Volume 21, No. 1, Spring 2026

FORTHCOMING

Democracy and Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism, World Philosophy, and the Axial Theory of History: Transcritique and Copernican Revolution Between Jaspers and Karatani
Pierre Keller | University of California, Riverside

I develop Karl Jaspers' conception of cosmopolitanism, of world philosophy, and his axial theory of history in relation to Immanuel Kant's cosmopolitan conception of world history. Jaspers conceived of the history of culture and of philosophy as having two axes on its way from the origins of history in myth and prehistory to the end of history in the cosmopolitical goal of global, encompassing human social freedom. The first axis is said to have occurred in part independently in China, India, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, Greece, and in the Americas from around 800 BCE to 200 BCE, with a focal point around 500 BCE. This formed the initial, though not fully integrated, basis for world culture and world philosophy. The second axis has yet to fully establish itself. In the second axial age, countries such as China, India, and Mexico will return to the role they held in thought, culture, technology, and economics during the first axial age. This prepares the way for a fully comprehensive and cosmopolitan conception of world history and of world philosophy that revitalizes and extends Kant's conception of it.

Keywords: tba.

In the Shadow of Modern Colonialism: Totalitarianism or Democracy? Karl Jaspers' View on the Future of Modernity and the Authoritarian Turn in Contemporary Global Politics
Hans Schelkshorn | University of Vienna, Austria

As one of the few philosophers of his time, Jaspers responded to Europe’s geopolitical decline with his work Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte (The Origin and Goal of History, 1949). According to Jaspers, Europe must integrate itself into a polycentric global society. In global society, different cultures coexist, each drawing on philosophical traditions dating back millennia, as Jaspers emphasizes with his widely noticed theory of the Axial Age. For the future, Jaspers foresaw an apocalyptic struggle between a world empire and a world order based on human rights and international law. In his search for strategies to implement a liberal world order, the later Jaspers seriously explored the issue of European colonialism. Since the idea of political freedom is a distinctly European concept, a peaceful future for humanity depends on whether Western states—despite the legacy of colonialism—can convince the peoples of other regions of the world of the political ideals of the European Enlightenment. Considering the current global rise of authoritarian movements and regimes, Jaspers' geopolitical vision of a communicative global society has taken on unexpected relevance.

Keywords: Axial Age theory; authoritarianism; human rights; international law; postcolonialism.

Karl Jaspers: Gandhi, the "Asian Values" Debate, Reformation, and Modernity
Gerrit A. J. Steunebrink | Radboud University, Netherlands

In this essay, I explore Jaspers’ surprising interpretation of Mahatma Gandhi, who perceived him not as an Indian but as an English phenomenon against the background of his theory of modernity being a Western phenomenon. This means it is the Western elaboration of the ideas pertaining to an Axial Age. Hence, it was not the result of the mystical Indian and Chinese elaboration of these ideas. Yet Gandhi's philosophy is the result of an Indian reform movement, namely the neo-Vedantic movement, which must be interpreted as an elaboration of the ideas emerging in the Axial Age. A comparison with the debate about Asian values proves fruitful, for in that debate, the possibility of modern Confucianism is grounded in Jaspers’ idea of the Axial Age. Modern Confucianism and Hinduism are reform movements. For oriental cultures, reforms are not, as Jaspers fears, a change of identity, but rather their reformulation. From within this perspective, I discuss Jaspers’ theory of intercultural communication and the universalization of modernity.

Keywords: Roy, Ram Mohun; Viveka̅nanda; Śaṅkara, Ādi; Axial Age; Confucianism; Europe; Christianity.

Jaspers and Murty on the Transcendence of Metaphysical Reality: An Indo-German Perspective
Krishna Pathak | Hindu College, University of Delhi, India

In the introduction of his academically acclaimed work Revelation and Reason in Advaita Vedānta (1959), the eminent modern Indian philosopher K. Satchidananda Murty mentions his acquaintance with Karl Jaspers, a noted Heidelberger Kantian philosopher who, according to Murty, told him in 1954 that "there was no metaphysics superior to that of Śankara." This philosophical acknowledgement by Jaspers made in the presence of Murty, speaks volumes about the nature and depth of Indian metaphysics, which is elaborated so eruditely in most of Murty's philosophical works that it leaves a clear mark on Indo-German intellectual relations. This essay stems from my reading of Jaspers, who has pithy knowledge of Indian philosophy, and of Murty whose contribution to Indian philosophical literature is historic. I intend to present an illustrative account of the modern Indo-German understanding of the transcendental nature of the metaphysical reality as envisaged and conceptualized in the philosophies of Jaspers and Murty. In the first pert, I share two preliminary observations on the Indo-German philosophical connection and briefly sketch why German philosophers such as Jaspers find Indian philosophy, particularly Śankara’s non-dualistic and monistic metaphysics, so fascinating and superior to the metaphysics of other traditions. The second part outlines Jaspers’ and Murty's understanding of Transcendental Reality as well as their philosophical stances and intellectual parallels. This section focuses on excerpts from Murty's writings and his conceptual affinity with Jaspers. In the third part, I aim to reflect on Murty’s intellectual vigor and his philosophical methodology as an inspirational takeaway for present and future researchers who are interested in Indian philosophical studies.

Keywords: Murty, K. Satchidananda; Metaphysics; Reality; Jaspers, Karl; German Idealism; Indian Monism; Śankara.

Revisiting Friedrich Nietzsche's "Good European" with Karl Jaspers
Ruth A. Burch | Ludes University, Lugano–Pazzallo, Switzerland

The aim of this presentation is to revisit Friedrich Nietzsche’s Good European with Karl Jaspers to the end of elaborating an assessment of their contribution toward shifting limits regarding contemporary culture and community that is in crisis. I argue that good Europeans explore the creation of new categories, delimitations and possibilities. Nietzsche conceives his self of the free spirit not as a nationalist but as a good European who is keen to abolish the nation-state, who is a European of a cosmopolitan taste, and who "knows the sea, adventure, and the Orient." Nietzsche is not essentializing and defending the Germanisation for, according to him, there is and was no German culture. Rather, for Nietzsche, in Germany there have always been a few exceptionally cultivated individuals. As cultural philosophers Nietzsche and Jaspers are not only concerned with Europe but also with the entire world. Jaspers speaks in this context of world philosophy. In Jaspers, philosophy is a practice that aims at the creation of both existential and political freedom resulting from truth obtained in the loving struggle in authentic communication.

Keywords: tba.

Book Review: Anton Hügli, Karl Jaspers on Truth and Dialogue: A Rethinking of his Philosophy of Universal Communication, Lexington Books 2025, hardback, 238 pages
Carlin Romano | University of Pennsylvania

TBA.

Keywords: tba.