. Thus, art provides us a fresher and richer image of reality and teaches us not only conceptualize or utilize things, but also see their depth. Art, in this way, effects on other symbolic forms and activates whole human culture.