Historicity and actuality of the theory of delusion in the General Psychopathology by Karl Jaspers

The theory of delusion in the General Psychopathology by Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) has deeply influenced the international research on delusions. The reference points of the debates are presented in this revised opening lecture of the Oldenburg Symposium (11./12.7.2008) on the 125th Birthday of Karl Jaspers. His theory of delusion will be reconstructed and assessed in its historical context. Jaspers can be seen as a pioneer of a pluralistic psychiatry. His Kantian attitude has led him to formulating a concept of delusion as an attempt to solve the psychopathologic problem of endogeneity but with typical contradictions, which are still being discussed today. This concerns: the concept of "primary", unintelligible delusions in relation to the concept of intelligible "secondary delusions"; the determination of the limits of psychopathologic knowledge in relation to the tendency to somatic hypothesis; the problem of defining delusions; and the importance of the philosophical revision of the General Psychopathology in the year 1946. Jaspers wanted to protect the unity of psychiatry despite the gap between understanding and explaining - with lasting success as well as illuminating contradictions at the periphery of such a reform of psychopathology "from the inside."