Name der Zeitschrift: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie Jahrgang: 63 Heft: 3 Seiten: 584-589.

This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy. We introduce a novel transdisciplinary conceptual framework that revolves around concepts of 'lenses' and 'tensions' to help navigate value diversity. First, we consider the notion of lenses: perspectives on value and valuation along diverse dimensions that describe what values focus on, how their sociality is envisioned, and what epistemic and (...) procedural assumptions are made. We characterise fourteen of such dimensions. This provides a foundation for exploration of seven areas of tension, between: (1) the values of individuals vs collectives; (2) values as discrete and held vs embedded and constructed; (3) value as static or changeable; (4) valuation as descriptive vs normative and transformative; (5) social vs relational values; (6) different rationalities and their relation to value integration; (7) degrees of acknowledgment of the role of power in navigating value conflicts. In doing so, we embrace the 'mess' of diversity, yet also provide a framework to organise this mess and support and encourage active transdisciplinary collaboration. We identify key research areas where such collaborations can be harnessed for sustainability transformation. Here it is crucial to understand how certain social value lenses are privileged over others and build capacity in decision-making for understanding and drawing on multiple value, epistemic and procedural lenses. (shrink)

This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy. We introduce a novel transdisciplinary conceptual framework that revolves around concepts of ‘lenses’ and ‘tensions’ to help navigate value diversity. First, we consider the notion of lenses: perspectives on value and valuation along diverse dimensions that describe what values focus on, how their sociality is envisioned, and what epistemic and (...) procedural assumptions are made. We characterise fourteen of such dimensions. This provides a foundation for exploration of seven areas of tension, between: (1) the values of individuals vs collectives; (2) values as discrete and held vs embedded and constructed; (3) value as static or changeable; (4) valuation as descriptive vs normative and transformative; (5) social vs relational values; (6) different rationalities and their relation to value integration; (7) degrees of acknowledgment of the role of power in navigating value conflicts. In doing so, we embrace the ‘mess’ of diversity, yet also provide a framework to organise this mess and support and encourage active transdisciplinary collaboration. We identify key research areas where such collaborations can be harnessed for sustainability transformation. Here it is crucial to understand how certain social value lenses are privileged over others and build capacity in decision-making for understanding and drawing on multiple value, epistemic and procedural lenses. (shrink)

In philosophical circles, but not only there, Chomsky's views on natural language regularly fall a prey to misrepresentation. Very often the confusion involves the creative aspect of language use, an aspect of linguistic performance, which tends to be confounded with the notion recursivity, a property of the grammatical competence system. The present article clears away the most deep-seated confusions and proves that criticism of generative grammar based upon them cannot be upheld. In particular, it shows that the existence of metaphors, (...) and deviations from rules more generally, reinforces rather than refutes Chomsky's theory so long as the crucial distinction between knowledge of language (competence) and language use (performance) is taken heed of. It is argued that theories which deny this distinction and view human language as a set of dispositions or as an ability are misguided. The final section illustrates some properties of Universal Grammar (UG) by means of data from the domain of negative polarity and subject-object asymmetries. Though these phenomena are far from being fully understood, the present level of our insight warrants the conclusion that they lend considerable support to the Chomskyan conception of UG as a highly complex and richly articulated linguistic genotype. (shrink)

Background: The classical symptom specificity hypothesis (Blatt, 1974) links obsessional symptoms to autonomous interpersonal behavior. Inconsistent findings from cross-sectional group studies on symptom specificity have previously been associated with several conceptual and methodological limitations intrinsic to nomothetic research. Previous empirical case research reported ambivalences between autonomous and dependent interpersonal behavior in obsessional pathology. Aim and Method: The present ‘theory-building’ case study specifically aims at further refinement of the classical symptom specificity hypothesis by testing specific operationalizations within an empirical single case (...) design. Consensual Qualitative Research for Case studies is used to quantitatively and qualitatively describe the longitudinal, clinical interplay between obsessional symptoms and interpersonal dynamics throughout the process of a psychodynamic therapy. Interpersonal functioning is assessed by means of the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme method. The classical symptom specificity hypothesis is contrasted to an alternative hypothesis of interpersonal ambivalences as determinants of obsessional symptoms. Results: Close associations between obsessions and interpersonal dynamics are observed. Findings predominantly affirm the ambivalence hypothesis rather than the classical symptom specificity hypothesis. Psychodynamic interventions focusing on interpersonal conflicts are related to symptomatic changes. Conceptual and methodological considerations, limitations and future research indications are discussed. (shrink)

This book updates and adds to the classic Social Movements of the Sixties and Seventies, showing how social movement theory has grown and changed.

Descartes croyait que le monde étendu ne se terminait pas par une borne, mais pourquoi? Après avoir expliqué la position de Descartes au §1, en suggérant que sa conception de l’étendue indéfinie de l’univers devrait être entendue comme actuelle, mais syncatégorématique, nous nous penchons sur son argument dans le §2 : toute postulation d’une surface extérieure au monde sera autodestructrice, parce que la simple contemplation d’une telle borne nous conduira à reconnaître l’existence d’une étendue allant au-delà. Au §3, nous identifions (...) l’hypothèse fondamentale qui sous-tend cet argument en comparant les conceptions respectives de Descartes et de Malebranche quant au statut ontologique des modes de l’étendue. (shrink)

Begegnung des Verlegers mit Karl Jaspers, von K. Piper.-Philosophische Autobiographie, von K. Jaspers.- Jaspers und der Staat, von D. Sternberger.- Jaspers als geschichtlicher Denker, von G. Mann.- Jaspers in Frankreich, von J. Hersch.- Karl Jaspers und die italienische Philosophie, von L. Quattrocchi.- Die Philosophie von Karl Jaspers in Japan, von F. Hashimoto.-Karl Jaspers und der Rundfunk, von P. Meyer-Gutzwiller.- Karl Jasper's Lebensdaten.- Bibliographie der Werke und Schriften, von H. Saner [p.[173] -[216]].

Socrate, Bouddha, Confucius, jésus : " Ceux qui ont donné la mesure de l'humain. " Dans ces quatre grandes figures, Karl Jaspers voit la naissance d'une réflexion fondamentale sur la connaissance et l'éthique, qui se développe parallèlement dans des civilisations différentes. Tout en analysant la doctrine de chacun de manière originale, il médite sur la singularité de leurs réponses à des questions du même ordre, et pose les jalons d'une philosophie qui n'est pas seulement celle de la tradition occidentale, mais (...) celle de l'homme même. (shrink)

[314] En examinant les malades mentaux, on a l’habitude de distinguer symptômes objectifs et symptômes subjectifs. Les symptômes objectifs sont tous les processus dont la manifestation est perceptible aux sens : les réflexes, les mouvements et le visage susceptibles d’être enregistrés et photographiés, les excitations motrices, les extériorisations langagières, les productions écrites, les actions, le mode de vie, etc. ; appartiennent en outre aux symptômes objectifs toutes les opérations mes...

Why is there something rather than nothing? This form of the metaphysical question adopted by Heidegger has become quite popular. And that is very understandable; for in a world where man has it within his power to destroy the whole human race, the contingency of creatures is brought home to us with brutal clarity. Strictly speaking, however, the question is metaphysical nonsense: I may ask why I exist, why others exist, but not why being, reality, exists—it has no meaning. An (...) absolute must exist. The real question is: what kind is this absolute? Can we get any real knowledge about it, and if so, how? (shrink)

Strange as it may seem, this volume is the first booklength study of Jaspers in English And it is certainly very welcome and long overdue. The author studied under Jaspers in 1934-1935 at Heidelberg. After a brief biography he clarifies a number of issues which always arise and frequently obfuscate discussions of existential philosophers--such as the problems of demonstration and of clarity. Wallraff then treats in turn: philosophy and science, Jaspers' theory of society and its institutions; the existential themes of (...) freedom, communication, and ultimate situations. The following chapters concern Jaspers' metaphysical views: transcendence, cipher-reading, and the encompassing. Wallraff is thus plainly following the outline of Jaspers' thought which is provided by Jaspers' own magnum opus, Philosophy: I. World-Orientation; II. Existenz-illumination; III. Metaphysics. The treatment is always clear and sympathetic. The author avoids any sustained criticism of Jaspers; nor does he conduct any investigation of the once much discussed relationship between Jaspers and Heidegger. The author also provides his readers with a helpful bibliography of Jasper's works and their English translations.--J. D. C. (shrink)

The concept of the axial age, initially proposed by the philosopher Karl Jaspers to refer to a period in the first millennium BCE that saw the rise of major religious and philosophical figures and ideas throughout Eurasia, has gained an established position in a number of fields, including historical sociology, cultural sociology, and the sociology of religion. We explore whether the notion of an “axial age” has historical and intellectual cogency, or whether the authors who use the label of a (...) more free-floating “axiality” to connote varied “breakthroughs” in human experience may have a more compelling case. Throughout, we draw attention to ways in which uses of the axial age concept in contemporary social science vary in these and other respects. In the conclusion, we reflect on the value of the concept and its current uses and their utility in making sense of human experience. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Nietzsche. His Philosophy of Contradictions and the Contradictions of His PhilosophyAlan D. SchriftWolfgang Müller-Lauter. Nietzsche. His Philosophy of Contradictions and the Contradictions of His Philosophy. Translated from the German by David J. Parent. Foreword by Richard Schacht. Ghicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999. Pp. xviii + 246. Paper, $21.95.Since this work first appeared in 1971, Wolfgang Müller-Lauter has been at the forefront of German Nietzsche scholarship. The long (...) overdue appearance in English translation of this important work is a welcome addition to the Nietzsche literature and, although dated in some respects, it remains an important work that warrants careful attention. As Richard Schacht notes in his foreword, the original publication of this work was a significant event in the history of Nietzsche studies in Germany. Coming ten years after the publication of Heidegger's massive two-volume Nietzsche, Müller-Lauter's book "provided a much-needed counterweight" to Heidegger's idiosyncratic treatment (ix). Aside from proferring a significant rejoinder to the Heideggerian interpretation, Müller-Lauter also responds to a vast array of German Nietzsche scholars, some well-known (K. Löwith, K. Jaspers, E. Fink, K. Schlechta), but many much less familiar. As such, this book is an important piece of historical scholarship, offering the contemporary English-speaking reader an interesting picture of German scholarship on Nietzsche before Heidegger's work took center stage as the dominant (unfortunately, some would say only) German work worth engaging.But Müller-Lauter's book is not just of historical interest; it offers a powerful and profound reading of Nietzsche's corpus focused on the question of contradiction, both the contradictions readers find amidst Nietzsche's various works and Nietzsche's own philosophy of contradiction, namely, that contradictoriness is in some sense constitutive of the world. For Müller-Lauter, contradiction, the unresolvable conflict between essentially antithetical perspectives, grounds Nietzsche's philosophizing in wills to power. Emphasizing the plurality of conflicting wills to power, Müller-Lauter offers in successive chapters interpretations of Nietzsche's views on history as the "concrete occurrences" of these conflicting wills to power; nihilism as the process by which an organized system of forces (physical, social, intellectual, cultural) disintegrates into an antagonistic multiplicity of competing wills; morality as demanding truths that, once discovered, it can neither face nor accept, fleeing instead into a fictitious world of its own creation; Christian truthfulness as a destruction of truth that presents a "multiplicity of mutually opposing untruths" (72). All of these interpretations are shown to rest upon a contradiction at the heart of Nietzsche's own account of will to power, namely, that the strong will to power both affirms the multiplicity of perspectives and yet imposes its perspective as absolute.This is the paradox of the overman, a paradox Müller-Lauter addresses in his final chapter on "the doctrine of eternal recurrence." Not surprisingly, the eternal recurrence reveals itself to be essentially contradictory. But this contradiction is not self-refuting; rather "since the eternal recurrence is only as a thought and a doctrine, its meaning remains insurmountably split into a duality" (121) reflected in two ultimately incompatible types of overman. There is, on the one hand, the "powerful overman" who sees the entirety of what is as necessary for his own existence; to affirm eternal [End Page 453] recurrence is to understand everything that has been as a necessary series of events that ends with himself at its apex. But there is also the "wise overman," who understands the totality of what has been and is as necessary for his having arrived at the present moment in which he transcends himself and becomes other. Where the meaning of the powerful overman's affirmation of eternal recurrence resides in his appearance as the being who is dominant, the meaning of the wise overman's affirmation lies in understanding and accepting what has been as the precondition for both what he presently is and what he can become. Although both types of overman want recurrence, Müller-Lauter concludes they want something different in it and by it: the wise overman "is concerned with dissolving in the stream of... (shrink)

А. D. Emelianenko. Existentialist component of P. Tillich’s Protestant theology. The article deals with the specifics of the application of well-known Protestant theologian Paul Tillich postulates of existentialist and existentialist symbolism in the practice of creating his three-volume work 'Systematic Theology'. It is emphasized that these postulates play in the teaching of P. Tillich 'auxiliary', and mainly 'educate' rather than a system-role, that they played in the existential analytics by M. Heidegger, or the philosophy of Karl Jaspers.

This is the second edition of a somewhat unusual account of the philosophy of Jaspers. The "Introduction" contains an historical survey of Existentialism which is rather out of date. It associates Heidegger and Sartre together, and as philosophers of the absurd--a mistake for which by now there is no excuse. It sees a "way out of this barren desert" of the philosophy of absurdity in Jaspers--which is a misleadingly religious way to introduce Jaspers. The body of the work contains chapters (...) on the foundations of Jaspers' thought in Kant, on the concept of philosophical faith, a comparison of Jaspers with some contemporaries, such as Whitehead, and a final comparison of Jaspers' "ciphers" with Maimonides' negative theology. The 79-page long text is heavily punctuated with citations and so does not make for smooth reading. This is followed by nearly half that many pages of notes, some of which are rather interesting and which provide the whole with extensive documentation.--J. D. C. (shrink)

Can Nietzsche be this great? Yes, in a special sense; and whatever the faults and difficulties of this book, it must be said that someone had to do it. It stands as a classic: as a thorough reading of Nietzsche, to be sure, and possibly also as an introduction to Jaspers' own thought. The translators have performed commendably.—C. D.

In this study, which was his doctoral dissertation at the Free University of Amsterdam, Knudsen passes "through the entire range of Jaspers' idea of transcendence, from the first awareness of the boundaries in world orientation to the fullness of content in the transcendent."--R. D. G.

The basic thesis of this unsatisfying book is that there is a fundamental dualism in Nietzsche’s philosophy between his cosmology and his philosophical anthropology. Together both perspectives supposedly constitute for Nietzsche what it means to be human. Heidegger’s and Jaspers’ interpretations run aground, therefore, because they fail to appreciate this dualism: while Heidegger emphasizes the metaphysical perspective to the detriment of the anthropological, Jaspers emphasizes the perspective of philosophical anthropology to the detriment of the metaphysical. Heidegger reads his concern with (...) fundamental ontology into Nietzsche; Jaspers, his philosophy of Existenz. (shrink)

Questions assumptions about what it is to be a human being by examining the ideas of thinkers such as Foucault, Winnicott, Lacan and Jaspers. Chessick combines succinct summaries of the writings of these European thinkers with critical commentaries.

Three rich and compact essays on Marcel, Merleau-Ponty, and Jaspers, treating the philosophical essentials of their work and the significant aspects of their backgrounds. For their style, these essays are exemplars of the genre; though expository, they are not introductions or mere summaries.--C. D.

A model of German scholarship comprehensive and carefully written. The first part is devoted to an exposition of the views of the symbol taken by such thinkers as Goethe, Cassirer, Tillich, and Jaspers. The second part is a more systematic discussion of the symbol as it functions in theology and religion.--D. R.

The [[sic]] substantial thread connecting the six essays that constitute this collection is the nature and consciousness of being. The first half of the book is given to the interpretation of Thomas Aquinas, principally as regards his doctrine of being and his concept of the person. Essays treating Descartes’ doctrine of being and what the author calls Kant’s transcendental being serve to set Gumppenberg’s Thomas in relief. The collection is concluded with a short chapter treating the metaphysical basis of the (...) thought of Viktor Warnach, a neo-Thomist and a warmly regarded former teacher of the author. The work is written in a clear and lucid style with copious references not only to works by the principal philosophers treated, but also to Heidegger, Husserl, Jaspers, Koyre, [[sic]] Siewerth, and others. (shrink)

This second of the three volumes of Philosophy is entitled "Existential Elucidation". Existential man is characterized by two features, historicity and freedom. Like Heidegger, Jaspers stresses that existential decisions receive their content and raw material from the historical situation. But unlike Heidegger his account of historicity also involves a theory of "communication." Part III of this book consists in the famous description of "boundary situations." A boundary situation is the encounter of man with his own limits and finitude. The most (...) important boundary situation is—like Heidegger—death, but once again—unlike Heidegger— Jaspers lays emphasis upon the death of the beloved as well as on one’s own death. In the limit situation man is summoned to embrace his life and to give it an "absolute" worth, despite its inevitable empirical dissolution. In so doing man transcends mere empirical reality and achieves "absolute consciousness." Then alone can man acquire an authentic attitude towards the universal—the law and the state—and then alone can he enter into true community. The follow up volume of Philosophy—"Metaphysics"—will discuss what the boundary situation reveals: being in itself or "transcendence." Ashton’s translation is admirable throughout. There is no index.—J. D. C. (shrink)

Along with Charles Walraff's The Philosophy of Karl Jaspers, Schrag's work is the second book-length study of Jaspers' thought in as many years. As such it is very welcome, for Jaspers' philosophy has not yet been fully explored in English. And now that his three-volume Philosophie has been translated, we should see a great reawakening of interest in this distinguished German thinker. Schrag's book is an exposition of Jaspers' notion of the "Encompassing", that pivotal notion in his thought which refers (...) to Being as the primal and originary source of beings. The Encompassing can only be approached through its "modes," which Jaspers diagrams at the beginning of his lengthy treatise Von der Wahrheit. Schrag's book follows this diagram implicitly and its somewhat awkward title is based upon it. The Encompassing manifests itself in man on the one hand and in the non-human or objective on the other. Part One of Schrag's book is devoted to the "immanent" mode of the "Encompassing which we are," while Part Two discusses the Encompassing in man in its transcendent mode. The third and final part is devoted to the "Encompassing which Being itself is", which is a study of Jaspers' metaphysics. The reader will be especially interested in Schrag's Chapter Five, "Jaspers and Phenomenology," in which he discusses Jaspers' relationship to Husserl, who like Jaspers came to philosophy from psychology; and to Heidegger's "existential phenomenology." There is an index but no bibliography.--J. D. C. (shrink)

This second of the three volumes of Philosophy is entitled "Existential Elucidation". Existential man is characterized by two features, historicity and freedom. Like Heidegger, Jaspers stresses that existential decisions receive their content and raw material from the historical situation. But unlike Heidegger his account of historicity also involves a theory of "communication." Part III of this book consists in the famous description of "boundary situations." A boundary situation is the encounter of man with his own limits and finitude. The most (...) important boundary situation is—like Heidegger—death, but once again—unlike Heidegger— Jaspers lays emphasis upon the death of the beloved as well as on one’s own death. In the limit situation man is summoned to embrace his life and to give it an "absolute" worth, despite its inevitable empirical dissolution. In so doing man transcends mere empirical reality and achieves "absolute consciousness." Then alone can man acquire an authentic attitude towards the universal—the law and the state—and then alone can he enter into true community. The follow up volume of Philosophy—"Metaphysics"—will discuss what the boundary situation reveals: being in itself or "transcendence." Ashton’s translation is admirable throughout. There is no index.—J. D. C. (shrink)

Volume XVIII of the distinguished "Religious Perspectives" series, this translation of Jaspers' 1962 publication Der philosophische Glaube ansichts [[sic]] der Offenbarung is an important addition to the library of English translations of Jaspers' works. It is a lengthy work and, as is typical of Jaspers, is heavily punctuated with textual divisions and subdivisions--a procedure so exaggerated in Jaspers that it is quite distracting. The translation of E. B. Ashton, who has since translated Jaspers' three-volume major work Philosophie, is extremely good, (...) just as one would expect. Jaspers holds that there is an underlying metaphysical structure in being--the Encompassing--which eludes any final conceptual formulation. It can only be approached through "ciphers," symbols which obliquely intimate the nature of the ultimate, and which it belongs to the philosopher to read. While on the one hand Jaspers quarrels with the various religious faiths because of their tendency to take their own ciphers as final and definitive, he is on the other hand profoundly interested in the historical faiths inasmuch as they represent important and deep expressions of faith in the transcendent. In this book Jaspers seeks a rapprochement between "philosophical faith"--an idea which he has ultimately borrowed from Kant's notion of rational faith in the speculatively unknowable thing-in-itself--and the faith that is based on revelation.--J. D. C. (shrink)

Like his earlier study The Phenomenological Movement, Spiegelberg’s latest work is a comprehensive overview—not of the phenomenological movement itself —but of its influence on psychology and psychiatry. Its aim is to show that the presence of phenomenology in these disciplines has broadened the perspectives of these empirical sciences and has loosened the death-grip that positivism and naturalism, behaviorism and atomistic associationism, might otherwise have exerted upon them, Spiegelberg does this "concretely" by a wide ranging account of philosophers, psychologists and psychiatrists (...) which testifies again to his great erudition and incomparable familiarity with phenomenological literature. The index of authors studied covers six pages of double columns. Part One gives a "general orientation" to the field, discussing first the notion of phenomenological psychology and then the presence of phenomenology in psychology, in psychopathology and psychiatry, in psychoanalysis and in American psychology. The second half of the book is devoted to more concentrated studies of "leading figures" and devotes entire chapters to such thinkers as Jaspers, Binswagner, Minkowski, Buytendijk and Frankl. The American student of phenomenology is once again the beneficiary of Spiegelberg’s conscientious and incisive scholarship the beneficiary of Spiegelberg’s conscientious and incisive scholarship.—J. D. C. (shrink)

One can only agree with Editor John R. Silber's observation on this little volume that it is "the finest introduction to Jaspers' own comprehensive philosophy...." Overshadowed in this country by the great attention currently given to Heidegger, the importance and power of Jaspers' thought has not yet been appreciated by English-speaking philosophers. Far from being opposed to the natural sciences, Jaspers-who began his intellectual life as a psychiatrist--says that without a grasp of science the philosopher is "like a blind man." (...) The properly philosophical subject matter, however, is the realm that inevitably eludes and "transcends" the scientific approach to man and natural objects. This he calls the "encompassing." The three lectures which compose The Philosophy of Existence, which was written after the publication of the three volumes of Philosophie and the composition of most of Von der Wahrheit, range over the whole of Jaspers' philosophical work. The first lecture concerns "The Being of the Encompassing"; the second, "Truth," which like the Encompassing is a continually receding ideal and so incapable of definitive articulation. The last deals with "reality," an ultimate which is grasped only in "ciphers" or symbols which are always able to be replaced by more adequate symbols. The Introduction and translation by Richard Gradau are marvelously done. The lectures themselves, delivered in 1937, were Jaspers' last public appearance, made shortly after his dismissal from his post at Heidelberg by the National Socialists.--J. D. C. (shrink)

From the translator of The Future of Mankind and The Future of Germany comes this most welcome English rendering of the first volume of Jasper's Philosophie, considered by many his main work. Of all the great figures of the existential-phenomenological movement--Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Marcel--Jaspers has been the most neglected in the Anglo-American world. Jaspers alone among these figures has a work as important as his Philosophie still untranslated into English. This work, which consists of three volumes, was (...) originally published in 1932. The present edition contains: a 1955 Epilogue by Jaspers who comments on the intent of the book and the criticism it received; an "Introduction to Philosophy" which prefaces the body of Philosophy; and then the main body of this title: "Book One: Philosophical World Orientation." Here Jaspers carves out the proper structure of philosophy--not as a science which must compete with other sciences but as thinking concerned with man's place in the world and which regulates the role that science plays in man's world. There is, unfortunately, no index nor any glossary of German-English and English-German.--J. D. C. (shrink)

One is happy to add this book to the growing list of commentaries on translations of Jaspers’ work which have been appearing in English recently. Samay’s approach to Jaspers underlines one of the most refreshing aspects of this "existentialist’s" work, viz., his concern with the problem of reason, both scientific and philosophic. Like Kant and Husserl, Jaspers’ thought develops out of a confrontation with modern science. Like Kant, Jaspers strives to grant the mathematical sciences the autonomy which befits them but (...) also to show forth their limits. The unique entity to which science has no access Jaspers calls "Existenz," free and individual human being. While this entity eludes science it does not belong to the real of the irrational but to that of philosophic reason. After an introduction to the fundamental concepts of Jaspers’ thought, Samay studies first reason in science and then reason in philosophy, and then offers some "general conclusions." There is a helpful bibliography, abundant documentation but no index.—J. D. C. (shrink)

This book is an excellent general introduction to existentialist thought. It organizes the subject-matter under traditional philosophic disciplines beginning with an account of the method and proceeding to ontology, epistemology, ethics, social and religious thought. The author concentrates on the writings of the leading figures in the movement--Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Marcel, Sartre, Jaspers--and delineates the areas of agreement and disagreement among them. The arrangement of materials around traditional problems facilitates the detection of changes in approach, emphasis, and formulation. The most important (...) aspect of the book lies in the attempt to view the movement as a part of the philosophical tradition, to explain the methods and doctrines against which the Existentialists react as well as their heroes in the tradition. The achievements of the movement are measured against its claims, and its major deficiencies are pointed out in the last chapter. Throughout the book the author manages to preserve a clarity and economy that are a welcome contrast to the style of existentialist writings.--T. D. Z. (shrink)

Sören Kierkegaard died aged 42 in 1855. After comparative obscurity his writings achieved European circulation in a German version, and in 1920 he was presented by Jaspers as the Socratic precursor of Existentialism. Kierkegaard had formally posed the question of existence on the intensely human plane, emphasizing the anxious but problematic question of existence after death, whose solution can be known, not in any objective science but in the personal belief of a responsible choice whose sincere devotion creates an individual (...) subjective truth. (shrink)

Jaspers' Groningen lectures of 1935. The first lecture presents a challenging interpretation of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and their importance for the contemporary philosophical situation. Lectures 2, 3 and 4 develop the central notions of Jaspers' philosophy such as the Encompassing, communication, and the role of rational thought. The final lecture explores some of the implications of these views, in connection with the radical contributions of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, for contemporary philosophizing.--D. R.

This collection of twenty-one essays presents a comprehensive, well-rounded picture of Nietzsche’s influence upon philosophy generally, and upon morals, psychology, and literature in particular. Fourteen of the essays have been previously published. To students of Nietzsche the most familiar of these fourteen will be two selections from Walter Kaufmann’s Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist—"The Death of God and the Revaluation," and "The Discovery of the Will to Power;" a discussion of perspectivism from Arthur Danto’s Nietzsche as Philosopher; Hans Vaihinger’s "Nietzsche and (...) His Doctrine of Conscious Illusion," a précis of Nietzschean epistemology; and a selection on morality and human creativity from Karl Jaspers’ Nietzsche: An Introduction to the Understanding of His Philosophical Activity. Other essays previously published include Richard Schacht’s "Nietzsche and Nihilism;" an important excerpt from the first volume of Martin Heidegger’s Nietzsche ; Henry David Aiken’s "Introduction to Zarathustra;" a short piece by Frederick A. Olafson on the relation of Nietzsche and Kant to existentialism; a selection from Max Scheler’s Ressentiment, in which Scheler develops and criticizes Nietzsche’s notion of ressentiment; and a brief exposition by Danto of the "scientific" aspect of Nietzschean eternal recurrence. Aiken’s "Introduction" here is rather unsatisfactory. A much better one would have been the "Introduction" to R. J. Hollingdale’s translation of Zarathustra. On the whole, Stambaugh’s translation of the passages from Heidegger is accurate and readable. (shrink)

Karl Jaspers explicitly claims the title of philosophy of ‘existence’, in the special sense of an illumination of the self-conscious being of a unique man facing the problem of transcending his individual, historic situation by real, personal choice even at the risk of teetering on the razor-edge of irrationality. With a wide range of medical and psychological knowledge and a deep philosophical interest he formulates the most systematic analysis of contemporary Existentialism, although paradoxically he denies the possibility of any universal (...) or objective science of being which is radically individual, contingent and ineffable in itself. Though individual human analysis has its limits, it is not a mere psychology but an active engagement of personal choice, which resists all attempt to absorb it in a complete rational scheme or science. The non-rational ‘encompasses’ every category of being, therefore, and philosophy must suffer light from the classic exceptions, particularly Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Of course classic intellectualism has always recognised that reality is never exhausted by any conceptual analysis, but Jaspers pushes this inadequacy almost into an opposition. Hence the methodological difficulty of exposition is multiplied in his case by a doctrinal impossibility of systematic science as opposed to developing self-consciousness. (shrink)

This volume covers the period between the 1890s and 1930s, a period that witnessed revolutions in the arts and society which set the agenda for the rest of the century. In philosophy, the period saw the birth of analytic philosophy, the development of new programmes and new modes of inquiry, the emergence of phenomenology as a new rigorous science, the birth of Freudian psychoanalysis, and the maturing of the discipline of sociology. This period saw the most influential work of a (...) remarkable series of thinkers who reviewed, evaluated and transformed 19th-century thought. A generation of thinkers - among them, Henri Bergson, Emile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Karl Jaspers, Max Scheler, and Ludwig Wittgenstein - completed the disenchantment of the world and sought a new re-enchantment. (shrink)

This volume covers the period between the 1890s and 1930s, a period that witnessed revolutions in the arts and society which set the agenda for the rest of the century. In philosophy, the period saw the birth of analytic philosophy, the development of new programmes and new modes of inquiry, the emergence of phenomenology as a new rigorous science, the birth of Freudian psychoanalysis, and the maturing of the discipline of sociology. This period saw the most influential work of a (...) remarkable series of thinkers who reviewed, evaluated and transformed 19th-century thought. A generation of thinkers - among them, Henri Bergson, Emile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Karl Jaspers, Max Scheler, and Ludwig Wittgenstein - completed the disenchantment of the world and sought a new re-enchantment. (shrink)

Jaspers’s autobiography presents reflection upon the career and work of one of Germany’s leading existential philosophers. He describes briefly his early life and offers reflection upon his study and work in psychiatry. One can readily find the seeds of his later philosophical reflections evident in his General Psychopathology. Jaspers also presents illuminating discussion of his academic career, his political reflections, and comments upon the relationship of his philosophical analysis to his theological orientation. He offers extended discussion of each of his (...) major philosophical books, with insight into the origin and intentions of each volume. In addition, he presents valuable comments upon the philosophical climate of Germany against which he succeeded in reacting with vigor. Special attention is given to Rickert and E. Mayer. His rather detailed description of his relationship with Heidegger is especially illuminating. Although both of these thinkers played a leading role in the development and elaboration of German existentialism, there has been little direct and explicit consideration of the works of one by the other, or comments upon their "Being-With." Jaspers tells of his early and friendly relationship with Heidegger, their long working conversations, how their thought wandered down different pathways, and his reaction to Heidegger’s involvement in the rise of National Socialism. He also writes of his reaction to Heidegger’s Being and Time, of his unfulfilled intention to write seriously upon this work, and of how divorced his own thought was from Heidegger’s way, so that it did not even affect his own philosophical development. He describes the gradual cooling of the early friendship, and the eventual cessation of the long conversations and visits. All of the above offers a more intimate glimpse into the intersubjectivity of two of Europe’s leading thinkers, as seen by one of the participants, than has been readily available to the Western public to date. Perhaps someday there will be a publication of whatever Jaspers-Heidegger correspondence remains extant.—H.A.D. (shrink)

Like his earlier study The Phenomenological Movement, Spiegelberg’s latest work is a comprehensive overview—not of the phenomenological movement itself —but of its influence on psychology and psychiatry. Its aim is to show that the presence of phenomenology in these disciplines has broadened the perspectives of these empirical sciences and has loosened the death-grip that positivism and naturalism, behaviorism and atomistic associationism, might otherwise have exerted upon them, Spiegelberg does this "concretely" by a wide ranging account of philosophers, psychologists and psychiatrists (...) which testifies again to his great erudition and incomparable familiarity with phenomenological literature. The index of authors studied covers six pages of double columns. Part One gives a "general orientation" to the field, discussing first the notion of phenomenological psychology and then the presence of phenomenology in psychology, in psychopathology and psychiatry, in psychoanalysis and in American psychology. The second half of the book is devoted to more concentrated studies of "leading figures" and devotes entire chapters to such thinkers as Jaspers, Binswagner, Minkowski, Buytendijk and Frankl. The American student of phenomenology is once again the beneficiary of Spiegelberg’s conscientious and incisive scholarship the beneficiary of Spiegelberg’s conscientious and incisive scholarship.—J. D. C. (shrink)