What is psychopathology? A rather sketchy, but not incorrect, answer is that psychopathology is a logos for pathos, i.e. a discourse about what troubles a person. Psychopathology provides a language to assess and make sense of the phenomena that express the vulnerability of the human person. Among the disturbing experiences that affect a person, emotions play a major role. According to Jaspers, the founder of this discipline, psychopathology has two major aims. First, it offers 'clarification,

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... rder, formation' (GP, p. 33/38), 1 i.e. concrete descriptions, a suitable terminology, and systematic groupings that allow us to bring order into the chaos of disturbing mental phenomena as recounted by the patient and observed in her or his behaviour. Second, it aims at 'a psychopathological education' (GP, p. 44/50), i.e. endowing clinicians with a valid and reliable philosophical background, that is providing a philosophically sound methodology. 1 We use the English translation of Allgemeine Psychopathologie (1997). With the aim of facilitating the process for readers who work with, or simply want to consult, the German original, we also refer to the pagination of the 7th edition of this work (1959). So in our references to Jaspers' text, the first page number refers to the English translation, whereas the number after the slanted stroke refers to the German original. When we disagree with the English translation, we have tacitly modified the text. The cross-reference will allow the critical reader to judge if our alternative is acceptable or not. To avoid ambiguity, we have chosen to include the German originals of central words and concepts in brackets in the text and in square brackets in direct quotations. T. Fuchs et al. (eds.), Karl Jaspers' Philosophy and Psychopathology,