Karl Jaspers on Truth and Dialogue: A Rethinking of His Philosophy of Universal Communication

The German philosopher Karl Jaspers was moved by the possibilities of global understanding throughout his life and penetrated it more deeply than any other thinker before him. Anton Hügli argues that Jaspers’ petition to not proclaim a new doctrine, --but to continue thinking along the path taken by the great philosophers of the past, --is itself an expression of his unconditional will to communicate. The limits of communication that Jaspers shows us are not accidental psychological and sociological obstacles to understanding, but limits that we humans encounter as humans: we want to communicate what cannot be communicated.

Instead of an understanding based on a truth that can be understood by all, there is a struggle between the powers of faith. How we can communicate with one another and work for peace and unity in the world? This ultimate question requires a twofold clarification: on the one hand, of the nature of the objects that have always been considered inexpressible, the human’s individual existence and God as the ultimate One, and on the other hand, of the faculty in us that allows us to think things that cannot be thought.

Anton Hügli is professor emeritus of philosophy and education at the University of Basel.