Abstract

The Ontological and Epistemological Pluralism in Jaspers’ Philosophy Dr. Hossein Atrak Abstract Karl Jaspers, as a German existentialist philosopher, tries to fill the gap between ancient epistemology and ontological philosophies by recognizing the realms of being. Their mistake was that they conceived the realms of being are unique and that they could be studied objectively with a single method. However, Jaspers maintained that being has different realms which must be studied with different methods. He recognized six realms of being: Dasein (or world), Ichsein (or my-being) and An-sich-sein (or Transcendance), and Ichsein's four states: Dasein, universal understanding, sprit, existenz. These realms of being must be studied using different methods. Dasein is studied by means of empirical method, which is a matter of Empiricism, Pragmatism and Positivism; Universal understanding is a matter of rationalism; Spirit is something related to Hegelian rationalism. And existenz is a matter of existentialist philosophy. Transcendence is a fact that surpasses the universe and can be reached only by a human with existenz, and it cannot be understood through perception or reason. Key words: Jaspers, ontology, epistemology, being, existenz.