Karl Jaspers on Nihilism and Responsibility

• Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) relates the concepts of nihilism and responsibility to each other. Already in 1919 he suggests that responsibility is the adequate way of relating to nihilism. At the time he is not very clear on what this means. By retracing his treatment of nihilism this paper clarifies it, and it will also show that the way he is putting the two concepts together is relevant for contemporary discussions of responsibility. The aim of this paper is to expose an underlying historical connection between the two concepts whereby the concept of responsibility is elaborated as a response to the concept of nihilism. I shall show an affinity between these concepts which is also a conceptual constellation of relevance for today, although so far it had been drawn on only infrequently. The concept of nihilism was not unknown to Weimar Germany’s intellectuals, as it had a tradition in Germany and had been used to connote Russian revolutionaries. Furthermore, it had been promoted Context

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Idé- och lärdomshistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- History of Ideas (hsv//eng)

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