Chronology

1874 Born in Breslau, Silesia (now Wroclaw, Poland), to Eduard and Eugenie (Jenny), July 28 

1892 Enters Friedrich Wilhelm University (now the Humboldt University of Berlin) 

1896 Moves to the University of Marburg to study with Hermann Cohen

1899 Publishes his inaugural dissertation, Descartes’s Critique of Mathematical and Natural-Scientifc Cognition (Descartes’ Kritik der mathematischen und naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnis)

1901 Publishes Leibniz’s System in Its Scientifc Foundations (Leibniz’ System in seinen wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen).

1901 Marries Antonelle (Toni) Bondy 

1903 Moves to Berlin

1906 Publishes the first volume of The Problem of Cognition in Philosophy and Science in the Modern Age (Das Erkenntnisproblem in der Philosophie und Wissenschaft der neueren Zeit), which earns him his habilitation  Appointed as a Privatdozent at the Friedrich Wilhelm University

1907 Publishes the second volume of The Problem of Cognition in Philosophy and Science in the Modern Age (Das Erkenntnisproblem in der Philosophie und Wissenschaft der neueren Zeit).

1910 Publishes Substance and Function 

1914 Wins Kuno-Fischer Gold Medal for The Problem of Cognition (Das Erkenntnisproblem) 

Appointed to the Press Offce in Berlin for his civil service during World War I

1919 Appointed as a full professor at the newly founded University of Hamburg

1920  Publishes the third volume of The Problem of Cognition in the Modern Age: The Post-Kantian System (Das Erkenntnisproblem in der  Philosophie und Wissenschaft der neueren Zeit. Die nachkantischen System).   Introduced to the Warburg Library for Cultural Sciences (now Warburg Institute in London) 

1921 Publishes Einstein’s Theory of Relativity 

1923 Publishes The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Volume One: Language 

1925 Publishes The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Volume Two: Mythical Thinking 

1929 Publishes The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Volume Three: The Phenomenology of Cognition

1929 Davos disputation with Heidegger. Elected as the Rector of the University of Hamburg

1932 Publishes The Philosophy of the Enlightenment 

1933 Leaves Germany after Hitler becomes Chancellor.  Accepts position at All Souls College at Oxford 

1935 Accepts position at the University of Göteborg in Sweden 

1936 Publishes Determinism and Indeterminism in Modern Physics

1939 Becomes a Swedish citizen 

1941 Accepts visiting position at Yale 

1942 Publishes The Logic of the Cultural Sciences

1944 Accepts visiting position at Columbia 

Publishes An Essay on Man 

1945 Dies of a heart attack in New York City, April 13

1946 The Myth of the State is published posthumously.

From: (1946) The Myth of the State. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Conclusion of "Myth of the State."

What we have learned in the hard school of our modem political life is the fact that human culture is by no means the firmly established thing that we once supposed it to be. The great thinkers, the scientists, the poets, and artists who laid the foundations of our Western civilization were often convinced that they had built for eternity. When Thucydides discussed his new historical method that he opposed to the former mythical treatment of history he spoke of his work as ..."an everlasting possession." Horace called his poems a "monumentum aere perennius"-a monument more enduring than bronze, which shall not be destroyed by the countless years and flight of ages. It seems, however, that we have to look upon the great master works of human culture in a much humbler way. They are not eternal nor unassailable. Our science, our poetry, our art, and our religion are only the upper layer of a much older stratum that reaches down to a great depth. We must always be prepared for violent concussions that may shake our cultural world and our social order to its very foundations.

To illustrate the relation between myth and the other great cultural powers we may perhaps use a simile that is borrowed from mythology itself. In Babylonian mythology we find a legend that describes the creation of the world. We are told that Marduk, the highest god, before he could begin his work had to fight a dreadful combat. He had to vanquish and subjugate the serpent Tiamat and the other dragons of darkness. He slew Tiamat and bound the dragons. Out of the limbs of the monster Tiamat he formed the world and gave to it its shape and its order. He made heaven and earth, the constellations and planets, and fixed their movements. His final work was the creation of man. In this way the cosmic order arose from the primeval chaos, and it will be preserved for all times. "The word of Marduk," says the Babylonian epic of creation, "is eternal; his command is unchangeable, no god can alter what proceeds from his mouth."

The world of human culture may be described in the words of this Babylonian legend. It could not arise until the darkness of myth was fought and overcome. But the mythical monsters were not entirely destroyed. They were used for the creation of a new universe, and they still survive in this universe. The powers of myth were checked and subdued by superior forces. As long as these forces, intellectual, ethical, and artistic, are in full strength, myth is tamed and subdued. But once they begin to lose their strength chaos is come again. Mythical thought then starts to rise anew and to pervade the whole of man's cultural and social life.