The Political Philosophy Of Hannah Arendt

It explicates Arendt's major works - The Human Condition, Between Past and Future, On Revolution, The Life of the Mind, and Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy - and explores her contributions to democratic theory and to contemporary postmodern and neo-Kantian political philosophy.

First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 1993. This is a systematic introduction to the thought of one of the most important political philosophers of the twentieth century. The author uncovers the concepts of modernity, action, judgement and citizenship that underpin her work.

A reinterpretation of the political thought of Hannah Arendt, strengthening Arendt's claim to be regarded as one of the most significant political thinkers of the twentieth century.

Since early texts as "Thinking and Politics", Arendt had highlighted the contrast between philosophical and political thinking and compelled herself to find a satisfactory answer to the question: "how do philosophy and politics relate?". In her last work "Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy" (1982), Arendt analyses the "political" dimensions of Kant's critical thinking. To think critically implies taking the viewpoints of others into account: one has to "enlarge" one's own mind by comparing our judgement with the possible judgements of others. While thinking remains a solitary activity, it does not cut itself off from all others.The essays in this book address the philosophical and moral questions raised by Arendt's attempt to draw out the political implications of "critical thinking" in Kant's sense. In one way or another, they all address the place of judgment in Arendt's thought. Arendt's turn to Kant and The Critique of Judgment was motivated by her desire to find a form of philosophizing that was not hostile to politics and the public realm. But did she really think that Kant's characterization of the judging spectator pointed the way out of the opposition between the universal and the particular, between looking at things sub specie aeternitatis and looking at things from a political point of view? To what extent did she think that Kant was successful in revealing a mode of thought oriented towards public persuasion, yet one which retained its critical independence?Each of the essays wrestles with the complexities of a complex thinker. They remind us that critical thinking or Selbstdenken is among the most difficult and rare arts, even though it is an art potentially accessible to everyone. They also remind us that Hannah Arendt was a virtuoso of this art, and of how her example points the way toward a renewal of judgment as the political faculty par excellence.

Shows how Hannah Arendt opened up new ways of thinking about politics and a new approach to interpreting political history.

The central argument of this book is that Hannah Arendt's deserved place in the history of Western philosophy has been overlooked, and recognition of her contribution is long overdue. In part a result of Arendt's own insistence on calling herself a 'political thinker' throughout her career, this is also due to a common tendency in philosophy to denigrate the political. This book explores the indisputable philosophical dimensions of her work. In particular, it examines Arendt's theoretical commitment to recognizing humanity as a plurality, which avoids the common mistake in Western philosophy of theoretically overemphasizing the self in isolation. Arendt's own personal dealings with aspects of her identity, namely her Jewishness and her womanhood, work to inform us of this position against solipsism.