The great philosophers and the great works are standards for the selection of what is essential. Everything that we do in studying the history of philosophy ultimately serves their better understanding.
Karl JaspersRead
My own being can be judged by the depths I reach in making these historical origins my own.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The value of one's existence is determined by how deeply one connects with and understands their historical roots.
In this quote, Karl Jaspers emphasizes the significance of understanding and integrating historical contexts into one's identity. He suggests that an individual's essence and worth can be gauged by the extent to which they engage with these historical origins, reflecting the interplay between personal identity and collective history.
Themes
IdentityHistorySelf-DiscoveryAwarenessPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about personal growth, one might say, 'As Karl Jaspers noted, our identity is deeply tied to our historical origins.'
More from Karl Jaspers
All quotes βThe community of masses of human beings has produced an order of life in regulated channels which connects individuals in a technically functioning organisation, but not inwardly from the historicity of their souls.
Karl JaspersRead
We must learn to talk with each other, and we mutually must understand and accept one another in our extraordinary differences.
Karl JaspersRead
The study of law left me unsatisfied, because I did not know the aspects of life which it serves. I perceived only the intricate mental juggling with fictions that did not interest me.
Karl JaspersRead
If philosophy is practice, a demand to know the manner in which its history is to be studied is entailed: a theoretical attitude toward it becomes real only in the living appropriation of its contents from the texts.
Karl JaspersRead
Reason is like an open secret that can become known to anyone at any time; it is the quiet space into which everyone can enter through his own thought
Karl JaspersRead
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