The public realm and revolution: Hannah Arendt between theory and praxis = O campo público e revolução: Hannah Arendt entre teoria e práxis = El reino público y revolución: Hannah Arendt entre teoría y praxis (original) (raw)

The public realm and revolution: Hannah Arendt between theory and praxis

Estudos Ibero-Americanos

The main goal of our paper is to analyze Arendt's idea of the influence of revolutions on the public real by examining its theoretical and practical scope. In the course of our analysis, we will also answer the question whether Arendt's understanding of revolution could be used in the modern context. After a critical investigation of Arendt's idea of revolution and of her thesis about the impact of revolution on the public realm, we will briefly investigate several examples of modern revolutions from an 'Arendtian' standpoint in order to draw a conclusion about the current applicability of Arendt's key arguments concerning violence, power, social issues, collective political action and communication.

HANNAH ARENDT AND REVOLUTION. NOVUS ORDO SAECLORUM

HANNAH ARENDT AND REVOLUTION. NOVUS ORDO SAECLORUM

Revolution is a modern concept, although the ancients used words to designate revolts or rebellions generally seen as moments of turbulence that should be avoided (with the exception of Machiavelli). The modern sense of the word has its origin in astronomy: it was used by Copernicus in his fundamental work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543) and indicates the turns that the planets make around the sun. In its beginnings, the term indicated a preordained, irresistible, recurring and cyclic movement. In that sense, it meant a restoration, a return to the rule and to the old (Glorious English Revolution). The change of meaning took place with the American and especially with the French Revolution, when the term took on a new meaning, which will be imposed, that of a new beginning: novus ordo saeclorum. Revolution has come to mean a radical change of paradigm, both in science, in the sense of industrial (technical-scientific) revolution and epistemological revolution (the radical changes of a scientific paradigm according to Kuhn's famous work); as well as in politics and society (cultural revolution). In this essay, we will deal with the relationship that Hannah Arendt establishes between the American and French revolutions, reflecting on the Russian revolution. Arendt takes a more favourable position to the American Revolution, understood like a revolution founded on freedom (Constitutio libertatis) that to the French and Russian revolution, understood like revolutions of the necessity. Thesis controversy that we will try to debate.

In Search of the Good Revolution: Arendt on Violence and 'the Social Question'

Social Philosophy Today 31, 2015

The paper concerns Hannah Arendt's attempt to identify both historical types and conceptual understandings of revolution that can be considered to be genuinely 'political.' Its aim is to first reconstruct Arendt's distinction between 'political' and 'anti-political' processes and conceptions of profound, lasting transformation. In this section of the paper, it will be shown to what extent the critical distinction she proposes is informed by her understanding of (a) the role of the social question' and (b) the role of violence for the praxis as well as the theory of revolution. In a second step, the focus will be on the problematization of certain aspects of her critique of political revolution that lead, as will be argued, to the counter-intuitive exclusion of a variety phenomena and theories as properly revolutionary. The final part of the paper will hint at the possibility of a productive re-appropriation of Arendt's critique of political revolution.

Is polis the answer? Hannah arendt on democracy

Santalka, 2009

The aim of this paper is to reconsider Hannah Arendt's most influential works from the point of view of her attitude towards democracy and analysis of the way it may contribute to the contemporary understanding and redefinition of the very notion of what democracy is. The paper begins with the reconstruction of Arendt's anthropology in order to ground her political reflections.

The Transmission of the Revolutionary Spirit: Reflections on Civil Disobedience in Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt and the Boundaries of the Public Sphere, 2018

The aim of this paper is to take up Hannah Arendt's analysis on civil disobedience. This is one aspect of Arendt's thought which represents a powerful spur towards a positive and meaningful view of the world we live in. In taking up this argument I start from Arendt's idea of the law, discussing its relational dimension and its links to the consensus universalis, seen as a conscious, wholehearted adhesion to the laws of a country. Bearing these two points in mind, I then consider Arendt's proposal, put forward in her essay "Civil Disobedience, " for making the spirit of the law compatible with civil disobedience. The idea that civil disobedience is compatible with the spirit of the law represents, for Arendt, the acknowledgement of the community's constitutive function, in which individuals define themselves in their relationships with others, drawing on a type of justice which emerges from the encounter of differing opinions. From this perspective, I explain how civil disobedience allows citizens to assert their public freedom, thereby adding something new to the world and exercising their responsibility. Thus for Arendt civil disobedience reaffirms the creation, also fostered by the revolutionary spirit, of a space of permanent participation in public life: a shared arena for the enjoyment of public happiness.

Reading Arendt’s on revolution after the fall of the wall

Veritas (Porto Alegre), 2008

O artigo revisita a obra de Hannah Arendt On Revolution e os eventos históricos da revolução americana, de forma a reformular os chamados “problemas da época”. Embora todo ator político reivindique que as suas políticas sejam a encarnação da vontade unida da nação em uma democracia, abre-se a porta da antipolítica na medida em que a natureza simbólica – e portanto contestada – do povo soberano é reduzida à sua realidade temporária. Tal é a lição crucial a ser extraída ainda hoje da obra The Origins of Totalitarianism, que pode ser lida como uma tentativa de pensar a expressão mais extrema da antipolítica. PALAVRAS-CHAVE – Antipolítica. Arendt. Democracia. Revolução.

Hannah Arendt: A New Concept of Politics

political thinker of enormous erudition full of insights and exceptional originality of the twentieth century. In her writings she appreciates the nature and value of politics as no one has done before, brilliantly analyses the evils of modern civilization and lays the foundation of an ideal community based on participatory democracy. She is of the view that man is a public being who necessarily requires public space in all relevant areas of organized life. To her, the main aim of politics is to develop a new culture based on a public way of life. In her view, politics is concerned not only with the maintenance of order but also with action, the development of character, public freedom, dignity and humanity. She regards Politics as means of self-revelation and public happiness, a cultural activity and an 'aesthetic activity'. The plan of the present study is to discuss, analyse and evaluate Arendt's Tripartite scheme of labour, work and action and her unique conception of politics as "the pursuit of beauty". She regards politics as a means of self-revelation public happiness and an aesthetic activity. Her concept of politics, in fact, has been regarded as "the pursuit of beauty." 1