One of Emmanuel Levinas’s (“LEV-in-ahss’s”) greatest regrets was mocking this philosopher in a skit in which he covered his hair in white powder and repeatedly intoned “I am a pacifist.” A conversation with this philosopher inspired the elliptical design of the reading room of Aby Warburg’s library, where this philosopher researched a book that distinguishes “expressive” and “representative” functions of thought. This philosopher emphasized the human capacity for “spontaneous self-expression” in opposition to another philosopher’s emphasis on “thrownness” during a 1929 debate on the question “what is it to be a human being?” This philosopher, who debated Martin Heidegger at Davos (“da-VOSE”), defined humans as “symbol-making animals.” For 10 points, name this neo-Kantian author of Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. ■END■
ANSWER: Ernst Cassirer (“kah-SEER-er”) [or Ernst Alfred Cassirer]
<Philosophy>
= Average correct buzz position