Time of the Magicians

The book by Eilenberger, Time of the Magicians, is a magnificent presentation of the major philosophers in the early 20th century. He includes Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Cassirer and Benjamin. I am familiar with the first three and unfamiliar with Benjamin. Benjamin seems thrown in as a fourth wheel, a contre temps in the presentation of the three principals. Wittgenstein is the analytical philosopher, dealing with logic, at first solving all problems in philosophy and then returning to a mass of questioning and reexamination. Cassirer is the Continental gentleman, from the old school, a neo-Kantian who examines the world through linguistics and hermeneutics. He is an in many ways a classic epistemologist. Finally, there is Heidegger, the Nazi, hard nosed and soon to be an ardent Hitler sycophant.

The author takes the reader over the decade of the 1920s, ending in the debate between Heidegger and Cassirer in Davos. Allegedly the philosophic debate of the 20th century. Much has been written about this debate and the author takes one through the period in explaining the ideas of the participants, their personal lives, their interactions and the conflicts which were the focus on this intellectual battle in the Swiss Alps.

Of the three, Heidegger may have had the most influence, directly and through his students. From Heidegger we have Gadamer, Habermas, and Arendt. Arendt had been Heidegger’s mistress for a time, even though she was Jewish, and frankly one can understand Heidegger best by examining him in Arendt’s writings. Heidegger was famous for his work Being and Time and for the well-worn German phrase, Dasein. Dasein is often read in English by the phrase “being there” and then explaining this ontological theory can wrap one around many times. I found that the best expression of Heidegger is strangely in the work by Winograd and Flores. These authors apply Heidegger and Gadamer to the development of artificial intelligence, written in 1986. So much of Heidegger’s constructs can be examined in how one design’s such systems. The construct of “being there” of thrownness, of “being in the world”, of breaking down, and of “readiness at hand” become a reality for Winograd and Flores. The abstractness of the ontology of Heidegger gets transferred into the essence of systems, albeit artificial, that represent human actions.

Unfortunately, the complexity of Heidegger’s Dasein is not drawn out in the book, at least from my perspective. What does appear is that Heidegger uses Dasein as a crutch, using the work whenever he tries to assert a point. Dasein here and Dasein there, that is both the question and the answer.

Wittgenstein is a bit of a contrast. He clearly is not a party to the debate but his presence if felt. He is in the Analytical School of the English, despite his Viennese roots. He was trained as an engineer, served at the Front in the Austrian Army in WW I, and wandered back and forth to Cambridge. One may think he has an autistic like personality, brilliant but lacking social graces. In my experience on of the better discussion and explanation of Wittgenstein, both early and late is in the biography by AJ Ayer. As Ayer notes regarding the Tractatus:

“The world is said to be a totality of facts which themselves consist in the existence of what the original Germans are called “atomic facts” and perhaps “states of affairs”. The “states of affairs” are composed of simple objects each of which is named.”

Wittgenstein in his Tractatus developed a numbered hierarchical set of statements whose structure allegedly answered all questions of philosophic interest. Over the 1920s, in Wittgenstein’s wanderings, he returns to Cambridge and dramatically changes his ideas. Frankly, how this fit into the tale of Davos is an open question. Wittgenstein was related to the Vienna Circle group and in that context, they were anti-metaphysicalists. Perhaps a contre temps but the linkage albeit interesting leaves one questioning.

Cassirer is a quintessential Old-World gentleman. Gracious, focused, erudite, and understanding of the many dimensions of humanity. In a sense he is a neo-Kantist. Skidelsky has written an exceptionally good biography of Cassirer that complements what is in this book. Cassirer was at his core a metaphysician, one who was concerned with the epistemological issues and using linguistics as a tool. Cassirer was well versed in the Enlightenment and his ideas were well structured and presented. The author provides an excellent overview of Cassirer and his time and ideas.

Finally, there is Benjamin. Here I see an erstwhile philosopher whose life is a set of crises ending in his own suicide. I am really uncertain as to his inclusion. Is here a magician, or the magician’s helper.

Overall, the presentation is superb. One comes away understanding the person, the ideas and the times. However, the climax even is Davos and one wonders how all this fits together. Evan the Davos event spends more time on Heidegger skiing and Cassirer having a cold. In fact Davos may have been an anti-climax, since it was the event that led to Cassirer escaping the Nazis and Heidegger embedded with them. It was not Davos qua event but Davos as a point in time. The author lets you understand these four people, three of whom has retained some prominence and the fourth, Benjamin, left as the extra wheel on a tricycle. One wonders what Benjamin is there for.

My other concern is the melding of the four people. How do they fit, since clearly Heidegger, Cassirer and Wittgenstein are somewhat orthogonal in life an thought. Ontologist, linguist, logician, and also philanderer and Nazi, gentleman and classicist, individualist and wanderer, all flowing through the ideas of the 1920s. Heidegger led to Gadamer and then Sartre, Wittgenstein to a few followers, and Cassirer to a possible rising reassessment and appreciation.

Overall, the book is a snapshot of the 1920s, the challenges of Post WW I and Weimar, and the setting of the stage for what would come.

This is a book which acquisition editors would probably term a ‘good read’. It is a snapshot of the philosophic world from 1919-1929, focusing on four figures: Wittgenstein, Cassirer, Heidegger and Walter Benjamin. Benjamin is a somewhat odd addition since he is more of a culture critic than a philosopher per se. While he may have been a genius he was not a transcendent genius like Wittgenstein. He was also not a systematic, productive, neo-Kantian academic like Cassirer. He was unfaithful to his wife, as was Heidegger, but he never authored a book of the stature of BEING AND TIME. Nor was he, like Heidegger, a supporter of the Nazis.

TIME OF THE MAGICIANS looks at a single decade in the life of four prominent thinkers (though it does look forward to Wittgenstein’s thought in PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS). As such it is not a complete biography of any of these men; nor is it a history of 20thc philosophy. The period does include the historically important debate between Cassirer and Heidegger at Davos, which is summarized in some detail.

The exposition of the four figures’ thought is lucid (no mean feat for any of them, with the possible exception of Cassirer). The biographical sections are well-written and engaging. None of the figures (with the possible exception, again, of the rather stolid Cassirer) was dull and Wittgenstein and Benjamin suffered considerably, Benjamin, in most cases, because of the results of his own decisions (or indecision).

The book is written for the common reader with an interest in German philosophy, history and culture. (Interestingly, Hegel is only mentioned once, and in passing.) While the book feels weighty it moves along quickly. One of my college philosophy professors distinguished philosophy texts as ‘subway reading’ and ‘non-subway reading.’ This is not subway reading but neither is it ‘quiet room, hot coffee, focused lighting’ reading. It is easy-chair with tea reading.

Highly recommended, within the constraints of its purposes.

I love the intellectual effort required by these early 20th century titans and Eilenbergers approach of part biography part philosophical analysis has added considerably to my feeble efforts to understand them. I still cant claim to have a real grasp on any of the fours thought but Eilenberger has made the effort that much more enjoyable.

You dont need a special taste for Philosophy to appreciate this book. I plan to re-read some parts of it to get a better handle on material I encountered for the first time, but Magicians almost qualifies as a page-turner in the way the author depicts the subjects and their milieu. I am recommending the book to quite a few friends.

I haven’t even finished the book yet but i can say that it is very good on making clear the philosophies involved and that’s saying something. Not many could write such a book on the 4 philosophers involved.

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