Life Conduct in Modern Times

We read, but we are also read by others. Interferences of these readings. Forcing someone to read himself as he is read (slavehood). Forcing the others to read me as I read myself (conquest). 1 Simone Weil Karl Jaspers was born in Oldenburg in 1883, grew up in a liberal-minded banker's family, studied medicine and was granted a chair in philosophy at the Uni- 2 versity of Heidelberg in 1922. The decisive factor in this appointment was Jaspers' 1919 monograph Psychology of World Views (Psychologie der Weltanschauungen), 3 which founded so-called 'existence philosophy'. What is less known is that in 1913 Jaspers had already published an epoch-making methodological systematics, his General Psychopathology (Allgemeine Psychopathologie), which had established 4 him as an authority in the field of psychiatry in the German-speaking world. As a result of this as well as the fact that Jaspers addressed questions concerning physi- 5 sicians' self-identity, Jaspers is now celebrated as one of the classic figures of 6 medicine. 1 Weil (1990), pg. 134. 2 Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) worked as a psychiatrist in Heidelberg starting in 1909, and from 1914 on he held a position as a Privatdozent for psychology in the Department of Philosophy after having completed his Habilitation. In 1920 he was granted an assistant professorship and in 1922 a chair in this department. In 1937 he was forced to retire because his wife was Jewish. In 1945 he was reinstated.

Interdisciplinary study between psychiatry, philosophy, sociology and cultural studies Combination of systematic and historical viewpoints

Auteur
Matthias Bormuth, geb. 1963, nach Medizinstudium und psychiatrischer Tätigkeit Promotion über Karl Jaspers und die Psychoanalyse. Seit 1998 Mitarbeiter am Tübinger Institut für Ethik und Geschichte in der Medizin mit geistesgeschichtlichen Arbeiten zu Psychiatrie, Philosophie und Literatur.

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The German version of this book received the main award in 2001 of the prestigious Stehr-Boldt-Fonds of the University of Zürich for scientific research combining questions of medical ethics with social interest.

This award-winning book investigates the critique of psychoanalysis formulated by the psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) over a period of five decades. His arguments against Freud and his followers are examined from systematic perspectives. The study traces the medico-historical roots of Jasper's criticism of psychoanalysis and then places it within the framework of scientific theory before devoting itself extensively to medico-ethical aspects of the controversy, which are ultimately treated in terms of a history of mentalities. According to this view, Jasper's student Hannah Arendt saw to it that the philosopher be made aware of the socio-cultural impact which psychoanalysis was beginning to have in the U.S.A. The philosopher came to look upon psychoanalysis as a theory in particular as it was propagated after 1945 in Germany and the U.S. whose claim to scientific objectivity constituted a serious threat to the freedom of the individual. Max Weber's theory of science and his concept of modernity serve as a critical guide for the interpretation. Thus the normative premise of the investigation is the liberal idea that in a secular and pluralistic society it is ultimately the individual who is to take responsibility for life conduct.

Contenu
The Critique of Psychoanalysis 1913-1920.- Life Conduct in Modern Times.- Critique of Psychoanalysis in 1931.- Critique of Psychoanalysis in 1941.- The Founding of the Psychosomatic Clinic in Heidelberg 1946-1949.- Critique of Psychoanalytic Psychosomatics 1949-1953.- On the Critique of Psychoanalysis and Society 1950-1968.- Summary and Prospective View.