Life Conduct in Modern Times : Karl Jaspers and Psychoanalysis

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Neuware - We read, but we are also read by others. Interferences of these readings. Forcing someone to read himself as he is read (slavehood). Forcing the others to read me as I read myself (conquest). 1 Simone Weil Karl Jaspers was born in Oldenburg in 1883, grew up in a liberal-minded banker's family, studied medicine and was granted a chair in philosophy at the Uni- 2 versity of Heidelberg in 1922. The decisive factor in this appointment was Jaspers' 1919 monograph Psychology of World Views (Psychologie der Weltanschauungen), 3 which founded so-called 'existence philosophy'. What is less known is that in 1913 Jaspers had already published an epoch-making methodological systematics, his General Psychopathology (Allgemeine Psychopathologie), which had established 4 him as an authority in the field of psychiatry in the German-speaking world. As a result of this as well as the fact that Jaspers addressed questions concerning physi- 5 sicians' self-identity, Jaspers is now celebrated as one of the 'classic figures of 6 medicine'. 1 Weil (1990), pg. 134. 2 Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) worked as a psychiatrist in Heidelberg starting in 1909, and from 1914 on he held a position as a Privatdozent for psychology in the Department of Philosophy after having completed his Habilitation. In 1920 he was granted an assistant professorship and in 1922 a chair in this department. In 1937 he was forced to retire because his wife was Jewish. In 1945 he was reinstated. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 9781402047640

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The German version of this book received the main award in 2001 of the prestigious Stehr-Boldt-Fonds of the University of Zürich for scientific research combining questions of medical ethics with social interest.

This award-winning book investigates the critique of psychoanalysis formulated by the psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) over a period of five decades. His arguments against Freud and his followers are examined from systematic perspectives. The study traces the medico-historical roots of Jasper’s criticism of psychoanalysis and then places it within the framework of scientific theory before devoting itself extensively to medico-ethical aspects of the controversy, which are ultimately treated in terms of a history of mentalities. According to this view, Jasper’s student Hannah Arendt saw to it that the philosopher be made aware of the socio-cultural impact which psychoanalysis was beginning to have in the U.S.A. The philosopher came to look upon psychoanalysis as a theory – in particular as it was propagated after 1945 in Germany and the U.S. – whose claim to scientific objectivity constituted a serious threat to the freedom of the individual. Max Weber’s theory of science and his concept of modernity serve as a critical guide for the interpretation. Thus the normative premise of the investigation is the liberal idea that in a secular and pluralistic society it is ultimately the individual who is to take responsibility for life conduct.