L’art comme forme symbolique
Audrey Rieber
Appareil January 10, 2025 DOI: 10.4000/appareil.825 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Culture Musique Forme symbolique Objectivation Imitation |
| Key points | Argues that Cassirer's conception of music as a symbolic form rejects inspiration and imitation, positioning music as a path to freedom when it reaches pure symbolic form. |
Abstract
Cassirer thinks of the musical art as a symbolic form. That allows him to put the emphasis both on the composer’s activity and on the audience’s, that is to say to reject the theory of inspiration and to bring up the idea of configuration. What is specific to music is that it can discover pure forms of the mind. The theory of imitation (and one of its variants: the theory of expression) and the moralizing conception of art are therefore irrelevant. Finally, the culture philosopher’s reflexion on music must be related to the philosophy of mind. Music becomes a path to freedom when, and only when, it reaches the stage of pure symbolic.