HannahArendt.net (E-Journal)
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Arbeiten oder Handeln: Anerkennungsprozesse in postmigrantischen Gesellschaften vor dem Hintergrund Arendts Grundtätigkeiten menschlichen Lebens
Full text linkArendt zeichnet in „Vita Activa“ die Tätigkeitsbeschreibungen des Arbeitens, Herstellens und Handelns nach und legt diesen Tätigkeitsformen – in Anlehnung an Aristoteles‘ Unterscheidung der poiesis und praxis – eine gewisse Hierarchie zu Grunde. Der Mensch erscheint arbeitend als homo laborans, welcher auf das Überleben durch Arbeit angewiesen ist. Herstellend tritt der Mensch als homo faber in Erscheinung, indem er bspw. Gegenstände herstellt, die seine eigenen Existenz überdauern. Das Handeln beschreibt Arendt hingegen als ein aktives in Erscheinung treten, vermittelt durch Sprache und basierend auf der Pluralität menschlichen Seins – so auch das politische Handeln. Aus soziologischer Perspektive lädt Arendt förmlich dazu ein, Gesellschaftsstrukturen vor dem Hintergrund der menschlichen Tätigkeiten zu beleuchten. Besonders in postmigrantischen Gesellschaften lohnt sich ein Blick darauf zu werfen, wer arbeitet und wer handelt / bzw. handeln darf in einer rechtlich gleichberechtigten und freien demokratischen Gesellschaft.
Der vorliegende Beitrag blickt daher kritisch auf die Struktur und Genese postmigrantischer Gesellschaften. Anhand der Strukturierung des Arbeitsmarkts wird verdeutlicht, dass viele Menschen mit Migrationsgeschichte in prekären Beschäftigungsverhältnissen und in bestimmten Branchen überrepräsentiert sind. Das Arbeiten, des Überlebens wegen, ist in prekären Verhältnissen besonders präsent. In Bezug auf das politische Handeln wird, der Parteiendemokratie Deutschland Rechnung tragend und damit von Arendt‘s Vorstellung basisdemokratisch organisierter Räte abweichend, die politische Partizipation und Repräsentanz von Menschen mit Migrationsgeschichte in Parteien und Parlamenten beleuchtet. Hieran wird deutlich, dass in postmigrantischen Gesellschaften auch heute noch um politische Beteiligung und gleichberechtigter Anerkennung von diversen Personen gerungen wird. Das politische Handeln von und Sprechen über Anliegen von Migrant:innen und anderen Minderheitengruppierungen in den Parlamenten – der Repräsentanzforschung folgend – kann somit ein Zuhören privilegierter Personen begünstigen, gesellschaftliche Machtverhältnisse verändern und der Basis politischen Handelns, der Pluralität der Gesellschaft, gerechter werden
Art As The Parasitic Process of Thought: Art-Work, Art- Labour, and Art-Action in Hannah Arendt
Full text linkThis paper engages in a reading of Hannah Arendt’s consideration of the concept of art in relation to the three central aspects of the vita activa: labour, work, and action. The central argument is that Arendt miscategorises art as work, whereas it is a process of thought. There appears a tension in Arendt’s conception of art, or perhaps more accurately by her placement of art under the domain of work. Work relates to labour as use objects, and to action as art. However, this muddles a concept of work and its place in the world, hampering the “disclosing quality” of words valorized by Arendt. This fraught conjuncture is smoothed if we distinguish the process by which something becomes a use object from the process by which art is created. Thus, I examine the differences Arendt draws between art and use objects, and between what Arendt calls artwork and the wider scope of what is called art within contemporary society. Through this process of comparison, Arendt collapsed the process of fabrication and the two processes which create art: that of judgement and that of art, leading to an unnecessary restriction within her own theory, as it leaves implicit the idea of art as a process itself. Despite its lack of articulation, this idea of art as a process is inherent to her own conception of art. It renders artwork only one form of art and reveals the possibility of art-labour and art-action. Art is not missing from Arendt’s work. It is only muddled. She writes that the process of writing a modern novel is a process of artistic invention. Likewise, Arendt despairs of those who fabricate or manufacture books. If art is fabricated, and books are works of art, as she claims in The Human Condition, then it is meaningless to say that they are no longer written but fabricated, for to write is to fabricate. Thus, we can read her as conceiving of art as a distinct activity. I argue that it is a parasitic activity, one which corrupts the pure forms of activity, that of labour, work, and action, and renders their output and purpose as something “useless”.This paper engages in a reading of Hannah Arendt’s consideration of the concept of art in relation to the three central aspects of the vita activa: labour, work, and action. The central argument is that Arendt miscategorises art as work, whereas it is a process of thought. There appears a tension in Arendt’s conception of art, or perhaps more accurately by her placement of art under the domain of work. Work relates to labour as use objects, and to action as art. However, this muddles a concept of work and its place in the world, hampering the “disclosing quality” of words valorized by Arendt. This fraught conjuncture is smoothed if we distinguish the process by which something becomes a use object from the process by which art is created. Thus, I examine the differences Arendt draws between art and use objects, and between what Arendt calls artwork and the wider scope of what is called art within contemporary society. Through this process of comparison, Arendt collapsed the process of fabrication and the two processes which create art: that of judgement and that of art, leading to an unnecessary restriction within her own theory, as it leaves implicit the idea of art as a process itself. Despite its lack of articulation, this idea of art as a process is inherent to her own conception of art. It renders artwork only one form of art and reveals the possibility of art-labour and art-action. Art is not missing from Arendt’s work. It is only muddled. She writes that the process of writing a modern novel is a process of artistic invention. Likewise, Arendt despairs of those who fabricate or manufacture books. If art is fabricated, and books are works of art, as she claims in The Human Condition, then it is meaningless to say that they are no longer written but fabricated, for to write is to fabricate. Thus, we can read her as conceiving of art as a distinct activity. I argue that it is a parasitic activity, one which corrupts the pure forms of activity, that of labour, work, and action, and renders their output and purpose as something “useless”
Arendt among the machines: Labour, work and action on digital platforms
Full text linkQuestions of the modalities of production—of how we labour and how we work—reveal much about the shape and flow of our daily lives. The way in which we are productive is a sounding board for the deeper undercurrents of societal change itself. A thorough analysis of our working conditions can therefore reveal developing deficiencies in our capacity for political interaction before they unfold openly. Today, digitalisation is radically altering and expanding the meaning of work. The rise of digital platforms as intermediaries and market-makers has created a host of novel activities that defy easy categorisation as either labour or work, ranging from monetising property on rental portals, through piecemeal click work in digital factories, to influencing on social media. I argue that Arendt’s tripartite configuration of human activity as labour, work and action and its relationship with technology can be leveraged as an analytical lens to shine light on digital platform as a novel work environment. This article attempts three things: First, to develop an analytical lens for the study of technology based on Arendt’s tripartite understanding of human activity in The Human Condition. Second, to apply said model to two contemporary cases of digital platforms in society. Third, to propose how an Arendtian activity lens can be used to interrogate future technological developments in terms of their impact on political freedom. I thereby contribute a reading of the role of technology in The Human Condition, an aspect that has remained underexplored in the literature. Further, I demonstrate how forward-looking Arendt scholarship can be a relevant voice in the digital age.Questions of the modalities of production—of how we labour and how we work—reveal much about the shape and flow of our daily lives. The way in which we are productive is a sounding board for the deeper undercurrents of societal change itself. A thorough analysis of our working conditions can therefore reveal developing deficiencies in our capacity for political interaction before they unfold openly. Today, digitalisation is radically altering and expanding the meaning of work. The rise of digital platforms as intermediaries and market-makers has created a host of novel activities that defy easy categorisation as either labour or work, ranging from monetising property on rental portals, through piecemeal click work in digital factories, to influencing on social media. I argue that Arendt’s tripartite configuration of human activity as labour, work and action and its relationship with technology can be leveraged as an analytical lens to shine light on digital platform as a novel work environment. This article attempts three things: First, to develop an analytical lens for the study of technology based on Arendt’s tripartite understanding of human activity in The Human Condition. Second, to apply said model to two contemporary cases of digital platforms in society. Third, to propose how an Arendtian activity lens can be used to interrogate future technological developments in terms of their impact on political freedom. I thereby contribute a reading of the role of technology in The Human Condition, an aspect that has remained underexplored in the literature. Further, I demonstrate how forward-looking Arendt scholarship can be a relevant voice in the digital age
Hanna Meretoja: Die Nacht der alten Feuer, Berlin/Hamburg: Mare, 2024, 448 S., 26,00 EUR
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Über die Elemente und Ursprünge des modernen Arbeitsparadigmas
Full text linkDieser Beitrag widmet sich Hannah Arendts Kritik des modernen Arbeitsparadigmas, die wesentliche Einsichten in die Bedingungen der Vita Activa in der Gegenwart eröffnet. Während Arbeit in der Antike als sklavische Notwendigkeit galt, wird sie in der Moderne zur höchsten gesellschaftlichen Kategorie erhoben. Die verheerende Konsequenz dieser Entwicklung ist die Einschmelzung des dreigegliederten menschlichen Tätigseins in einen totalisierten Arbeitsbegriff, der das Herstellen und Handeln funktionalisiert und der Logik der Produktivität unterwirft. Um diesen modernen Umbruch offenzulegen, nutzt Arendt den antiken Arbeitsbegriff als epistemischen „Hebel“. Zudem wird gezeigt, dass die Verherrlichung der Arbeit nicht nur das Tätigsein transformiert, sondern selbst totalitäre Tendenzen aufweist. Der Artikel rückt Arendts bislang wenig beachtete Analyse dieser Umwälzung in den Fokus und verknüpft sie mit ihrer Auseinandersetzung mit totalitärer Herrschaft. So wird die historische Diskontinuität in Arendts Denken der Arbeit sichtbar und eine neue Perspektive auf ihr Werk sowie auf die politische Bedeutung der Arbeitsgesellschaft eröffnet
Jacques Derrida: Hospitality: Volume I, Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 2023, 320 pp., 44,99 USD
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Matthias Bormuth: Die geistige Situation nach 1945 – Karl Jaspers und Hannah Arendt, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2023, 144 S., 20 EUR
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