The Boundaries Of The Soul

Since the publication of "Allegemeine Psychopathologie", Jaspers' psychopathology became a hot point in international psychiatry circles. This thesis beginning with the influence of Jaspers' psychopathology on the contemporary psychiatry, revealed its philosophic foundation of methodology and epistemology, and intervened the practice of the clinical psychopathology from the critical perspective.1. Jaspers applied the phenomelogical method in the study of psychopathology, formed the phenomelogical direction in the study of psychopathology. Jaspers proposed the clinical psychopathology, namely, symptommalogie of mental illness, his clinical psy-chopathological direction caused a vast influence on the clinical psychiatry in modern Europe and many other countries over the world, opened the new era of the clinical psychiatry in Europe.2. Jaspers' psychopathology is a symbol of the transition of psychiatric theory from Kraepelins' nosological conception to descriptive-symptomatological conception. The basic method of Jaspers' psychopathology is phenomenological description, psychological understanding and causal explain. Through the differentiation of understandable connection and causal connection, understanding and explain, development and process, Jaspers pointed out the basic path to mental life.3. Methodology and systematics are Jaspers' main achievements in psychopathology. But his methodology and systematics have their shortage and limitations, too. His methodological reflection set up the foundation of scientific psychopathology, but it also hampered the way of thought of dynamic psychology, blocked the dynamic psychological observation and diagnosis on mental illness.4. The philosophic basis of Jaspers' psychopathology is Kants transcendental philosophic epistemology, H. Rickert' s and M. Weber' s newkantianism and the scientific theory from F. Brentano, E. Husserl and W. Dilthy.5. Jaspers' psychopathology impacted a lot on the theory and practice of the Psychiatry in 20th century. We should evaluate Jaspers' psychopathology from the perspective of the history of psychopathology, pay attention to both its great contribution to psychiatry and its passive influence on this field.