Abstract

The present contribution examines the relationship between Weltanschauungen and politics. With reference to Karl Jaspers’ first political text different types of political behaviours are presented here. They correspond to the ways by which human beings experience the world view in the political world. In Jaspers’ picture of the political sphere we find the type of the apolitical man as the political leader, the pure politician as the fanatic of the pure ideal. By presenting different political moods, Jaspers expounds ideas about the world view, about its relationship with the whole and with the individual conscience and conclusions about its dangers, which will be widely explored in the Psychologie der Weltanschauungen. Hence the political text can be considered as a “workshop” for the elaboration of Jaspers’ following insights concerning both his philosophical thought and his political view.