General Psychopathology (Paperback)

by Karl Jaspers (Author), J. Hoenig (Translator), Marian W. Hamilton (Translator) "We understand psychic connections from within as meaning, and we explain them from without as regular if not essential accompaniments and sequences..." (more)
Key Phrases: special psychiatry, organic cerebral illnesses, schizophrenic psychic life, Kurt Schneider, Bumke's Handbuch, Carl Schneider (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Karl Jaspers was only thirty when he amassed the data and expounded the methods and interpretations that give his Psychopathologie a place at the side of James' monumental Principles of Psychology. Like James, he later turned to philosophy. He certainly shared James' radically empirical spirit; he documented more systematically the challenge to the methodological imperialism to which psychopathology was subject in his day." -- Peter A. Bertocci, Review of Metaphysics

"As long as psychiatric diagnosis and treatment rest on psychopathological investigation, the continuing improvement and sharpening of this tool of investigation must remain a prime concern to psychiatrists. This book is a guide to that technique; still irreplaceable, much of it is still as fresh as the day it was written and still a lively stimulus to others yet to come." -- E. W. Anderson, foreword to the 1963 English translation of General Psychopathology

Book Description

In his most important contribution to the Heidelberg school, a founder of existentialism critiques the scientific aspirations of psychotherapy.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 594 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (November 18, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801858151
• ISBN-13: 978-0801858154
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #358,908 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intruiging exploration of psychology from an existentialist viewpoint, January 19, 2008

By	Greg (Australia) - See all my reviews

This work by Jaspers explores psychology, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy from his philosophical viewpoint of Existentialism. While much of what Jaspers says from the medical/scientific view is certainly looks out of date, this work remains a fascinating exploration of human conciousness and being-in the world with a strongly scientific slant. While it does not match the rigor of Freud and his school or the philosophical insight and depth of Sartre and Merlau-Ponty, for the philosopher it retains much of interest and also gives one a good insight into Jasper's later philosophical work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, December 12, 2007

By	Rustin Berlow "highestself" (San Diego) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am SO glad that this was reprinted, it is a monument of what psychiatric thought can produce. Jaspers presents a clear, deep and useful approach (Phenomenological) to the assessment and understanding of psychiatric patients. McHugh, himself an unappreciated giant (cf Perspectives of Psychiatry), writes an introduction that sensitively places the author and the work in the context from which it arose.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great if you are a psychiatrist or psychologist, November 2, 1998

By A Customer

This is a classic work by the father of a philosophical school called phenomenology. His student Schneider is responsible for forming the psychiatric criteria for Schizophrenia in use today (1998) by DSM-4. Jaspers was a prodigy when he wrote this at age 33. His philosophical works have been the subject of great controversy because of the concept of empathy.