Ernst Cassirer: "Language and Myth"
(Sprache und Mythos, 1925)
(Sprache und Mythos, 1925)
Published in 1925, Language and Myth (Sprache und Mythos) serves as a crucial prelude to Cassirer’s monumental Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. In this essay, Cassirer rejects the rationalist view of the 19th century, which often dismissed myth as a primitive error. Instead, he argues that myth, language, art, and science are all valid "symbolic forms"—distinct organs of reality through which humans structure their experience. The central thesis is that language and myth share a common genetic root: the metaphorical mode of thinking.
Cassirer begins by dismantling the prevailing theories of his time, specifically targeting the philologist Max Müller. Müller had famously argued that mythology was a "disease of language" (a disease of language). He believed that early humans used metaphorical adjectives (e.g., calling the sun "the flying one") which later generations misunderstood as proper names of deities, inventing myths to explain them.
Cassirer counters that myth is not a pathological byproduct or a distortion of logical thought. It is a positive, creative energy. The human mind does not start with a passive reflection of reality; it starts with an active act of "forming." Myth and language arise from the same impulse: the need to concentrate immediate sensory experience into a spiritual form.
Drawing heavily on the work of Hermann Usener (Götternamen, 1896), Cassirer traces the evolution of religious thought through three distinct stages of "naming":
This is the most primitive layer of mythical experience. A "Momentary God" is not a personification of a broad natural force (like a Storm God) but the objectification of a singular, intense emotional experience. When primitive man is overwhelmed by a sudden feeling—fear, panic, or joy—that specific moment is elevated to the divine. It exists only in the "here and now" of the emotional discharge. The deity is not a class or a category, but a pure intensity.
As human consciousness develops, it begins to stabilize these fleeting impressions through activity. Sondergötter are functional deities associated with specific, recurring human actions (e.g., a Roman god specifically for the "first plowing" or "harrowing"). This marks a shift from passive emotion to active ordering. By naming the separate functions of their work, humans begin to classify and organize the world teleologically.
The final stage is the development of the "Personal God" (e.g., Zeus, Apollo, Yahweh). Here, the name detaches from a single function and denotes a complex personality. This evolution parallels the development of the human "ego" or self-consciousness. It culminates in monotheism, where the divine name becomes abstract and all-encompassing (e.g., the biblical "I am that I am"), moving from a magical image to an ethical concept.
Cassirer explains the divergence of science and myth by distinguishing between two logical forms:
Logical-Discursive Thought (Science): Operates by extension and abstraction. To form the concept "tree," one compares many objects and strips away their unique details to find a common denominator. It classifies the world by subsuming particulars under general laws.
Mythical-Metaphorical Thought: Operates by intension and compression. It does not compare; it becomes absorbed in the immediate presence of the object. It follows the law of participation (pars pro toto): the part is the whole. A lock of hair is not just a symbol of the person; it substantially is the person. This substantial identity is the foundation of magic.
In the mythical worldview, the word is not a mere sign pointing to an object; it is a real power. This is the phenomenon of Word Magic. The name contains the essence of the thing. To know the name of a god or demon is to have power over them.
Language, however, holds a dialectical power. While it begins in this magical unity, its inherent structure (grammar, syntax) eventually pushes it toward classification and relation. Language liberates itself from the "stupor" of the immediate impression, evolving from a magical force into a semantic function (Logos). This transition enables the rise of scientific and philosophical thought.
Does the triumph of science mean the death of myth? Cassirer argues that myth does not die but migrates into Art. Like myth, art focuses on the immediate, qualitative reality of things rather than abstract laws. However, there is a crucial difference:
Myth takes its images for literal reality (it believes the demon exists).
Art lives in the realm of aesthetic semblance (Schein). It uses the metaphorical power of myth but is conscious of its figurative nature.
Thus, art offers a "catharsis"—it allows humanity to experience the emotional depth of the mythical world without being enslaved by its magical terrors. It is the ultimate liberation of the human spirit through form.