Once upon a time...
KJSNA
- Est. 1980
George
B. Pepper |
11.07.03
The Karl Jaspers Society of North
America (KJSNA) was founded on December 28, 1980 through the joint efforts of
George B. Pepper and Leonard H. Ehrlich. The prospect of forming the Society
emerged out of the work that they and Edith Ehrlich did in preparing a systematic
presentation of readings from the writings of Jaspers. Pepper had communicated
with the authors of English publications on Jaspers to find out whether such
a text held any value for their research and teaching. The near unanimous positive
response led Pepper and Ehrlich to the realization that a formal organization
would be justified to provide a forum for those who found in Jaspers' writings
a voice that had great importance for many of the central questions in contemporary
philosophy. The Reader, Karl Jaspers: Basic Philosophical Writings, edited,
translated, and with introductions by Edith Ehrlich, Leonard H. Ehrlich, George
B. Pepper, was originally published, Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1986,
in the Series in Continental Thought. (A revised paperback edition was first
published by Humanities Press, 1994).
Since 1980 the Society conducted annual meetings in conjunction with the Annual
Meetings of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division. The
Society began holding meetings
with the APA Pacific Division in March 1989, and held its first meeting with
the Central Division in 1993. Besides conducting annual meetings with the
APA
divisions, the Society cooperated with the Jaspers Society of Japan and the
Karl Jaspers Stiftung of Basel in mounting international conferences on Jaspers'
thought. The first was held in the Summer of 1983 in conjunction with the XVII
World Congress of Philosophy in Montreal, Canada, and commemorated the centenary
of Jaspers' birth. The second international conference was part of the XVIII
World Congress of Philosophy held in Brighton, England. Moscow in 1993 and
Boston
in 1998 were the locales for the last two international Jaspers meetings held
as a part of the World Congress of Philosophy.
The Society's purpose is to promote study and research in the thought of Karl
Jaspers and related philosophical issues. Dedicated exclusively for educational
and scientific purposes, the Karl Jaspers Society of North America has received
tax-exempt status under section 501(c) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of
1954 or the corresponding provisions of any future U.S. Internal Revenue Law.