241
See also: Søren Kierkegaard 194–95 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21 ■ Martin
Heidegger 252–55 ■ Hans-Georg Gadamer 260–61 ■ Hannah Arendt 272F
or some, philosophy is a
way to discover objective
truths about the world.
For German philosopher and
psychiatrist Karl Jaspers, on the
other hand, philosophy is a personal
struggle. Strongly influenced by
the philosophers Kierkegaard and
Nietzsche, Jaspers is an existentialist
who suggests that philosophy is
a matter of our own attempts to
realize truth. Since philosophy is an
individual struggle, he writes in his1941 book On my Philosophy, we
can philosophize only as individuals.
We cannot turn to anybody else to
tell us the truth; we must discover
it for ourselves, by our own efforts.A community of individuals
Although in this sense truth is
something that we realize alone,
it is in communication with others
that we realize the fruits of our
efforts and raise our consciousness
beyond its limits. Jaspers considers
his own philosophy “true” only so
far as it aids communication with
others. And while other people
cannot provide us with a form of
“ready-made truth”, philosophy
remains a collective endeavor. For
Jaspers, each individual’s search
for truth is carried out in community
with all those “companions in
thought” who have undergone
the same personal struggle. ■THE MODERN WORLD
IN CONTEXT
BRANCH
Epistemology
APPROACH
Existentialism
BEFORE
1800s Søren Kierkegaard
writes of philosophy as a
matter of the individual’s
struggle with truth.
1920s Martin Heidegger
claims that philosophy is a
matter of our relationship with
our own existence.
1920s Friedrich Nietzsche
says that “God is dead”, there
are no absolute truths, and we
must rethink all our values.
AFTER
From 1940 Hannah Arendt’s
ideas of freedom are influenced
by Jaspers’ philosophy.
From 1950 Hans-Georg
Gadamer explores the idea
that philosophy progresses
through a fusion of individual
perspectives.
The philosopher lives in the invisible
realm of the spirit, struggling to realize
truth. The thoughts of other, companion,
philosophers act as signposts towards
potential paths to understanding.ONLY AS AN INDIVIDUAL
CAN MAN BECOME
A PHILOSOPHER
KARL JASPERS (1883–1969)