Structure de la perception et schéma del l’œuvre dans la métaphysique de Cassirer et de Klee

In Cassirer’s Metaphysics, the terms Darstellung and Vorstellung stand respectively for the “gateway” and the “world” of representation. Both Leibniz’s topology and Klee’s theory of figuration account for the twofold aspect of representation as the continuous horizon of the points constituting infinity, whose actual configuration is achieved by means of schematization of forms into figures, that is to say the labilization of reality’s structures within perception. Moreover, the construction of the Kleean space, as the positing of a space inside the space, appears to be a projection of Leibnizian-Cassirerian differential calculus. “Scheme” and “structure” stand in a differential relation: for every given structure it is possible to go back to its scheme like for every given line it is possible to go back to the curve generating it, and vice versa. The scheme of the Werk, as in Cassirer’s Linienzug, represents the emergence of impression at the level of expressive consciousness; this schematic representation is the gateway to objective representation, whose elements it prefigures by a genetically productive movement. The question is: how is the schematic representation the way leading to objective representation; in other words, how is the Darstellung the gateway to Vorstellung. In what sense does the Darstellung, as the symbolic function equidistant from Ausdruck and Bedeutung, gain access to Vorstellung, where the functions remain in the unity of a synthesis not yet originary? Access to Vorstellung takes place throughout Darstellung, as it shows itself in the two different originary forms of word and image. Are word and image always already symbolic forms? Or rather, how do they distinguish themselves from the symbolic forms, from their categorical apriorism? In Cassirer’s philosophy, the world of perception is a system of meanings, by whose continue and gradual segregation the I achieves to configure the space of experience. In this sense, it is the meaning that is to be configured and not simple the intuition. After all the characterization of Vorstellung, as the “world” (Welt der “Vorstellung”) and that of Darstellung as the “gateway” (Pforte der “Vorstellung”) allude to a world of representation which is always already represented, to enter which you have to open a door within it, a space in the space. Configuration, as the positing of a space inside the space already known, is already present in Leibniz’s thought and operates in Klee’s understanding of art. Klee writes: «Within the space already known to us I have here built a second space whose upper surface is visible to the eye. Hence we may speak more appropriately of a body than of a space contained within our visual field. For real spaces go beyond our field of vision (we are in them)» (P. Klee, Notebooks, I. The Thinking Eye). Continuity, in which we always already are, is imperceptible to our senses unless it is ourselves who posits extension. A new objectivity shows up within the picture: «This fish is an object (Gegenstand) in the old sense, while from the modern point of view it is part of the picture (Bildteil)» (P. Klee, Notebooks, I. The Thinking Eye). Every spatial construction is a delimitation of the infinite space connecting an interior with its exterior and vice versa. This return to continuum, as a return to the “now”, stands for the reversibility of “Pforte” and “Welt”. In his Leibniz’ System, Cassirer defines Lebniz’s integral calculus as the relation between the given element and the construction originated from its continuation. It is the expression of the passage from the point to the line, from the line to the plane and so on. «Just as language in the act of naming divided up the immediate flow of sensory experience by means of making selections and creating fixed centers of “meaning” with them, as it gave a different depth, a fore[...]