Search for a Common Ground: Jaspers on Human Existence, Cosmopolitanism and Philosophical Faith

In the wake of Kant’s Copernican Turn, Karl Jaspers underscores the inherent limits of human cognition and action. To navigate these limitations, he advocates for intercultural communication at a global level. Jaspers’ early model of the Axial Age presents a vision of simultaneous yet independent breakthroughs to transcendence within the competing spiritual traditions of classical Eurasian civilizations, aiming to reconcile the universality and diversity inherent in the experience of human freedom and finitude. His lesser-known late work on philosophical faith transforms this model, where he posits a harmonious complementarity among revelation-based religions. This paper explores the tension between Jaspers' earlier dialogical model of intercultural encounter and his later assumption of harmony among revelation-based traditions.