Politics and weltanschauung : Jaspers' line of thought in the Politische Stimmungen

Jaspers' Politische Stimmungen is a historical and social discussion that seeks to highlight the figure of the politician in the controversial relationship with the Weltanschauung. The main issue is how politics should be conceived: is it die Politik or das Politische? We may indeed regard politics either as a field that maintains its autonomy in its interaction with other domains and with the Weltanschauung, or as absolute politics that shows its distinctiveness and is embodied in the politician. Jaspers' aim is to condemn the emptiness of his time, which is caused by the fact that politics and the Weltanschauung, which should be connected, are instead separate from one another.

Political responsibility is therefore unclear. We are no longer able to turn to a universal sentiment, the very same sentiment that Jaspers perceives in the Axial Age; a sentiment that unites people, giving rise to a collective project that promotes both individuality and the sense of community. Therefore, if the Weltanschauung fails, effective politics is hard to achieve. In this case, only the politician prevails, not authentic politics. [Publisher's text]