Existential Elucidation : Jaspers, Boundary Situations, and Spiritual Care / Technische Universität München, Rico Gutschmidt, Eckhard Frick.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gutschmidt, Rico, editor.

Frick, Eckhard, editor.

Technische Universität München, funder.

Series:

Studies in Spiritual Care , 2511-8838 ; 14

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (IX, 253 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin Boston De Gruyter, [2025]

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

Eckhard Frick and Rico Gutschmidt, Technische Universität München.

Summary:

Spiritual Care aims at supporting the spiritual needs of patients. From a secular view, Spiritual Care can be interpreted with the help of central notions of Karl Jaspers, such as "boundary situation" and "existential elucidation". Jaspers' concept of the "boundary situation" refers to the fundamental boundaries of action and life, such as struggle, guilt, suffering and death. Human life always remains within these boundaries, but this is experienced in a special way in particular situations. According to Jaspers, such situations are experienced as boundary situations if this experience leads to "existential elucidation", namely to an attitude that comprehends and acknowledges life's fundamental boundaries. Boundary situations can occur in the context of the health-care sector. Patients, for example, who have to endure severe physical or emotional suffering or are confronted with their own death due to a terminal illness can experience their situation as a boundary situation in the sense of Jaspers. The contributions of this volume discuss the notion of boundary situation from philosophical, literary, and psychological perspectives and explore the question of how to support patients in boundary situations against this background.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Table of Contents

Words of welcome to the book "Existential Elucidation"

Preface / Eckhard Frick, Rico Gutschmidt

Keyword: Boundary / Rico Gutschmidt

The philosophy of boundary situations1011

Systematics and unity of Jaspers' boundary situations / Giovanni Pietro Basile

Karl Jaspers' conception of boundary situations and its implications for spiritual care / Kurt Salamun

Boundary situations / Thomas Fuchs

Doubts - curiosity - benefit / Alice Holzhey-Kunz

Existential boundaries. Jaspers on the interminable struggle with our finitude / Rico Gutschmidt

Perspectives on application9293

Preferring existential darkness to elucidation? / Eckhard Frick

Working with death, struggle and guilt / Emmy van Deurzen

Jaspers and Bion / Hilmar Schmiedl-Neuburg

From Karl Jaspers to Irvin D. Yalom and Emmy van Deurzen: / Alexander Schnorbusch

Interdisciplinary research172173

Existential communication in post-secular societies among psychologists and chaplains / Heidi Frølund Pedersen, Aida Hougaard Andersen, Laurids Munklinde, Ricko Damberg Nissen, Karsten Flemming Thomsen

Recollected experiences of death as boundary situations / Godehard Brüntrup

Echoes of Jaspers' concept of 'boundary situation' in two novels / Ni An

Arts informed Research based on spiritual care research interviews. A workshop report / Ruth Mächler, Ralf T. Vogel, Eckhard Frick, Heike Rastetter, Christoph Schlemmer, Rico Gutschmidt

Notes:

This eBook is made available Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed December 16 2025)

ISBN:

3-11-171537-X