The Swedish Collegium forAdvanced Study in the Social Sciences, SCASSS,

the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society,and Göteborg University, hereby invite to the symposium

ERNST CASSIRER ANDTHE PHILOSOPHY

AND SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION

Jonsereds Herrgård

May 20, 2005

Although Ernst Cassirer never wrote a philosophy of religion as such,some of his works can be seen as a contribution to this area of philosophicalreasoning. The most important among these texts undoubtedly is the secondvolume of Cassirer ’s Philosophy of Symbolic Forms in which Cassirerinvestigates “mythical consciousness” and its dialectics on the basis of thesociological and anthropological literature on this topic, including the worksof Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. This volume has recently beeninterpreted (by Michael Moxter) as a “post-Neokantian” attempt to analyzereligion as a non-rationalist critique of mythical consciousness. Thisinterpretation makes it possible to establish interesting connections betweenCassirer’s philosophy, modern (pragmatist) semiotics, and the historico-sociological debate about the discovery of transcendence.

After the discovery of transcendence in the so-called Axial Age the fusion ofsign and meaning had to be overcome, and this dissolution is characteristicfor religion (as compared to myth) in Cassirer’s view. If religion sees itself asan eternally insufficient attempt to articulate the human experience of thedivine, it has to locate its own attempt in the framework of a plurality ofother religions (or, maybe, secular worldviews). This symposium serves to

investigate some of these connections in detail. It consists of two parts: the morningsession will be devoted to “Cassirer and the Philosophy of Religion”; the afternoonsession to “The Philosophy of Religion after Cassirer”. The symposium will beconcluded with a panel discussion introduced by John Krois, last year’s holder ofthe Ernst Cassirer Guest Professorship.

In his introductory talk Hans Joas will delineate some main aspects of theproblematique.

Michael Bongardt will concentrate on the question of whether in Cassirer’steleological view of culture as the process of the self-liberation of mankind manhas to liberate himself from religion as well.

Matthias Jung will focus on the intricate relation between feeling and symbolicform in religious experience. Cassirer’s concept of symbolic pregnance will betreated as a convincing attempt to overcome some of the most confusingdichotomies in the philosophy of religion, especially those of collective vs.individual experience and activity vs. passivity. He will argue that Cassirer’s viewhas some important shortcomings and needs to be supplemented with pragmaticand hermeneutic insights regarding the relation between qualitative thought andexpressivity.

Björn Wittrock will firstly examine the concept of the Axial Age, including thecore idea of the emergence of a conceptual chasm between a transcendental and amundane sphere, secondly relate the idea of axiality to research on periods ofcultural crystallization more generally, and thirdly examine linkages between thecultural crystallization of modernity and the presuppositions behind classicalsociology of religion. In a final section the possibility of sociology of religion afterthe demise of classical modernization theory will be analyzed. It will be arguedthat the only prospect for such a sociology, beyond mere description, is one whichmakes its own philosophical presuppositions explicit. These presuppositions,however, are not arbitrary but have to be formulated in terms of an engagementwith existential dimensions that have been central to culturally informed historicalresearch both on the Axial Age and on the formation of modernity.

Jayne Svenungsson will focus on the return of religion in contemporaryphilosophy from a critical theological perspective. Having previously been definedas Enlightenment’s demonized other, religion today tends to appear asEnlightenment’s mystified or exotic other – although still as other.

Ola Sigurdson will discuss some aspects concerning the recent philosophicalturn to religion, with particular regard to the interest in theology among atheist,Marxist or radical philosophers such as Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou, TerryEagleton and Slavoj Zizek, among others.

PARTICIPANTSIn addition to the speakers, a number of young scholars (Ph.D. students or Post-doctorates) whose own work is related to the theme of the symposium will takepart in the symposium, and thus get the opportunity to talk to leading scholars,participate in discussions, and raise questions related to their work.

PRACTICALITIESThe symposium will take place on Friday May 20 at Jonsereds Herrgård just out-side Göteborg. The day before, on Thursday May 19, the Second Holder of theGuest Professorship in Honor of Ernst Cassirer at SCASSS, Professor Hans Joas,will give the Second Annual Ernst Cassirer Lecture. The lecture will be given inthe Aulan, Göteborg University and followed by a reception.

The organizers would like to thank the VolkswagenStiftung (Hannover), the Swed-ish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (SCASSS), and GöteborgUniversity for their generous support.

Professor Hans Joas Dr. Mats RosengrenSecond Holder of the Ass. Prof. Ola SigurdsonGuest Professorship in Honor of The Swedish Ernst Cassirer SocietyErnst Cassirer, SCASSS

TIME SCHEDULE

FRIDAY MAY 20, 2005

09.30 – 10.00 Arrival & Coffee

! CASSIRER AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

10.00 – 10.20 Ernst Cassirer’s Philosophy of Religion. An IntroductionHans JoasMax Weber Center Erfurt, University of Chicago, and Holder ofthe Second Ernst Cassirer Professorship at SCASSS

10.20 – 11.20 Myth, Religion, and LiberationMichael BongardtFree University of Berlin

11.20 – 11.30 Break

11.30 – 12.30 Making Life Explicit — The Symbolic Pregnance ofReligious ExperienceMatthias JungMax Weber Center Erfurt and University of Frankfurt

12.30 – 13.20 Lunch

! THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION AFTER CASSIRER

13.20 – 14.20 Axiality and Antinomies of Modernity: On the Possibility of aSociology of Religion after the Demise of Modernization TheoryBjörn WittrockSwedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences(SCASSS)

14.20 – 15.20 Religion as Exotism: Is Religion Still Philosophy’s Other?Jayne SvenungssonStockholm School of Theology

15.20 – 15.50 Coffee & Tea

15.50 – 16.50 Beyond Secularism? Some Thoughts Concerning the Recent Turnto Religion in PhilosophyOla SigurdsonGöteborg University and Vice Chairman of the Swedish ErnstCassirer Society

16.50 – 18.20 Comment and Panel DiscussionJohn Michael KroisHumboldt-University Berlin and Holder of the First Ernst CassirerProfessorship at SCASSS