Karl Jaspers is one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century and one of the most widely translated German-language philosophers worldwide. For him, the truth of philosophy is philosophizing itself as a radical way of existence and enlightenment. Therefore, Jaspers' entire thinking is devoted to the attempt to find orientation in a world that has become deeply questionable. In addition, the metaphysician and philosopher of history Jaspers became a co-founder of existential philosophy—and, not least, one of the most prominent critics of postwar German politics.

Jaspers was born in Oldenburg in 1883. After studying medicine, he worked at the psychiatric clinic in Heidelberg from 1909 onwards. His habilitation thesis, published in 1913 under the title Allgemeine Psychopathologie (General Psychopathology), which has been reprinted many times and undergone some major revisions, is still considered one of the classic texts in the field today. It was not until 1922 that Jaspers switched to philosophy, when he was appointed to a chair in philosophy at Heidelberg University on the basis of his 1919 book The Psychology of Worldviews, which can be regarded as the founding text of modern existential philosophy. In 1932, Jaspers' programmatic magnum opus entitled Philosophy was published in three volumes; this was followed in 1947 by the first volume of his Philosophical Logic (On Truth) and finally, in 1957, by The Great Philosophers – titles that refer to the thinker's most comprehensive, if not necessarily most influential, works. In 1937, the National Socialists forced Jaspers into early retirement because he did not want to separate from his Jewish wife. Nevertheless, both remained in Germany, even though they had to expect arrest and deportation to a concentration camp at any time, and Jaspers was additionally banned from publishing from 1938 onwards. It was only after the war that the couple left Germany, mainly because they were deeply disappointed by the way in which Germany dealt with its recent past after the end of the war. In 1948, Jaspers moved with his wife to Basel, where he held a professorship in philosophy until 1961; he died there in 1969.

Jaspers' sphere of influence extends far beyond philosophy: his students included not only philosophers but also doctors, historians, literary scholars, filmmakers, and writers, reflecting the enormous breadth of his work. His correspondents and discussion partners included not only scholars from other disciplines but also politicians, publishers, judges, and statesmen. As a political writer, a role he increasingly took on based on his interest in philosophical and historical-philosophical topics, he had a significant impact on the social debates of the newly founded Federal Republic of Germany with his relevant writings, and this alone made him a formative figure in cultural and political history.

The work

Initially, the focus of the debate surrounding the philosopher Jaspers was primarily on psychopathology and psychology, followed by existential philosophy and the logical justification of rational philosophy.

Jaspers' thinking was increasingly dominated by a globally oriented philosophical approach that transcended the Eurocentric frame of reference yet remained firmly grounded in history. With its openness to history, this approach sought to be more than just traditional or even adopted metaphysics; namely a new metaphysics that opens up a space of its own for transcendence and can therefore be the ultimate goal of all religion. However, the questions of philosophical faith, the world history of philosophy, world philosophy, and the philosophical illumination of world politics, which appeared increasingly in his work after 1945, were neither seen as an idea nor recognized as the far-reaching task of the age, not least because of their sometimes fragmentary publication. – even though Jaspers used readily accessible terminology (e.g., the concept of the "axis age") and was prepared to exploit a broad conceptual framework (from ancient transcendental metaphysics to Indian logic). This disregard for Jaspers' late work is particularly unfortunate because it offers possible answers to current cultural, metaphysical, and religious-philosophical questions. It is fair to say that this late work in particular has remained unrecognized and misunderstood to this day—a situation that can only be remedied by making the most comprehensive use possible of his extensive estate.

Jaspers is a radical thinker in the best sense of the word—not in a political sense, but in his unwavering commitment to integrity. He expects philosophy to provide answers to fundamental, existential questions about life, which shows how close he is to Sören Kierkegaard, whom he admires, and to the early Martin Heidegger. According to Jaspers, philosophy should turn to factual life; it must interpret existence, give it a voice, or, as Jaspers says, 'illuminate' it. Consequently, if philosophy is to be worthy of its name, it must transform itself into existential philosophy; it must ask the question of being, must analyze human existence without falsely defining it in inappropriate concreteness, as the sciences do, or objectifying it in merely imagined generality. For the sake of existential truthfulness, it must renounce and distance itself from objective or even absolute truth. Strictly speaking, philosophy therefore does not lead to any objectifiable result; its possibility and significance lie in existential reasoning and appeal. According to Jaspers, the only truth that can still be meaningfully discussed, namely that of human existence, reveals itself primarily in so-called "borderline situations" such as suffering, illness, death, struggle, or guilt. For in these exceptional constellations, humans reach their limits, experience meaninglessness and loneliness directly, and lose all certainty except for one: the certainty of their own existence. Limit situations thus reveal who a person is and what they are capable of enduring or achieving. In them, humans must face the possibilities of their actual selfhood—and thereby inevitably also grapple with their freedom and responsibility. In this way, for Jaspers, borderline situations mark the actual origin of philosophy, not least because they are closely linked to the experience of transcendence. Of course, this experience is only possible as a problem, in the form of signs that can never be completely deciphered – Jaspers calls them 'ciphers'. According to Jaspers, all great philosophers have thought and spoken in such ciphers, because there is no other way to represent, communicate, or jointly experience the absolute and the truth.

For Jaspers, existence is therefore always directed toward others, i.e., it is only possible as a collective practice. Freedom exists exclusively within the community, because only within it are reason, truth, and philosophy possible at all. The individual is only free to the extent that other people are free. This close connection between communication, freedom, and philosophy is probably the real, decisive reason for Jaspers' political engagement, which began not only after 1945, but then steadily increased from 1958 (with his Peace Prize speech) and continued to grow until his death. For him, it was clear what had always been highly controversial in Germany and disputed by Heidegger throughout his life, namely that philosophy must necessarily become political, that philosophers must take a stand on political issues. As a representative of the 'other Germany', Jaspers quickly became a moral authority. His greatest concern was the preservation of freedom, which he saw as threatened primarily by totalitarian systems, the nuclear armament of the two world powers and their bloc politics, but also by dangerous developments in his own country, such as the suppression of Nazi crimes and the emergence of oligarchic government structures, which he criticized. Jaspers always regarded democracy as a path to freedom, not as a state of freedom already achieved. He was convinced that those who want to preserve and improve democracy must control and criticize it, must demand and promote its potential for change. Jaspers did both.

The issue

If the broad context of Jaspers' thinking, as revealed in his larger and smaller publications, his posthumous material, and his numerous correspondences, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated and appreciated, it is because there is still no authoritative edition of his work based on uniform criteria that makes all relevant texts accessible in their context and available as a systematically networked whole.

In cooperation with the Karl Jaspers Foundation (Basel) (external link), the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences' research center, jointly run by the Department of Philosophy and the Center for Psychosocial Medicine at Heidelberg University, will now produce a complete edition (= Karl Jaspers Complete Edition [ KJG]) of Jaspers' published works, as well as a selection of his unpublished works and correspondence. The edition will also include detailed commentaries and document collections summarizing what has been achieved in this field to date and posing new research questions.

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