Overview
Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) was a German psychiatrist-turned-existential philosopher who taught at Heidelberg and later Basel. General Psychopathology professionalized descriptive psychiatry; philosophical works treat freedom, communication, and transcendence. He opposed Nazi ideology and was barred from teaching under the regime. Handbook dates: 1883–1969. Postwar he became a public voice for democratic responsibility.
Main ideas
Boundary situations—death, struggle, guilt, chance—disclose Existenz beyond empirical ego. Truth appears in existential communication, not solitary certainty. The Encompassing (das Umgreifende) names modes of being thought cannot objectify completely. Philosophy is a perennial world philosophy linking axial-age insights across cultures. Science explains objects; philosophy elucidates freedom and transcendence without becoming dogma. Guilt after 1945 includes political co-responsibility in his essays.
Major works
- Philosophy
- General Psychopathology
- The Origin and Goal of History
- The Question of German Guilt
Legacy
Jaspers shaped existential psychiatry, German democratic thought, and comparative “axial age” historiography. He stands beside Heidegger with a more communicative, anti-totalitarian temper. Medical humanities still use his psychopathology.