A Central Problem With Western Philosophy

“The passionate revivification of these words and doctrines…is an impotent call to hold fast.” — Jaspers

Matthew David
Embodying Philosophy

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By Rembrandt — internet, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6375105

The other day I was reading an excerpt of Karl Jaspers book, Existenzphilosophie, translated by Felix Kaufmann from 1941.

Karl Jaspers is a philosopher that isn’t as widely read as say Heidegger or Sartre, but everything I have read by him has been insightful and interesting. It is because of this fact that I have decided to write this article, and discuss what the problem with western philosophy is, according to Jaspers.

To do this, I am going to start at the conclusion, and I am going to show the line of thinking that Jaspers follows to come to his end.

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The Problem With Western Philosophy

“Thus the great history of western philosophy from Parmenides and Heraclitus through Hegel can be seen as a thorough-going and completed unity. It’s great forms are even today preserved in the tradition, and are rediscovered as the true salvation from the destruction of philosophy. For a century…

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Matthew David
Embodying Philosophy

Philosopher. Writer. Coffee Addict. I write about Philosophy from the Ancient Greeks to Existentialism. https://medium.com/@matthew-david/about ←Learn more here