Hölderlin e il suo tempo secondo Cassirer. Intorno a un capitolo ancora attuale di Geistesgeschichte

This contribution examines the essay by Ernst Cassirer Hölderlin und der deutsche Idealismus, published between 1917 and 1920. It is divided into three parts: the first based on a methodological cut, in which the contemporary philosophical-cultural atmosphere is briefly reconstructed, also in reference to how the essay in question comes to insert itself in the philosopher’s work; the second, in which it is highlighted how much Cassirer insists first of all in clarifying well the “Philosophy of nature” that Hölderlin elaborates, starting from the reading of Spinoza and Kant; the third and last, in which Cassirer’s interpretation of Hölderlin’s work is shown, intended as an exemplary expression of the continuous mutual influence between the poet and the exponents of German Idealism. It also shows how for Cassirer not only the highest sense of Hölderlin’s creative action insinuates itself, but this fruitful exchange with one’s own time is of primary importance to understand the effect of the forming capacity of the sensitivity of each artist.