Abstract

This article sets out to identify Karl Jaspers as a European thinker, one who understands 'Europeanness' as a cosmopolitan attitude. It recalls Jaspers bio- graphical convictions to the conception of Europe by referencing several of his publications. Inextricably linked to the cosmopolitan understanding of 'Euro- pean ness' is Jaspers' theory of truth which, as this article intends to show, can only be understood in its plurality of linguistic ambiguity and individual exis- tence. Additionally, Jaspers sees the historical foundations of Europe in the Axial Age of antiquity in which its plurality is already inherent. Ultimately, this culminates in his assertion that in order to be European, one must first become a true person by actualising their selfhood in freedom.