Border situations force whole-being choices that abstract thought cannot resolve
Evidence
Jaspers focused on what he called Grenzsituationen — border situations, or limit situations. These are the moments when one finds oneself constrained or boxed in by what is happening, but at the same time pushed by these events towards the limits or outer edge of normal experience. For example, you might have to make a life-or-death choice, or something might remind you suddenly of your mortality, or some event may make you realise that you have to accept the burden of responsibility for what you do. Experiencing such situations is, for Jaspers, almost synonymous with existing, in the Kierkegaardian sense. Although they are hard to bear, these are puzzles in our existence, and thus open the door to philosophising. We cannot solve them by thinking in the abstract; they must be lived, and in the end we make our choices with our entire being. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 274
Categorization
- DEFINE: Clear definition of Grenzsituationen / border situations — a core existentialist concept worth orienting to.
- XREF: Connects Kierkegaard’s either/or and freedom to Jaspers; also echoes the ‘anguish of choice’ themes in existentialism generally. — connects to: Absurdity means the choice grounds all reasons and reasons-for-being; Decisions against one’s will arise from situational confluence, not rational deliberation — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 489; Marriage forces spontaneity and deliberate decision to coincide impossibly — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1157 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Decisions against one’s will arise from situational confluence, not rational deliberation
#expands(0.82) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 489 - Marriage forces spontaneity and deliberate decision to coincide impossibly
#exemplifies(0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1157 - Moral character holds coexisting possibilities that circumstances alternately surface
#expands(0.77) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 50 - True thinking requires an internal dialogue among conflicting viewpoints.
#expands(0.75) — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life An Antidote to Chaos, 727