How Karl Jaspers faces the mind-body problem?

Abstract

The mind -body problem remains present and challenging in the field of philosophy.We propose to look at it through the eyes of the Philosophy of Existence of Karl Jaspers .We will discuss the clash between the so called somaticists and the psycologists that existed in the german psychiatry at the beginning of XIX century. The somaticists led by Wilheeim Grissinger advocated that the diseased mind was a dissease of the brain. On the other hand, the psicologists were subject to the influences of morality and the religion. The leader of the psicologists was Johann Heinroth.  The concept of Grissinger will receive the name of “Cerebral Mythologies” by Jaspers. Jaspers will fight against a reductionist view of mental illness. In 1913 his importante work -General Psychopathology -will be published. The objetive of the work was orgnizing the diferente knowledge in the field of mental illness. We wil see that throughout this work, the mind-body problema will undergo various approaches and we will demonstrate the failures from each approach. Finally, with the review of General Psychopatology starting from the forth edition sucede what we call a “transposition”of concepts  of Existence Philosophy to General Psychopatology , especially with regard to problema mind-body. Lastly, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages this “transposicion”in the point of view of clinic practice