Karl Jaspers

Karl Theodor Jaspers (23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German psychiatrist and philosopher. Jaspers contributed a lot to modern psychiatry: He was one of the first doctors who made a strict distinction between understanding and explaining. Jaspers said that there is only an indirect path to the processes of the soul. 
Biography
Jaspers was born in Saxony.  Jaspers father was a jurist and after a director of a bank. Jaspers was a "sickly child". Jaspers had from his youth low health from hereditary bronchiectasis which was diagnosed during April 1901, and is a degenerative disease. Jaspers was also diagnosed with "alleged secondary cardiac insufficiency" at some time during his youth.Hans Saner "Early life and education" In: Karl Jaspers German philosopher Encyclopedia BritannicaJohn Donovan medically Reviewed by Minesh Khatri, MD on August 11, 2022 Bronchiectasis WebMDSteven Goldman, Ph.D. "1. Some background on Jaspers" The Psychology of Worldviews: Jaspers/Heidegger Presencing EPIS™

Jaspers decided to study law at university, but changed to studying medicine from 1902 and achieved a medical degree during 1908. The subject of his thesis for graduation was homesickness and crime.  His entire career as a psychiatrist with patients was approximately six years, after which he quit and became a philosopher instead.

Work
The most important thing Jaspers did for psychiatry was writing a book which was published during 1913 with the title General Psychopathology.

Related pages
Anglo-Saxons
Delusion § History
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

References

Category:1883 births
Category:1969 deaths
Category:20th-century German philosophers
Category:German academics
Category:19th-century German philosophers
Category:German psychiatrists
Category:People from Lower Saxony