The intention of Jaspers' thought aims at a philosophy of philosophizing. This gives a central role to one's existential experience of philosophies. In this context Jaspers' Philosophie (1932) is an instance of existential philosophy. However, from a biographical perspective it can be understood as an instance of transformative psychopathology. During the 1930s Jaspers developed the concept of the encompassing, which resulted in a departure from his previous existenz-philosophical impetus. Ontological presuppositions and his motivation to develop a philosophical systematic disguise his original impulse for existential illumination (Existenzerhellung). Even with such critique, the author concedes that Jaspers was existentially charismatic as a person and also in his achievements.