Symbolic Autonomy and The Formation of Racial Thought: A cassirerian Perspective

• Grant number: 25/12422-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: November 29, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Rafael Rodrigues Garcia
• Grantee: Francisco Gustavo de Souza Flor
• Supervisor: Gregory Scott Moss
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: The Chinese University Of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/15847-3 - NOTION OF RACE IN THE GENESIS OF THE MYTH, BP.MS

Abstract

The objective of this research is to position the notion of autonomy of myth and constitute the structure of a racial notion that can first be seen in the book The Myth of the State (1946) of Ernst Cassirer. In The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Vol II (1924), Cassirer presents his authorial and systematic study of myth. In this book, we can see that Cassirer seeks to show how it is possible to know myth as a symbolic form. Cassirer says little about the concept of race or not clearly structures a notion of race, but he gives us indications of how we can grasp his theoretical questions about myth in order to understand what would become his political myth of The Myth of the State. We note that there is no break between the myths of The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms and The Myth of the State, but rather an expansion of Cassirer beyond his theoretical form, moving towards a form that could explain historical events through his philosophy. We believe that the autonomy of myth, mentioned in The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms vol. II, is the key to understanding the philosophical structure of race from a cassirerian perspective. Through this research, we sought to focus on two related objectives: A) to investigate in what terms Cassirer structures the notion of the autonomy of the myth-symbol. B) To analyze the role of symbolic autonomy in Cassirer's concept of race in The Myth of the State. By achieving these objectives, we aim to contribute to the development of contemporary Cassirer studies. (AU)