By Shiraz Dossa
From the time she set the highbrow international on fireplace along with her reflections on Eichmann (1963), Hannah Arendt has been obvious, primarily, as a literary commentator who had fascinating issues to claim approximately political and cultural issues. during this serious learn, Shiraz Dossa argues that Arendt is a political theorist within the feel during which Aristotle is a theorist, and that the most important to her political concept lies within the dual notions of the “public realm” and the “public self”.
during this paintings, the writer explains how Arendt’s unconventional and debatable perspectives make feel at the terrain of her political concept. He exhibits that her judgement on thinkers, actors, and occasions as different as Plato, Marx, Machiavelli, Freud, Conrad, Hobbes, Hitler, the Holocaust, the French Revolution, and eu colonialism movement at once from her political idea.
Tracing the origins of this concept to Homer and Periclean Athens, Dossa underlines Arendt’s specific contribution to reinventing the belief and the fitting of citizenship, reminding us that the general public realm is the locus of friendship, group, id, and in a definite feel, humanity. Arendt believes that nobody who prefets his or her inner most curiosity to public affairs within the previous feel can declare to be absolutely human or really first-class.
Read or Download The Public Realm and the Public Self: The Political Theory of Hannah Arendt PDF
Best history & theory books
Hegel's Theory of the Modern State
This learn in English of Hegel's political philosophy provides an total view of the advance of Hegel's political considering. the writer has drawn on Hegel's philosophical works, his political tracts and his own correspondence. Professor Avineri exhibits that even supposing Hegel is basically considered a thinker of the kingdom, he used to be a lot serious about social difficulties and his proposal of the nation has to be understood during this context.
Social Movements and Organization Theory
Even if the fields of association idea and social stream concept have lengthy been considered as belonging to diversified worlds, fresh occasions have intervened, reminding us that firms have gotten extra movement-like and risky and politicized whereas pursuits usually tend to borrow techniques from businesses.
The Political Theory of Recognition: A Critical Introduction
In recent times the political panorama has replaced: validated principles approximately type, economic climate, country and equality were challenged by means of a brand new politics of identification, tradition, ethnicity and distinction. The political thought of popularity is a reaction to those demanding situations. during this, the 1st introductory e-book at the topic, Simon Thompson analyses the argument simply society is one who exhibits all its participants due reputation.
International Relations Theories
Drawing on a wealth of workmanship from a world staff of participants, the 3rd variation of diplomacy Theories offers an updated and accomplished account of all of the significant IR theories--including the various extra substitute understandings now not present in different texts--and helps them with case examine examples.
- An Approach to Political Philosophy: Locke in Contexts
- Social Studies for Secondary Schools: Teaching To Learn, Learning To Teach
- Empire and Imperial Ambition: Liberty, Englishness and Anti-Imperialism in Late Victorian Britain (Library of Victorian Studies)
- Gramsci, Historical Materialism and International Relations
Extra resources for The Public Realm and the Public Self: The Political Theory of Hannah Arendt
Sample text
86 Indeed their tragedies may be seen as variations on themes pioneered by Homer: suffering, joy, glory, death locked into an eternal contest in life. Seeing in Homer his great rival, Plato felt obliged to ridicule him and his conception of life. That Plato respected Homer as a great poet is clear enough. To Plato, however, Homer's irreverent attitude towards the Gods—his misrepresentation of Gods as capable of evil as well as good, his fearful descriptions of life in the other world and his conception of changing divinity—seemed to cast serious doubt upon other-worldly Justice and Truth.
In fact, her thinking on politics is beholden to the classical mediation on politics, especially to Aristotle. To miss the shared impulse animating Plato, Aristotle, and Arendt is to misunderstand the basis of her thought. Her disagreement with them lies elsewhere: on the notion of the political and what it entails. Whatever the differences between Plato and Aristotle, they prize transcendental motif: the quest for immortalizing. They see excellence as the mainstay of human existence. They see human status as a transcendental norm sanctioned by something other than man himself.
In fact, Arendt's thesis centred, not on the substantive continuity of occidental history as such, but on the intellectual and moral continuity of our capacity to understand historical practice prior to this event. 42 Consequently, according to Arendt the extant "theoretical instruments" are not just pitifully inadequate (as in Voegelin's view) but irrelevant: the event had shattered the universe of meaningful moral and political discourse. "43 For Arendt the nature of totalitarian domination largely undermined the validity of classical political judgement.