Abstract

To try to reveal, in a short essay, the various facets of limit-situations and their consequences for human existence is a misplaced idea. Instead, we intend to explore, based on some indications provided by Karl Jaspers, some moments that constitute them. We chose to approach the theme from five perspectives: the limit, the meaning, the nothingness, the suffering and the finitude. In suffering, we will undertake a brief textual critique of passages from two central works by Karl Jaspers: Psychologie der Weltanschauungen, from 1919, and Philosophie, from 1932. In doing this, we will be able to notice a change in the way suffering is presented. Although subtle, this change leads us not only to specify the role of limit-situations in the Jaspersian philosophy of existence, but also to uncover a tension between limit-situations and experiences linked with them.