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The Stop
One of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a German-American political philosopher. Born into a secular German-Jewish family, Arendt studied philosophy at the University of Marburg and the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, receiving her doctoral degree at the University of Heidelberg in 1928 under the direction of Karl Jaspers.1 While a student at Marburg in 1924, she had a romantic relationship with her teacher - Martin Heidegger2 - which lasted until 1928. When Heidegger joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and implemented their educational policies at the University of Freiburg - where he served as rector - Arendt was forced to escape to Paris.3 After a short marriage that ended in divorce, she married the philosopher Heinrich Blücher in 1940 and, once again fleeing the Nazis, left Europe for the United States in 1941.4
A prolific writer, Arendt is best known for two highly influential works. The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) examined the Nazi and Stalinist regimes by considering the ‘nature and historical antecedents of the totalitarian phenomenon’ from the perspective of 19th-century anti-Semitism, imperialism and racism. Viewing the emergence and growth of totalitarianism as the ‘outcome of the disintegration of the traditional nation-state,’ Arendt argued that these regimes, pursuing ‘raw political power’ and ‘neglect[ing] material or utilitarian considerations,’ had so changed the nature of the social structure that contemporary politics had become ‘nearly impossible to predict.’ In 1958, she published The Human Condition - a ‘profound’ investigation into the ‘fundamental categories’ which define and give ultimate meaning to a human life: labour, work and action. A ‘wide-ranging and systematic’ work of philosophy, she examined the changes throughout political history which had led to the reduction of political action into little more than an obsession with its own survival. However, by revisiting these three categories as extensions of the classical ideals of work, citizenship, and political action, she argued the ancient Greek public realm5 could provide an example of a properly-focused political arena where thought, speech and action - and thus true politics and citizenship - could be realised.6
In addition to these two important works, Arendt published numerous influential essays on topics such as the nature of revolution, freedom, authority, tradition and the modern age. In 1961, she travelled to Jerusalem as a reporter for The New Yorker magazine to attend the trial of Adolf Eichmann, two years later publishing Eichmann in Jerusalem. Her conclusion - that his ‘crimes resulted not from a wicked or depraved character,’ but from the ‘thoughtlessness’ of an ‘ambitious bureaucrat who failed to reflect on the enormity of what he was doing’ - elicited ‘fierce denunciations from both Jewish and non-Jewish intellectuals.’7
In all of her work, Arendt worked to understand the ‘meaning and historical impact’ of the most ‘crucial political events’ of the early twentieth century. She believed the ‘twin horrors’ of Nazism and Stalinism required a ‘new framework’ for understanding both their emergence and subsequent impact on human ‘moral and political judgement.’ For Arendt, politics after these events could no longer be either a ‘means for the satisfaction of individual preferences, nor as a way to integrate individuals around a shared conception of the good.’ Rather, politics now had to be based on the idea of ‘active citizenship’ - ‘the value and importance of civic engagement and collective deliberation about all matters affecting the political community.’ Following in the footsteps of classical Western political thought,8 Arendt believed the only ‘authentic expression’ of politics occurs in public spaces where citizens ‘deliberate and decide about matters of collective concern.’ Defending the classical ‘ideals of work, citizenship, and political action,’ she argued that the true value of political activity is its ability to allow each citizen to ‘exercise his or her powers of agency, to develop the capacities for judgment and to attain by concerted action some measure of political efficacy.’
Arendt taught at numerous American universities, including Princeton, Berkeley and Chicago, but was particularly involved as a professor of political philosophy at the New School for Social Research9 until her death in 1975. At the time of her death, she had completed two of the three volumes of The Life of the Mind - Thinking and Willing. Though some preparatory notes of the third volume - Judging - were published in 1982, her last major philosophical work was left unfinished.
The Detour
Today’s Detour is to an article from Antigone: ‘What You Need To Build A Greek Temple.’ A very interesting account of what was required to produce these magnificent buildings - from the architect, labourers and craftsmen - to the specific types (and transport) of materials required. And, just like construction today, nothing ever went to schedule. There are also some great photos and a map! Give it a read.
What You Need To Build A Greek Temple
The Book
Today’s book is Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition (1958) - you can hopefully get a bit of an idea of it from today’s Stop.
From the back: Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition is a startling and penetrating study of the state of modern humanity. The freshness of her approach is a result of her unique consideration of humankind from the point of view of the actions of which it is capable.
Remember: You can buy The Human Condition at Amazon, but you can also get it from your local new or used bookstore - or check it out from the library. And those options are better for everyone.
The Sounds
Today’s playlist is simply a combination of great tracks which have found themselves on my streaming rotation: ‘Cinnamon’ (Palehound, 2015), ‘Suburban Breeze’ (Surprise Chef, 2022), ‘Runner’ (Alex G, 2022), ‘Save the Bees’ (No Frills, 2022) and ‘Hectic As …’ (Move 78, 2021). Enjoy!
The Thought
Today’s Thought is from The Human Condition. In Arendt’s philosophy no theme, word or action better her ‘passion … than her insistence that we think what we are doing.’ The need to think was an ‘incessant refrain … [and] the force that breathes life into every one of her books.’ I’d suggest reading this one out loud - slowly - and stress the word ‘think.’ It encapsulates it all.
“What I propose, therefore, is very simple: it is nothing more than to think what we are doing.”
If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:
And that’s the end of this stop - I hope you enjoyed a brief diversion from your regular journey!
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Until the next stop …
For a biography of Jaspers, see: Jaspers (Britannica)
For a biography of this brilliant - but very complicated (to say the least) - philosopher, see: Heidegger (Britannica)
Later in life she resumed contact with Heidegger and - controversially - defended his Nazi involvement as the ‘mistake of a great philosopher.’ Some scholars believe their ‘brief but intense love affair’ and her resultant ‘personal and intellectual attachment’ to him led to a leniency ‘inconsistent with her … insistence in various writings that any act of compromise with evil is wholly immoral.’
I first encountered Arendt in a seminar my final undergraduate year of university and have referred to her frequently ever since. Arendt is far too complicated for the confines of a single Issue, but I’ve tried to give a general overview about this most fascinating individual. For more information there is Elisabeth Young-Bruehl’s (very complete) biography: Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World (2nd Edition), New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004). Sources for today’s Stop include Hannah Arendt (Britannica), Hannah Arendt (Stanford), Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities (Amor Mundi) (Bard) and Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958.
Also known as the polis, the public realm is separate to both the private realm and the modern, social realm - the latter with its self-preservation obsession. There will be more on this in a future Issue, as by necessity I’m really simplifying her thoughts. I would suggest reading both books, though - and The Human Condition is today’s recommendation. Interestingly, there was a massive uptick in sales for the Origin of Totalitarianism when Trump was elected President. Just saying.
Arendt’s thought-speech-action triplet (triptych?) has influenced my thinking and teaching for years - even informing examples when I taught functionalism in philosophy of mind. Simply put, it’s the concept that ‘speech’ (which she believes defines a person as a ‘political’ being) must be allowed to debate vigorously ‘thoughts’ before they become ‘actions.’ So, while any ‘thought’ can pop up for debate, ‘speech’ determines its validity or invalidity - and only then an ‘action’ can be taken or not. For Arendt, only a robust, healthy and properly-focussed public realm allows this to function correctly. An analogy is the Platonic inner-dialogue - that debate you have with yourself before doing or not doing something: a thought pops up (‘I’ll have have a third slice of cake’), is then debated (‘I really don’t need/would really like a third slice of cake’) and is then acted on (‘yes, health be damned, I’ll have a third slice’) by the ‘quality’ of the participants in the debate.
Arendt argued Eichmann’s role (as primary architect of the Holocaust) ‘epitomised the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil that had spread across Europe at the time,’ rather than him being simply ‘inwardly evil.’ The controversy followed her for the rest of her life and was revived in 2011 with the publication of Betinna Stangneth’s Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer, which challenged Arendt’s ‘banality of evil’ characterisation of his crimes. Stangneth argues that in fact Eichmann had ‘long been a confirmed anti-Semite,’ basing her evidence on ‘sources not available to Arendt’ in 1961.
Her political philosophy is ‘difficult to classify,’ but she is probably closest to the ‘classical tradition of civic republicanism originating in Aristotle and … the writings of Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and Tocqueville.’ See: Machiavelli (Britannica), Montesquieu (Britannica), Jefferson (Britannica) and Tocqueville (Britannica)
Check it out here: The New School for Social Research
A good one and much to think about. I think I've been seeing Arendt's name more and more in my reading of late. I'm not familiar with her work but I think I need to start reading. Thanks!