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Karl Jaspers: Philosophy as Faith (review)
- Journal of the History of Philosophy
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 16, Number 2, April 1978
- pp. 243-244
- 10.1353/hph.2008.0159
- Review
- Additional Information
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BOOK REVIEWS 243 Needless to say, I would have preferred the more normal method of reduction. In the event that had been done, the various chapters on aspects of Masaryk's thought undoubtedly would have been more complete and valuable for having better internal arguments. The discussion of 'humanity' as central concept would have been more compact and more accessible to evaluation . It is unfortunate that one has to proceed this way in handling a book that commands some considerable respect. In concluding, it seems as much an act of repentance as a courtesy to give the work's outline so as to alert the potential reader, who really ought to be as much encouraged as warned, to what may be found therein. The first chapter deals with "the structure of Masaryk's ethical thought, his social and political philosophy." This is accomplished by Beld in answering the question of the relation of norm and fact for Masaryk. In the second chapter, the concept 'humanity' is set forth as "the content of Masaryk's normative thinking is subjected to closer examination." Chapter three finds Beld dealing with nationality "in light of the concept of humanity." The same sort of thing is done in the next two chapters with socialism and democracy, with the added feature of presenting Masaryk's theory of democracy "along the lines of those criteria that H. B. Mayo regards as the 'distinguishing principles' of a coherent theory of democracy." (This use of a model is a curious departure, since Beld is elsewhere disinclined to employ that sort of thing.) Chapter six, on 'humanity' and revolution, relates these two concepts as end and possible means in Masaryk's thought. Additionally, it ought to be noted that chapter one deals with Masaryk's views of human nature, history and Society, morality and religion. Chapter three is devoted to his views on nationalism as well as nationality and Czech history. Chapter four gives us Masaryk's well-known critique of Marx; chapter five, his views on theology, philosophy, and science; and chapter six, his opinion of the Marxist and Bolshevik doctrines of revolution. K. M. JENSEN University of Colorado Karl Jaspers: Philosophy as Faith. By Leonard Ehrlich. (Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1975. Pp. 287. $18.50) As the title indicates, this study of Karl Jaspers's philosophical system centers in the concept of faith, a concept central to Jaspers and problematic to many philosophers and philosophies. Let it be said at the outset that this term, as used by Jaspers and interpreted by Ehrlich, is not faith as the contradictory opposite of reason. Nor is it the traditional propositional assent beyond or against factual evidence. Readers of Jaspers will recall that the English translation that bore the label The Perennial Scope of Philosophy carried the original German title Der Philosophische Glaube. However, this faith is not simply the subject of a single book; it is a pervasive theme running through Jaspers's whole philosophic career. Such philosophic faith provides the motivation and direction for the whole enterprise of philosophy. Since the fruit of this process is knowledge, although there are obvious tensions between faith and knowledge, there are no ultimate conflicts. Philosophic faith, unlike traditional religious faith, has no institutional embodiment; and, indeed, Jaspers stoutly resists any concept of orthodoxy or, as he labels it, "catholicity" for philosophic faith. This faith may also be known by its contrasts with a wide series of alternatives, ranging from "unfaith" or skepticism through "superstition" to "mysticism." In contrast to mysticism , which in Jaspers's interpretation dissolves concrete human personality in "transcendence ," faith exists in concrete human actuality. It is characterized by such features as absolute demand and sincerity or authenticity. Its characteristic fruit is love or, in Jaspers's felicitous phrase, "boundless communication." In contrast to the scientist Galileo who could recant his scientific beliefs, philosophic faith found illustration in Bruno who sacrificed his life for his philosophic conclusions. 244 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Ehrlich finds notable traces of philosophic faith in such various recent philosophers as Wittgenstein , Buber, Marcel, and Tillich. However, it is Jaspers to whom he looks for full development and deployment of this concept in all the...