Philosophical Principles of Faith in Karl Jaspers

Karl Jaspers is a theist existentialist philosopher. He sees that one of the conditions to realize the existence of a person is the belief in God. Jaspers performs negative theology in speaking on God. According to him, the God of the church become an ordinary person in the universe leaving his superior being. For Jaspers, no human can be son of God. This can never suit the superior being of the God. Jesus is not the son of God but the last Jewish Prophet. Jasper s God is not the God of divinely inspired religions, which exist in the church and characterized with dogmas and cults (worship). Because, in the thought of revelation, there is a authority limiting the freedom (where as Freedom is an unconditional position for existence.) But the matter, which should be emphasized here, is that the revelation opposed by Jaspers is the revelation of church. Because, according to him, church had changed, the revelation and used it as a media in order to strengthen its authority. It is impossible for Jaspers to believe in an revelation like this. Faith, for Jaspers, is a general concept including both philosophical and religious faith. Philosophical faith is the only faith, which can be owned by a philosopher. According to Jaspers, faith is the sole existence of the believer. If faith could be defined as defined by the church, it made of an information rather than faith. Wisdom and philosophical faith are not opposing to each other. The faith that goes against wisdom is the Catholic position of it. Faith can not be handled like an information. Information is valid only when it serves as a way to faith. Philosophical faith has a negative character, and can not become a belief or dogma. Philosophical faith can not endure to an objective mortal being in the world. It can not thus reach to peace as an existential state. According to Jaspers, ciphers (where cipher concept is an important concept of the Jaspers s philosophy) are like the keys of the faith. If things to believe were fully clear and distinct this never be a faith. Ciphers are the language of the Transcendent. Ciphers are subjective; men creates these ciphers according to the design made thinking style the power of understanding.