Dlaczego w koncepcji Jaspersa postać Jezusa znajduje się poza „czasem osi”?

Karl Jaspers’s concept of the Axial Age (German: Achsenzeit), or the unprece- dented age of the highest rise of the human spirit, shows the kinship of people belonging to such different civilizations as Greek, Jewish, Hindu and Chinese. The Axial Age is not only the subject of research for many scholars dealing with the past, but also a possible foundation for the future realization of the peaceful unity of people of the whole Earth. The article focuses on the figure of Jesus, considered by Jaspers as one of the four paradigmatic individuals (German: die maßgebenden Menschen), i.e. people with the greatest influence in the spiritual history of humanity. Therefore, the presence or absence of Jesus in the Axial Age will bring serious consequences. The article presents Jaspers’s arguments for recognizing the period between the 8th and 2nd century BC as the Axial Age, and the possibility of expanding it.

Grecja a koncepcja czasu osiowego w "O źródle i celu historii" Karla Jaspersa

In the paper I consider ancient Greece as a member of what Karl Jaspers called Axial civilizations. In his 1949 book On the Origin and Goal of History Karl Jas- pers developed the theory of the Axial Age. This refers to a supposed proces of intellectual and socio-political change that occurred in Greece, iIrael, Persia, India, and China (but nowhere else) in the period 800–200 BCE. The changes involve the development of critical and reflective thinking as well as a new sense of individuality. I first analyze Jaspers’ original theory in order ot extract criteria of the Axial Age that could be usef for testing whether a particular civ- ilization should be characterized as Axial. I suggest that such criteria may be found in the development of a universal, absolute ethics, based in a notion of transcendence that is opposed to and seeks to displace traditional beliefs and practices. Also, a further criterion can be found in the notion of an individual opposed to the wider community. I then apply these criteria to ancient Greece of the period 800–200 BCE. I conclude that while significant changes have occured in Greece in this period, not least the devlopment of philosophy, they do not support the classification of Greece as an Axial civilization.

Metafilozoficzny charakter Jaspersa kategorii „ogarniającego”

In this paper I would like to show that Jaspers’ concept of “encompassing” may be regarded as metaphilosophical. The term itself embodies notion of philosophy as fundamentally nonlinear, existential and perpetually open (philosophiae perennis) kind of thinking which structure (described as dialec- tic relation between “what encompasses” and “what is encompassed”) should be regarded as basic form of every source enlightenment. If philosophy aims for that goal, then Jaspers’ periechontology (as analysis of different modes of encompassing) shows us that it can not be realised by any direct insight – by grasping any specific content of cognition. The sole and only way for philos- ophy to reach what is truly transcendent is to inquire the relation between “what is encompassed” and “what encompasses” as a ground on which every subject-object reality is founded. In this paper I would like to show that Jaspers’ concept of “encompass- ing” may be regarded as metaphilosophical. The term itself embodies notion of philosophy as fundamentally nonlinear, existential and perpetually open (philosophiae perennis) kind of thinking which structure (described as dialec- tic relation between “what encompasses” and “what is encompassed”) should be regarded as basic form of every source enlightenment. If philosophy aims for that goal, then Jaspers’ periechontology (as analysis of different modes of encompassing) shows us that it can not be realised by any direct insight – by grasping any specific content of cognition. The sole and only way for philos- ophy to reach what is truly transcendent is to inquire the relation between “what is encompassed” and “what encompasses” as a ground on which every subject-object reality is founded.

O pojęciu „historyczności” według Karla Jaspersa oraz Carla Gustava Junga

I shall try to consider comparatively the notion of “historicity” in the sense given to it by Karl Jaspers and Carl Gustaw Jung in their “philosophies of history”, which were an original response to the crisis of modern historical scientificated consciousness. On the basis of Jaspers’ „Vom Ursprung und der Ziel der Geschichte” as well as Jung’s „Über die Entwicklung der Persönli- chkeit” I intend to explore a common point of their philosophical positions, which is: an individual historical existence, belonging as he/she does to the historical world that enters his/her life in a particular form, and, on the other hand, shaping the general historical reality through picking out and revealing the meanings and opportunities waiting to be unearthed in the sphere of his- toricity. Their concept of individual human being that, paradoxically, is just as much a historical existence in history as it remains outside history.

Jaspersa nowa formuła starożytnego ujęcia filozofii jako praktycznego filozofowania

Jaspers defines his philosophy as philosophizing, in order to emphasize the practical function of thisthinking. His approach to philosophy evokes many similarities with the ancient concept of philosophy as wisdom related to life, the art of living. And yet, although the similarities are suggestive, it is the dif- ferences that come to the fore. This is because Jaspers’ formula of philosophy is a thoroughly modern and original proposition, differing from ancient con- cepts in its basic tenets, as I shall demonstrate. I highlightthe differences by identifying two assumptions underlying this concept: the “source of thought” (der denkende Ursprung) and the “thing” (Sache), that the man has made his. The concept of the practical function of philosophy belongs to one of the many paradoxes found in Jaspers’ thought. I follow the mystery of this para- dox by juxtaposing Jaspers’ concept of practical philosophy against its ancient predecessor, based on several selected categories, such as freedom, reason, fear, real life, and philosophical meditation that the two seem to share. Along the way, I argue that the contemporary formula of Jaspers’ practical philosophy gives the original and modern shape to the eternal idea of philosophy as the guide to life.

Vor, mit und nach Jaspers – ein Beitrag zur Öko-Philosophie

The main topic of the paper is the philosophical anthropology, connected with the philosophy of communication. The aim is to define the man as a conscious part of the environment unity. First one will mention and criticize the meth- od of Kant as duplication of “man” and “world”. Then one will describe the romantic unification of the universum (Schelling and the followers). Between both conceptions lies the philosophy of Jaspers. He speaks about the necessity of communication as a way to unification and repair of the social existence. On the end one show the conceptions of today, connected with the “man-in-the- world” (Heidegger, Gadamer, Andrzejewski).

Jaspers als Zeitdiagnostiker

For a number of writings of Jaspers it is significant that they imply diagnoses (or critical reflections) about some cultural and political tendencies and events during his lifetime. Those diagnoses becomes evident in the books “Man in modern Age”, “The Question of German Guilt”, “The Atom bomb and the Future of Man” or “The Future of Mankind”, and “The Future of Germa- ny”. There Jaspers treated in a critical mode: inhuman consequences of the development of modern sciences und techniques, the guilt of German people for the rise of Naziism, the danger of the extinction of all mankind by the atom-bomb, the abolition of individual freedom and human dignity by totali- tarian governments, the introduction of a new constitution for West-Germany without an open and broader discussion and cooperation with the German people a. s. o. That those critical diagnoses are grounded in a liberal ethos of freedom and humanity in Jaspers’ philosophy is the main thesis of this article.

Idea „philosophiae perennis” w Karla Jaspersa egzystencjalnej historiografii filozoficznej

The idea of perennial philosophy appears in Jaspers’ writings in connection with philosophical reflection, and metaphysically based and hermeneutically oriented new existential history of philosophy. Eternal philosophy constitutes a necessary condition of working within the area of history of philosophy and of true, philosophical understanding of philosophical texts. Having own phi- losophy and history of philosophy researched from this perspective are nec- essary conditions of creating empirical philosophical historiography and they dictate the way of conducting philosophico-historical research. According to Jaspers the idea of perennial philsophy is connected with basic questions and aspects of philosophical historiography. The questions include: the question concerning the unity and coherence of history of philosophy, the question concerning the beginnings and the source of philosophy, which is connect- ed with the problem of novelty and originality of philosophical thought, the question concerning the development and the possibility of progress in the history of philosophy the question concerning the unique personal identity of philosophy and criteria for establishing the hierarchy and evaluation of philosophers and their thoughts.

Das Nahe und das Ferne, das Einzelne und das Allgemeine, das Zeitliche und das Ewige. Über die Grundpolarität in Jaspers Denken

Karl Jaspers received the basic figure of his thinking from Kierkegaard: that of the self-caring subjective thinker who, by relating himself to himself, re- lates to another. The two moments that make up this basic figure – my rela- tionship with myself and the other on which this relationship is based – run through Jaspers’ entire thinking: be it as the individual versus the general, as the present versus the Eternal, as the near One versus the distant One, as existence versus transcendence. It is man’s job to endure the tension between these two poles and to in- tegrate them into his life. This task can only be solved existentially, but it is understood correctly only through philosophical thinking. Because the two poles are beyond all knowledge and can only be illuminated by philosophical thought, but never caught up conceptually, each individual is called upon to choose freely what he believes in and “which star he wants to bind himself to”. It is this incessant process of making oneself sure of oneself and of the encompassing being that, according to Jaspers, defines philosophy as philoso- phia perennis and yet always ties it back to the historical situation in which the individual thinker finds himself and tries to find out what is true to him in the eternal sense. These two sides in Jaspers’ philosophy – his understanding of philosophy as philosophia perennis and his insistence on the respective his- torical situation – are therefore only two aspects of the basic polarity of his thinking.

Es gibt keine Freiheit ohne Wahrheit und keine Wahrheit ohne Freiheit. Die Aktualität der Überlegungen von Karl Jaspers über die Grundlage der Wahrhaftigkeit in der Öffentlichkeit

In his post-war work, Karl Jaspers draws attention to the problem of rela- tionship between truth and freedom. According to Jaspers, truth can only be found in discussion and in confrontation of difference views. There is no truth without freedom. Authoritarian regimes do not allow the free exchange of opinion and are therefore closed to truth. Currently it is common in pub- lic life that people do not care about truth. Indifference toward truth became general because of social media which make transmission of unconfirmed and fake information easier. Disrespect towards truth is also characteristic to the antidemocratic leaders presently holding power, who use lies, frauds and ma- nipulation in order to gain power.