Karl Jaspers
1) His Biography:
Jaspers was born in Oldenburg, Germany, in 1883 to a local farmer mother and a had lawyer father. Although he displayed an early interest in philosophy, it is clear that his father’s involvement in the legal system contributed to his decision to enroll in the University of Heidelberg’s law programme. Jaspers first pursued legal studies in Heidelberg before spending three semesters in Munich. Jaspers moved to studying medicine in 1902 after quickly realising that he did not much enjoy law. His thesis topic was criminology. He wed Gertrud Mayer (1879– 1974) in 1910, who was the sister of his close friends Ernst and Gustav Mayer.
After receiving his medical degree from the University of Heidelberg in 1908, Jaspers started working in a psychiatric hospital there under the supervision of Karl Wilmans and Franz Nissl, who succeeded Karl Bonhoeffer and Emil Kraepelin. Jaspers assigned himself the task of enhancing the psychiatric approach after growing unsatisfied with the way the medical establishment at the time addressed the study of mental illness. Jaspers received his habilitation at the Heidelberg University’s philosophical department in 1913, and in 1914 he was hired there as a psychology instructor. Later, the position evolved into a long-term philosophical one, and Jaspers never went back to working with patients. Since Max Weber also held a chair at Heidelberg during this time, Jaspers was a close friend of the Weber family.
Jaspers transitioned from psychology to philosophy in 1921, when he was 38 years old, building on topics he had introduced in his psychiatric writings. In Europe and Germany, he developed into a philosopher.
Due to his Jewish wife, Jaspers was stigmatised as having a “Jewish taint” following the Nazi takeover of power in 1933, and he was compelled to leave teaching in 1937. He was also subject to a publishing ban in 1938. But a lot of his lifelong friends stood by him, and he was able to carry on with his research and studies without becoming completely alone. However, until 30 March 1945, when Heidelberg was taken by American troops, he and his wife were constantly in danger of being sent to a detention camp.
Jaspers relocated to Switzerland’s University of Basel in 1948. He received the honorary citizenship of the city of Oldenburg in 1963 in appreciation of his great contributions to western culture and science. He continued to be well-known in the philosophical world and acquired Swiss citizenship. He lived in Basel until his passing on his wife’s 90th birthday in 1969.
2) Main Works:
Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus:
This book is a component of Jaspers’s grand goal to write a universal history of philosophy, highlighting the four paradigmatic figures who have had an unparalleled historical impact on both scope and depth.
Way to Wisdom:
Here, renowned philosopher Karl Jaspers provides a summary of philosophy for non-specialist readers. He also provides a clear overview of his own philosophical views in the process. According to Jaspers, the origins of philosophy may be traced to “wonder, doubt, and a sense of forsakenness,” and the pursuit of philosophy is a process of ongoing transformation and self-discovery.
The Question of German Guilt:
A philosophy professor at Heidelberg University gave a talk on a topic that scorched the awareness and conscience of thinking Germans shortly after the Nazi regime was overthrown. “Are the German people guilty?” German intellectuals and students paid close attention to these lectures given by the distinguished European philosopher Karl Jaspers because they seemed to offer a way to sanity and morality in a chaotic world.
Kant:
Karl Jaspers’ outstanding examination of Kant’s theory of knowledge, politics, and ethics forms the basis of this work.
Philosophy of Existence:
The German Academy of Frankfurt first introduced Philosophy of Existence to the public as a series of lectures. Jaspers, whose position at Heidelberg had already been terminated by the Nazis, understood he was giving his final speeches in Germany when he prepared these lectures. Jaspers took use of the opportunity to give a synopsis of his own philosophy as well as a description of the social, intellectual, and cultural context in which existentialism developed.
3) Main Themes:
Psychiatry:
Jaspers questioned both the clinical psychiatry’s diagnostic standards and practises as a result of his discontent with the general understanding of mental illness. He addressed the question of whether paranoia was a personality trait or the outcome of physiologic changes in an article that was published in 1910. This essay introduced a very uncommon study approach, at least in light of the standards that were then the norm, despite the fact that it did not address any novel concepts. Similar to Freud, Jaspers thoroughly observed his patients, taking notes on their biographies as well as their feelings towards their ailments. This is now a cornerstone of psychiatric and, more importantly, psychotherapy practise and is known as the biographical method.
General Psychopathology, a book written by Jaspers and published in 1913, contains his opinions on mental disorders. Many modern diagnostic criteria are derived from concepts presented in this work, which has become a classic in the field of psychology. One of Jaspers’ main principles was that rather than focusing on the content of the symptoms, psychiatrists should identify mental illness, especially psychosis. For instance, it is more crucial to notice that a person observes visual phenomena when no sensory cues account for them when diagnosing a hallucination than it is to mention what the patient sees. The “content” is what the patient sees, whereas the “form” is the difference between what the patient sees and what is actually happening.
Jaspers believed that a similar method could be used by psychiatrists to identify delusions. He made the case that therapists shouldn’t label a belief as delusional based on its content, but rather merely based on the manner in which a patient maintains it. Jaspers made a distinction between first and recurring delusions. He described initial delusions as autochthonous, which means they look unintelligible in terms of a normal mental process and occur suddenly. On the other hand, he described secondary delusions as those that are impacted by the person’s past, present circumstances, or mental condition.
Primary delusions, in Jaspers’ opinion, were ultimately “un-understandable” because there was no discernible thought process that led to their genesis. This point of view has drawn some criticism, with critics like R. D. Laing and Richard Bentall (1999, p. 133-135) emphasising that it can encourage therapists to become complacent and believe that because they do not understand a patient, the patient is delusional and further research on their part will be ineffective. For instance, Huub Engels (2009) contends that Emil Kraepelin’s dream speech and schizophrenia disordered speech may both be understood.
Philosophy and Theology:
The majority of reviewers connect Jaspers with the existentialist school of thought, partly because he heavily references existentialist writers like Nietzsche and Kierkegaard and partly because the topic of individual freedom underlies all of his writing. Jaspers presented his perspective on the development of philosophy and his main issues in Philosophy. Jaspers makes the case, starting with modern science and empiricism, that as we try to understand reality, we run across boundaries that an empirical (or scientific) technique can’t possibly cross. At this juncture, the person must decide whether to give in to hopelessness and resignation or go forth in faith in the direction of what Jaspers refers to as Transcendence. Making this jump forces people to confront their own boundless freedom, or Existenz as Jaspers refers to it, and allows them to ultimately experience real existence.
According to Jaspers, transcendence is that which exists beyond of the realm of time and space. Many philosophers contend that Jaspers ultimately adopted a monist position as a result of his formulation of Transcendence as ultimate non-objectivity (or nothingness), despite the fact that Jaspers insisted repeatedly on the importance of accepting the legitimacy of both the concepts of subjectivity and objectivity.
Jaspers’ concept of transcendence and the boundaries of human experience had an impact on current theology, despite his rejection of overtly religious doctrines, such as the idea of a personal God. Jaspers was greatly affected by mystic Christian traditions, especially those of Meister Eckhart and Nicholas of Cusa. He also established the hypothesis of an Axial Age, a time of significant intellectual and religious progress, and showed a keen interest in Eastern ideologies, particularly Buddhism. Jaspers also participated in open discussions with Rudolf Bultmann, whom Jaspers vehemently condemned for “demythologizing” Christianity.
Jaspers wrote a great deal about how modern science, as well as contemporary economic and political structures, threaten human freedom. Because his wife was Jewish, he was forced to leave his teaching position during World War II. He resumed his teaching duties after the war, and in his book The Question of German Guilt he blatantly probed Germany’s collective responsibility for the crimes of Hitler’s Third Reich.
Political Views:
Jaspers agreed with Max Weber’s liberal political outlook, but he disapproved of Weber’s nationalism. Inspired by Immanuel Kant, he emphasised humanism and cosmopolitanism and promoted a global federation of states with common rules, constitutions, and international tribunals. He was adamantly opposed to totalitarian authoritarianism and warned against the growing trend toward technocracy, or a government that views people as nothing more than tools for advancing science or ideological objectives. Additionally, he had doubts about majoritarian democracy. He therefore favoured a system of government that upheld individual liberty and restrained the size of the state, and he agreed with Weber that democracy required the leadership of a learned class. He was thought to hold anti-communist beliefs.
4) His Legacy:
Jaspers is one of the few existentialist philosophers who did not try to control, subdue, or overcome the unpredictable and limited nature of human existence. Instead, he made an effort to develop a bond with this fundamental aspect of existence and interact with it naturally. He argued, “I do not obtain my freedom,” time and time again. I wasn’t made by me. I am not here by my own power. Instead, I am reliant on the rights of others and the nuanced components of a fragile world. We are only able to have significant experiences of love, freedom, and purpose because our lives are contingent and vulnerable.
The attempt to capture the fleeting presence of beauty or establish one’s love would probably ruin the encounter. Jaspers made this claim in his Psychology of Worldviews (1919), saying that “for us finite beings, precisely this uncertainty of all contents defines the only way to spiritedness, intellectuality, and vitality.” Even if stability and order are essential to human survival, they wouldn’t be enough to keep humans from becoming puppets like machines. That we cannot own meaning, establish our identity, or own who we truly are is something we learn to accept in times of joy, sorrow, and tragedy. Jaspers did not have to get over his uncertainty. He viewed it rather as the foundation for concepts like justice, freedom, and truth, all of which can only be described negatively in terms of what they are not or have not yet become.
5) A Few Quotes:
“To decide to become a philosopher seemed as foolish to me as to decide to become a poet.”
― Karl Jaspers
“All democracies demand common public education because nothing makes people so much alike as the same education.”
― Karl Jaspers, The Idea of the University
“Tragedy occurs whenever awareness exceeds power; and particularly where awareness of a major need exceeds the power to satisfy it.”
― Karl Jaspers, Tragedy Is Not Enough
“Life is illusion, disillusionment is destruction.”
― Karl Jaspers, Tragedy Is Not Enough
“Greatness of mind becomes an object of love only when the power at work in it itself has a noble character”
― Karl Jaspers
“Every truth that we may think complete will prove itself untruth at the moment of shipwreck.”
― Karl Jaspers, Tragedy Is Not Enough
“There exists a solidarity among men as human beings that makes each co-responsible for every wrong and every injustice in the world, especially for crimes committed in his presence or with his knowledge. If I fail to do whatever I can to prevent them, I too am guilty.”
― Karl Jaspers, The Question of German Guilt
