Hannah Arendt

List of publications

by Ulrike Hoeppner

This is a list of my publications as of May 2012.

Review of ‘Political Evil in a Global Age: Hannah Arendt and International Theory’ by Patrick Hayden.

by Kirsten Ainley

Review of ‘Political Evil in a Global Age: Hannah Arendt and International Theory’ by Patrick Hayden. Abingdon: Routledge. 2009. 145pp. £76.00/ £23.50 (paperback). ISBN: 978 0 415 45106 2 hbk/ 978 0 203 88253 pbk. Published in International Affairs, 2011, 87(2), pp. 467-468.

Political Theory and the Agony of Politics

by Andrew Schaap

Political Studies Review 2007 5(1): 56–74

The importance of each author reviewed here for contemporary political theory is in continuing the critique of liberal... more The importance of each author reviewed here for contemporary political theory is in continuing the critique of liberal political theory in its current dialogical manifestation.The turn to dialogue in liberal theory provides the basis of its claim to have developed a more democratic political philosophy in contrast to its earlier. The work of Mouffe,Arendt and Walzer draws attention to what is elided in the contemporary representation of legitimate politics as dialogue and, thereby, to liberalism’s continuing disavowal of its own political exclusions. If the discourse of rights favoured by liberals in the 1980s tended to overlook the moral and political significance of social interdependence, what the discourse of deliberation tends to neglect is the moral and political significance of contest and struggle which, following the Greeks, is increasingly referred to in contemporary political theory as agonism.

In this review article I draw out the commonalities and differences among these critics of liberalism according to three interrelated themes: the meaning of politics and the concept of the political, the significance of conflict in political life and the constitution of political community. In doing so, I suggest that, like the communitarian critique of liberalism, the current agonistic critique of dialogical liberalism is likely to be transient but certain to return.The transience of the agonistic critique, however, is not due to its dependence on the liberal paradigm. Rather it arises from a difficulty inherent in praxis philosophy itself: the problem of conceptualising political action independently of its institutional representation.

Technicity and publicness

by Stephen Read

in Footprint 3. Special issue: P.A. Healy & B. O’Byrne (eds.), Phenomenology in Architecture and Urbanism. pp. 7-22

Heidegger’s space, with its emphasis on the disclosure of entities in settings of mutually referring entities, and the... more Heidegger’s space, with its emphasis on the disclosure of entities in settings of mutually referring entities, and the integration of settings and action, requires us to think carefully about issues like the identities and being of people and things and their relations with each other in a realm of plurality. All entities are captured in webs of co-reference which make their relations between themselves and to ourselves a very public matter. These webs themselves are at the same time the very channels by which we know and access all things, and relations of power become built into them which affect the ways we know things and the possibilities we see for acting. This paper explores and reviews issues of technicity, intersubjectivity, and plurality in relation to Heidegger’s thinking, in order to begin the process of outlining an urban space of the settings ‘between men’ for coherence and action, and to define a direction for further research on urban space and place.

Violence et rationalité

by Andrzej Leder

Les temps impolitiques. Réflexions arendtiennes autour d'une absence

by Jean-Pierre Couture

paru dans Une pensée libérale, critique ou conservatrice?, Beaudry, L et Chevrier, M (dir), Québec, PUL, 2007, 57-77

The End of Action: An Arendtian Critique of Aristotle's Concept of Praxis

by Jussi Backman

final version, published in Hannah Arendt: Practice, Thought and Judgment, ed. M. Ojakangas, 28–47. (COLLeGIUM: Studies Across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 8.) Helsinki: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, 2010.

Neoliberalising violence: of the exceptional and the exemplary in coalescing moments

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2012. Neoliberalising violence: of the exceptional and the exemplary in coalescing moments. Area 44 (2), 136-143.

This paper sets out to develop two related ideas. First, it seeks to identify how both violence and neoliberalism can... more This paper sets out to develop two related ideas. First, it seeks to identify how both violence and neoliberalism can be considered as moments. From this shared conceptualisation of process and fluidity, I argue that it becomes easier to recognise how these two phenomena actually converge. Building upon this conceived coalescence of neoliberalism and violence, the second aim is to recognise how the hegemony of neoliberalism positions it as an abuser, which facilitates the abandonment of those ‘Others’ who fall outside of neoliberal normativity. I argue that the widespread banishment of ‘Others’ under neoliberalism produces a ‘state of exception’, wherein because of its inherently dialectic nature, exceptional violence is transformed into exemplary violence. This metamorphosis occurs as aversion for alterity intensifies under neoliberalism and its associated violence against ‘Others’ comes to form the rule.

Hannah Arendt e Hans Jonas interpreti del concetto agostiniano di volontà

by Giovanni Catapano

«Etica & Politica», X/1 (2008) (http://www2.units.it/etica/2008_1/copertina.html), ISSN 1825-5167, pp. 12-27

The paper compares chapter 6 of H. Arendt’s «The Life of the Mind» with H. Jonas’s first book, concerning «Augustine... more The paper compares chapter 6 of H. Arendt’s «The Life of the Mind» with H. Jonas’s first book, concerning «Augustine and the Pauline Problem of Freedom». Arendt follows Jonas’s interpretation of st Paul’s «Epistle to the Romans», ch. 7, but her judgment on st Augustine’s relationship with Paul is quite different. According to Jonas, during the Pelagian controversy Augustine lost the Pauline concept of the antinomical nature of the will; in Arendt’s opinion, on the contrary, Augustine was the first one who stated Paul’s “discovery” of the will in philosophical terms, and in the «City of God» he realized the principle of “natality”, which is the real solution to the problem of freedom both in anthropology and politics.

Distortions of Normativity

by J. David Velleman

Co-authored with Herlinde Pauer Studer. Published in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2011)

We discuss some implications of the Holocaust for moral philosophy. Our thesis is that morality became distorted in... more We discuss some implications of the Holocaust for moral philosophy. Our thesis is that morality became distorted in the Third Reich at the level of its social articulation. We explore this thesis in application to several front-line perpetrators who maintained false moral self-conceptions. We conclude that more than a priori moral reasoning is required to correct such distortions.

Arendt and Kant on Politics

by Jonathan Sozek

Draft, December 2009

This paper engages a single dimension of Arendt’s political thought, namely her reading of Kant, focusing specifically... more This paper engages a single dimension of Arendt’s political thought, namely her reading of Kant, focusing specifically on how two short texts by Kant, the appendices to his ‘Perpetual Peace’ (PP), challenge her claim to be developing the political philosophy Kant would have written ‘had he had the strength’. A critique is thereby offered of the exegetical value of Arendt’s work on Kant, at least as contained in her 'Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy', though the value of her political project taken on its own terms is not challenged. Indeed, it is argued that one may prefer Arendt’s project to Kant’s without thereby accepting her claim that there is anything especially Kantian about it. In pursuit of these aims, (1) Arendt’s work on Kant is situated in the context of her larger project and several questions are addressed concerning her motivations – what does she want to find in Kant, and why was she drawn specifically to his work on aesthetic judgement? What does she hope to do with it? It is argued that there are very specific reasons for Arendt's attraction, apparent once her attention to Kant is considered in relation to her larger project, and (2) an account is offered of these. On this basis, (3) two of Kant's arguments in the appendices to his PP are examined, both of which seem to contradict Arendt’s reading. In conclusion, a new defence is offered of the suggestion that, as attractive as Arendt’s project may be in our times, she is wrong to confuse it with Kant’s own. [14 pages]

Designing the social, and the politics of social innovation

by Matthew Kiem

Published in Design Philosophy Papers 3, 2011

The late 2000s was a period of tremendous growth and achievement for proponents of social innovation. With the... more The late 2000s was a period of tremendous growth and achievement for proponents of social innovation. With the proliferation of research centers, think tanks and journals, the establishment of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation in the United States, the adoption of social innovation terminology in the UK government’s Big Society agenda, and ringing endorsements by the President of the European Commission, social innovation has become an established policy doctrine. Amidst these developments many designers attempted to claim that design has a legitimate role in social innovation, moves that were met with varying degrees of enthusiasm from commentators on both design and social innovation. In the context of the serious challenges of unsustainability and social inequity, the response of the design field to the apparent hope and possibility offered by social innovation warrants at least some a degree of critical examination. Yet relative to the volume published on the topic of social innovation there is a surprising dearth of critical literature, particularly regarding the role of design.

In response to these observations I will use this paper to examine two questions: 1) What is the relation between design and the concept of the social? and 2) What are the possible political implications of design for social innovation? The first question will be addressed through a selective survey of theoretical positions relevant to the social role of design. This will lead into a more focused examination of the results of the EMUDE (Emerging user demands) project, one of the most valuable research projects on design for social innovation published so far, in order to develop a provisional critique of the political function of design for social innovation vis á vis its ability to instigate discontinuous social change in the interest of sustainability.

Cura Posterior: banalidade do mal e a ética do pensar em Hannah Arendt

by adilson ferraz

This paper examines briefly the transition in Hannah Arendt’s
concept of evil from its radical character to its... more This paper examines briefly the transition in Hannah Arendt’s
concept of evil from its radical character to its banality, seeking to investigate whether the faculty of thinking might be ntrinsically linked to not committing it. Although Arendt’s primary purpose was to identify the fundamental activities of man, I conclude that there may be an identification between this faculty and the possibility for it to provide a guarantee of ethics, especially when, in attempting to maintain it, the subject acts against some of the prevailing social and legal standards.

Key words: radical evil, banality of evil, ethics of thinking, Hannah Arendt.

The technoscience selective rhetoric as symbolic violence in brasillian decision judicial monologue: with Hannah Arendt for a politically active juridical agora

by adilson ferraz

This paper aims to analyze the ministers of the supreme Court argumentation on direct action of unconstitucionality... more This paper aims to analyze the ministers of the supreme Court argumentation on direct action of unconstitucionality (ADI) n. 3510, which deals with the unconstitutionality of art. 5 of Law n. 11.105/2005 (Biosecurity Estatute), which permits the destruction of human embryos for research and therapy. We used as theoretical reference the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt and rhetoric-analytic as method for analysis of discourse. The argumentation in the analyzed case uses symbolic violence hiding the monologic discourse through the use of a grammar institutionally formalized and legitimized. We conclude that the process of legal decision in the contemporary world was affected by the rise of social and that the judging should be developed under the sign of plurality, as a political activity (inter hominis esse) performed in legal agora.

KEY WORDS: Rhetoric-analytic; Hannah Arendt; ADI 3510; Symbolic Violence.

Language and Violence: Hannah Arendt and the American Sixties

by Stefania Porcelli

A common World? Arendt, Castoriadis and Political Creation

by Ingerid S. Straume

To be published in European Journal of Social Theory, special issue on Cornelius Castoriads, edited by Suzi Adams and Ingerid Straume (first print)

Keywords: politics – creation – revolutionary movements – Castoriadis – Arendt

Among the many parallels between Hannah Arendt and Cornelius Castoriadis is their shared interest in the kind of... more Among the many parallels between Hannah Arendt and Cornelius Castoriadis is their shared interest in the kind of politics that is characteristic of the council movements, revolutionary moments and the political democracy of ancient Greece. The essay seeks to elucidate how the two thinkers fill out and complement each other’s thought, with special attention to political creation – an ambiguous theme in Arendt’s thought. While critical of the notion of ‘making’ in the political field, Arendt also emphasizes the importance of building institutions. To take this seriously means that her analyses of the nature of politics must be modified, and in this respect, Castoriadis’s understanding of politics as institution-building can serve as a guideline. On the other hand, Arendt’s concept of ‘plurality’ in the public sphere represents a level of political analysis that is underdeveloped in the work of Castoriadis. Taken together, their thought highlights many important aspects of political creation in a radical sense.

Notes on Hannah Arendt

by Aileen Almanzar

Para não perder o juízo: sobre o julgar e o compreender na filosofia política

by Mateus Fernandes

Undergraduate dissertation on philosophy

Assumindo que a filosofia seja um exercício de atenção ao que acontece, como um método que preza o julgar porquanto... more Assumindo que a filosofia seja um exercício de atenção ao que acontece, como um método que preza o julgar porquanto preza a comunicação e a criação de conceitos, os escritos da Primeira Dissertação procuram conectar esta proposição a uma filosofia política devedora do pensamento de Hannah Arendt e, em especial, de sua leitura de algumas obras de Kant. Assim, a pergunta inicial do trabalho ­ "porque assumimos a tarefa filosófico­-política de não perder o juízo?" nos leva a refazer os passos de Arendt em suas seis primeiras "Lições sobre a filosofia política de Kant" e investigar as condições de possibilidade da faculdade do juízo e da necessidade de compreensão. A segunda dissertação avança, com a revisão dos últimos sete capítulos das Lições, na distinção entre os tipos de juízo reflexionantes e determinantes e no detalhamento do juízo estético reflexionante para, enfim, apontar como se poderia revigorar a aproximação entre a filosofia e a política a partir diminuição da "tensão" entre essas atividades humanas. A nova pergunta que estimula esta revisão bibliográfica é "o que acontece quanto as pessoas fazem política?". Assim, continuando a proposta de "dar atenção aos conceitos", pretende­-se inter­-relacionar o gosto, o juízo e a compreensão para proceder ao resgate do motivo de encarar uma possível "perda do juízo" como prejudicial e, até mesmo, degenerativa da atividade política.

ÁREA DE CONCENTRAÇÃO: Filosofia Política; Metafilosofia, Ética.

PALAVRAS­-CHAVE: faculdade do juízo, compreensão, sensus communis, juízo estético reflexionante, Hannah Arendt, Kant.

No Bowling at All: Television, the Vita Inactiva, and Social Capital

by Carl L Bankston

(2010) ‘Narratives from within: an Arendtian approach to life-histories and the writing of history.’ Journal of Educational Administration and History, 42:2, 115-131.

by Maria Tamboukou

In this paper I draw on my current research of writing a genealogy of women artists, focusing in particular on the... more In this paper I draw on my current research of writing a genealogy of women artists, focusing in particular on the life history of the American working-class artist, May Stevens (1924-). I am particularly interested in how an analysis of the textual and visual narratives in her work, seen in the context of her life history, can intervene in the formation of historical discourses around gender and art education, a grey area that I suggest needs to be further explored. In looking into the interrelation between life histories and the writing of history, I follow Hannah Arendt's conceptualisation of biographies within the political and I highlight the importance of history painting in creating critical communities of remembrance. I argue that this is where gender becomes crucially important: not just as an analytic category as influentially theorised by Joan Scott but as a politically situated position for re-imagining women as historical subjects and thus rewriting history.

Keywords: Arendt; art education; life histories; visual narratives; women artists