Karl Jaspers as an Intellectual Critic : The Political Dimension of His Thought

Through his acquaintance with Max Weber before the First World War Karl Jaspers was made aware of the political consequences of all philosophical thought.

It was not until after the Second World War, however, that Jaspers began to comment publicly on contemporary politics.

At the heart of his philosophical writings lies a fundamental tension between the need to explore human limits and the need to struggle to overcome them.

The theme of this study is the way in which the same tension in his political writings makes them a radical and individual contribution to the political debate in the Federal Republic.