SOURCE: An introduction to Ernst Cassirer: The Dilemma of a Liberal Intellectual in Germany, 1914-1933, University of Toronto Press, 1978, pp. 3-16.

In the following excerpt, Lipton provides an overview of the evolution of Cassirer's philosophical thinking against the backdrop of German politics from 1914 to 1933.

Ernst Cassirer was born to Jewish parents on 28 July 1874 in Breslau. His was an extended family from the upper middle class with commercial and publishing interests. He lived in Germany until May 1933, when he left his homeland because of the Nazi regime's anti-Semitic policies. Even though for a large part of his life Cassirer confined most of his social and intellectual activities to his family circle and a few select colleagues, the course of his life and work were clearly influenced by the events of the period from 1871 to 1933.

The most striking characteristic of Cassirer's life and work was his commitment to preserving the...