ABSTRACT

Jaspers has earlier been considered for his contributions to philosophical thinking in this field. As a psychiatrist, he has also made a considerable contribution to the practical application of such thinking. Of course it is his magnum opus, A General Psychopathology (Jaspers 1963), that is most relevant here. In it, Jaspers systematically describes all mental and psychological disorders known to psychiatry from a phenomenological perspective, in an attempt to understand rather than merely classify and treat. For the first time, the emphasis is on the subjective experience of patients as he tries to capture the states of consciousness which are often so mysterious that they are ignored.