Existenz Philosophizing
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| Karl Jaspers, Click on his Photo |
Karl Theodor Jaspers (February 23, 1883 –
February 26, 1969) was a German psychiatrist and
philosopher who had a strong influence on modern
seen as one of the founders of Existence Philosophy
through his own work and through the rediscovery of
Kierkegaard.
There are a good many of his works now in PDF
format on the Web making it much easier to find and
read one of the least appreciated but most insightful
thinkers in the last century.
Try the Internet Archive for a quick overview of
PDF's and discussions available at just one location.
"Philosophy, the goal of true community among men
who are themselves, has been wrought by lonely,
distant individuals. In an extravagance of agonies
and certainties, they sent us word but did not bid us
follow. The experience they show us was singular
and unrepeatable. They were sacrificial victims, so
to speak, whose visions--translated into thought--
convey to us what a less hazardous fate could not
have brought to light. In our philosophizing we revere
what they proved humanly possible. We want to
catch their every word; they have made it impossible
for us to take any knowable order for the only true
one.
"But we ourselves philosophize in communication,
not in isolation. Our point of departure is man's
relation to man, the individual's way of dealing with
the individual. In our world, linked fellowship seems
like the true reality. Communication leads to our
brightest moments and lends weight to our life. My
philosophizing owes its every content to people who
have come close to me. I consider it true in so far as
it aids communication. Man cannot place himself
above man; he can approach only those he meets
on the same level. He cannot teach them what to do,
but together they can find out what they want and
what they are. There can be solidarity in what must
animate our existence if it is to turn into being.
(Philosophy I, 1932, 2)
February 26, 1969) was a German psychiatrist and
philosopher who had a strong influence on modern
seen as one of the founders of Existence Philosophy
through his own work and through the rediscovery of
Kierkegaard.
There are a good many of his works now in PDF
format on the Web making it much easier to find and
read one of the least appreciated but most insightful
thinkers in the last century.
Try the Internet Archive for a quick overview of
PDF's and discussions available at just one location.
"Philosophy, the goal of true community among men
who are themselves, has been wrought by lonely,
distant individuals. In an extravagance of agonies
and certainties, they sent us word but did not bid us
follow. The experience they show us was singular
and unrepeatable. They were sacrificial victims, so
to speak, whose visions--translated into thought--
convey to us what a less hazardous fate could not
have brought to light. In our philosophizing we revere
what they proved humanly possible. We want to
catch their every word; they have made it impossible
for us to take any knowable order for the only true
one.
"But we ourselves philosophize in communication,
not in isolation. Our point of departure is man's
relation to man, the individual's way of dealing with
the individual. In our world, linked fellowship seems
like the true reality. Communication leads to our
brightest moments and lends weight to our life. My
philosophizing owes its every content to people who
have come close to me. I consider it true in so far as
it aids communication. Man cannot place himself
above man; he can approach only those he meets
on the same level. He cannot teach them what to do,
but together they can find out what they want and
what they are. There can be solidarity in what must
animate our existence if it is to turn into being.
(Philosophy I, 1932, 2)