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Working with Soil: Craft, Design and Coactive Power
Full text linkThis report looks at three interdisciplinary craft and design projects by the Finland-based Working with Soil group that engages with ecological concerns in the context of local soils. The group co-operates with established institutes, such as environmental organisations, museums and universities. They invite other craft and design practitioners, artists, scientists, and the public to join them in exploring the relationality of humans and soil. While Arendt’s concepts of ‘labour’ and ‘work’ are attached to ideas of the earth and the world, the concept of ‘action’ is used in reflecting on the practical engagement with the environmental concerns. The processual elements of the projects are organized in exhibitions as ‘laboratories’ where ongoing work and events occur in the form of open studios and fieldwork as well as talks and other public events creating a ‘space of appearance’ to participate in the politics of sustainability. As such, these projects can be considered practical exercises of political thought.This report looks at three interdisciplinary craft and design projects by the Finland-based Working with Soil group that engages with ecological concerns in the context of local soils. The group co-operates with established institutes, such as environmental organisations, museums and universities. They invite other craft and design practitioners, artists, scientists, and the public to join them in exploring the relationality of humans and soil. While Arendt’s concepts of ‘labour’ and ‘work’ are attached to ideas of the earth and the world, the concept of ‘action’ is used in reflecting on the practical engagement with the environmental concerns. The processual elements of the projects are organized in exhibitions as ‘laboratories’ where ongoing work and events occur in the form of open studios and fieldwork as well as talks and other public events creating a ‘space of appearance’ to participate in the politics of sustainability. As such, these projects can be considered practical exercises of political thought
Homo mundanus: Zur Verschränkung von conditio humana und conditio mundana bei Hannah Arendt
Full text linkMit Arendt nach den Menschen zu fragen, bedeutet nach der Welt zu fragen. Nach der Welt zu fragen, heißt nach den Menschen fragen. Die spezifisch menschlichen Tätigkeiten des Handelns und Herstellens sowie die spezifisch menschliche Freiheit sind Bedingungen von Welt, während Weltlichkeit und Pluralität, welche auf die Welt verwiesen sind, Bedingungen der weltbildenden Tätigkeiten darstellen. Diese wechselseitige Verwiesenheit von Menschen und Welt bei Arendt führt zu der These, dass Menschen durch die Verschränkung von conditio humana und conditio mundana, welche erstmals Christina Schües als Begriff einführte, als Weltwesen einer Menschenwelt zu verstehen sind. Die menschliche Weltwesenheit als Potential wird im Begriff des homo mundanus beziehungsweise der homines mundani abgebildet. Über die Verschränkung von conditio humana und conditio mundana kann gezeigt werden, dass der Weltverlust, den Arendt in Vita activa als Entwicklung der Neuzeit bezeichnet, im Welt(rück)gewinn aufgehoben werden kann. Die Welt als Bezüglichkeitsraum steht gemäß Arendt in enger Verbindung zum Politischen. Daher steht zu fragen, ob sich die These der Menschen als Weltwesen auf eine Dimension der Weltbürgerschaft ausweiten lässt. Diese Erweiterung von Welt zur Kosmopolis muss mit Arendt jedoch verworfen werden, denn die Welt als Raum erfordert Abgrenzungen, welche der Kosmopolitismus zu entgrenzen sucht.With Arendt, to ask about people is to ask about the world. To ask about the world is to ask about people. The specifically human activities of acting and producing as well as the specifically human freedom are conditions of world, while worldliness and plurality, which are referred to the world, are conditions of the world-forming activities. This mutual referentiality of human beings and world in Arendt leads to the thesis that human beings are to be understood as world beings of a human world through the entanglement of conditio humana and conditio mundana, which was first introduced as a concept by Christina Schües. The human world being as a potential is represented in the concept of homo mundanus or homines mundani. Through the interweaving of conditio humana and conditio mundana, it can be shown that the loss of the world, which Arendt describes in “The Human Condition” as the development of modern times, can be cancelled out in the (re)gain of the world. According to Arendt, the world as a space of reference is closely connected to the political. Therefore, the question is whether the thesis of human beings as world beings can be extended to a dimension of world citizenship. This extension of world to cosmopolis must, however, be rejected with Arendt, because the world as space requires delimitations, which cosmopolitanism seeks to delimit
Cosmopolitan Solidarities of Difference in a broken World
Full text linkIn my paper, I develop from Hannah Arendt’s views an understanding of cosmopolitan solidarity characterized by plurality and difference and how it can offer possibilities of acting politically through multiple, interlocking layers of critical solidarity across differences. When polities divide their citizens through geographical borders and identity frames, the role of the political is to transcend these frontiers to open up new avenues for acting politically. Solidarity has a distinctive political character, which sets it apart from legal and moral norms. It allows people to disengage from any form of naturalistic ties based on a shared gender, society, nation, or race and thereby, rebuild the public sphere that the totalitarian mechanism threatens to dismantle. It is an exercise in ‘enlarged mentality’ or the capacity for thinking one’s way into the viewpoint, the position and the experience of other people. It is a shared responsibility to act on behalf of others in a coexistence and not merely an empty claim of support.In my paper, I develop from Hannah Arendt’s views an understanding of cosmopolitan solidarity characterized by plurality and difference and how it can offer possibilities of acting politically through multiple, interlocking layers of critical solidarity across differences. When polities divide their citizens through geographical borders and identity frames, the role of the political is to transcend these frontiers to open up new avenues for acting politically. Solidarity has a distinctive political character, which sets it apart from legal and moral norms. It allows people to disengage from any form of naturalistic ties based on a shared gender, society, nation, or race and thereby, rebuild the public sphere that the totalitarian mechanism threatens to dismantle. It is an exercise in ‘enlarged mentality’ or the capacity for thinking one’s way into the viewpoint, the position and the experience of other people. It is a shared responsibility to act on behalf of others in a coexistence and not merely an empty claim of support
La responsabilidad intelectual ante el legado del pasado reciente.: Acerca de las dificultades de un “debate” en la Argentina a la luz de la obra de Hannah Arendt
Full text linkCon base en las reflexiones de H. Arendt sobre la “controversia” en torno de Eichmann en Jerusalén, el artículo intenta comprender las dificultades en el mundo intelectual argentino para discutir públicamente sobre el pasado reciente de violencia política y violaciones a los derechos humanos. Según nuestra hipótesis, las posiciones políticas individuales permean en el debate intelectual clausurando preguntas y verdades incómodas y obturan una lectura hospitalaria del otro. Esta “impermeable porosidad” del trabajo intelectual es evidenciada a través de la deconstrucción de desplazamientos, omisiones, sesgos y fabricaciones en el debate intelectual. En ese marco, ofrecemos una interpretación de “Verdad y política” de Arendt que da cuenta de su vigencia para el pensamiento político.
Based on H. Arendt’s reflections on the “controversy” surrounding Eichmann in Jerusalem, the article attempts to understand the difficulties in the Argentine intellectual world to publicly discuss the recent past of political violence and human rights violations. According to our hypothesis, individual political positions permeate the intellectual debate, closing off uncomfortable questions and truths and obstructing a hospitable reading of the other. This "impermeable porosity" of intellectual work is evidenced through the deconstruction of displacements, omissions, biases and fabrications in the intellectual debate. In this framework, we offer an interpretation of Arendt's “Truth and Politics” that shows its relevance for political thought.Con base en las reflexiones de H. Arendt sobre la “controversia” en torno de Eichmann en Jerusalén, el artículo intenta comprender las dificultades en el mundo intelectual argentino para discutir públicamente sobre el pasado reciente de violencia política y violaciones a los derechos humanos. Según nuestra hipótesis, las posiciones políticas individuales permean en el debate intelectual clausurando preguntas y verdades incómodas y obturan una lectura hospitalaria del otro. Esta “impermeable porosidad” del trabajo intelectual es evidenciada a través de la deconstrucción de desplazamientos, omisiones, sesgos y fabricaciones en el debate intelectual. En ese marco, ofrecemos una interpretación de “Verdad y política” de Arendt que da cuenta de su vigencia para el pensamiento político.
Based on H. Arendt’s reflections on the “controversy” surrounding Eichmann in Jerusalem, the article attempts to understand the difficulties in the Argentine intellectual world to publicly discuss the recent past of political violence and human rights violations. According to our hypothesis, individual political positions permeate the intellectual debate, closing off uncomfortable questions and truths and obstructing a hospitable reading of the other. This "impermeable porosity" of intellectual work is evidenced through the deconstruction of displacements, omissions, biases and fabrications in the intellectual debate. In this framework, we offer an interpretation of Arendt's “Truth and Politics” that shows its relevance for political thought
Hildegard E. Keller: Was wir scheinen. Roman, Köln: Eichborn-Verlag 2021, Taschenbuchausgabe unter dem Titel: Was wir scheinen. Hannah Arendt, poetische Denkerin, Köln: Eichborn-Verlag 2022,: Weltreise mit Hannah Arendt. Zu Hildegard Kellers Roman
No full textWas wir scheinen ist der erste Roman über Hannah Arendt. Er nimmt uns mit auf eine Reise zu wichtigen Stationen ihres äusseren und inneren Lebens. Ausgehend von konkreten Daten und Ereignissen zieht die Literaturwissenschaftlerin, Literaturkritikerin, Filmemacherin und Schriftstellerin Hildegard E. Keller alle ihre Register. Der Roman ist hervorragend recherchiert und integriert Fakten, Werkteile sowie Briefe aus den Arendt Papers, die kaum je beachtet worden sind. Ebenfalls nahezu unbekannt ist die hier auserzählte Beziehung Hannah Arendts zur Schweiz. Keller arbeitet mit Fiktionalisierungen, die in Verbindung mit den neuen Rechercheergebnissen wohl selbst für Kenner nicht leicht durchschaubar sein dürften. Als Literaturwissenschafterin kann ich mich in den umfangreichen Anhang mit ungedruckten und gedruckten Quellen vertiefen, erkenne intertextuelle Bezüge (von Ingeborg Bachmann über Kurt Blumenfeld, Bert Brecht und Günther Anders bis zu Uwe Johnson) und sehe, dass Florian Illies sich schon bald nach Erscheinen des Romans darauf gestützt hat (Liebe in Zeiten des Hasses, 2021). Das mag alles anregend und wichtig sein, doch als Romanleserin suche ich einen anderen Zugang zu Hildegard Kellers Werk und ihrer Hauptfigur
Hannah Arendt, Stimme im Kanon der abendländischen politischen Ideengeschichte: Hannah Arendt, Stimme im Kanon der abendländischen politischen Ideengeschichte
No full textDana Villa, Professor of Political Theory an der University of Notre Dame im Bundesstaat Illinois der USA und eine Autorität in der Arendt-Sekundärliteratur, hat in der Reihe „Routledge Philosophers“ den Band „Arendt“ übernommen. Er hat die Gelegenheit genutzt, um tief und detailliert in Arendts Werk einzudringen. Sein Anliegen ist nicht ein „diffuse survey of her oeuvre“, sondern er konzentriert sich auf die Gedankenwelt der politischen Philosophin/Theoretikerin, von der er gleich eingangs (S. 8) behauptet, sie könne eindeutig „in the mainstream of the civic republican tradition“ verortet werden. Arendts vier Hauptwerke stehen im Mittelpunkt seiner Untersuchungen: The Origins of Totalitarianism als Kapitel 2 mit der Übergangsphase der Marx-Studien als Kapitel 3, The Human Condition (Kap. 4), On Revolution (Kap. 5) und The Life of the Mind (Kap. 6, 7). Jedes Kapitel wird durch ein „Summary“ und ausgewählte Vorschläge für „Further Reading“ beendet (es gibt kein Gesamt-Literaturverzeichnis, leider auch kein Siglen-Verzeichnis zur zitierten Arendt-Literatur). Dieser Korpus wird umrahmt von einer tabellarischen Chronologie zu Arendts Leben und Werk und einem ersten Kapitel über „Life, influences, and central concerns“ am Anfang sowie einem achten zusammenfassenden Kapitel mit dem Titel „Legacy“ und einem ausführlichen Namensund Sachindex am Ende des Bandes.Dana Villa, Arendt, London-New York: Routledge, 2021, 416 S. Paperback £ 19.99. eBook £ 16.99
Amor Tellus? For a Material Culture of Care
Full text linkThis article addresses the politics of ecological reconstruction in the Anthropocene by drawing from the thought of Hannah Arendt. The article particularly elaborates a notion of ‘material culture of care’ as a modality of mediating human interactions with non-human nature. Expanding on commentaries on the Arendtian ‘care for the world’, I read Arendt’s two essays on culture from the perspective of human/nature relationship. I suggest her commentary on the Roman notion of colere, cultivating nature, can offer us a notion of care that is embedded in the material interdependencies in the ‘web of life’. The essay also analyzes the modern concept of nature as an impediment for exercising such care, and discusses practices of tending and cultivating nature in the context of the city.This article addresses the politics of ecological reconstruction in the Anthropocene by drawing from the thought of Hannah Arendt. The article particularly elaborates a notion of ‘material culture of care’ as a modality of mediating human interactions with non-human nature. Expanding on commentaries on the Arendtian ‘care for the world’, I read Arendt’s two essays on culture from the perspective of human/nature relationship. I suggest her commentary on the Roman notion of colere, cultivating nature, can offer us a notion of care that is embedded in the material interdependencies in the ‘web of life’. The essay also analyzes the modern concept of nature as an impediment for exercising such care, and discusses practices of tending and cultivating nature in the context of the city
Towards a Biopolitics of the People. From Arendt to Agamben and Back Again
No full textAmong the many reactions from philosophers and political theorists to the coronavirus crisis, Giorgio Agamben’s is the most extreme. According to the Italian philosopher, governments all over Europe use Covid-19 as a pretext to end Western democracy. The measures they have taken are meant not so much to slow down the spread of the virus as to render the citizenry politically powerless by reducing them to their sheer biological existence. This interpretation of the pandemic and its political aftermath builds on the notion of biopolitics that Agamben advances in his multi-volume Homo Sacer series. And this notion, in turn, owes a great deal to the thought of Hannah Arendt. This leaves one pondering whether Agamben’s is the only way to avail oneself of Arendt’s ideas in order to tackle the coronavirus crisis. This paper responds to this question with a resounding no. It shows that Arendt’s thought can be put to quite different use. Rejecting Agamben’s vision of doom, we hold that the Covid-19 pandemic calls for an Arendtian conception of biopolitics that centres not on fatalism but on agency. The structure of this paper is as follows. First, we defend the proposition that what Agamben calls biopolitics is but a generalization of Arendt’s account of totalitarian domination. Second, we offer a critique of Agamben’s take on the coronavirus crisis, which bears alarming similarities to right-wing conspiracy theories. Third, we bring into relief Arendt’s keen awareness of the profound impact our active life has on the natural world. We combine this awareness with her definition of human beings as conditioned beings to suggest that she is mindful of the fact that our interacting with nature rebounds on us. This leads us to contend that Arendt, in a way, points us towards the unpleasant truth of Covid-19—namely, that it is the result of our foul treatment of the natural world. Fourth, we argue that since the way we affect nature is mediated by how we conduct our active life, the proper response to the coronavirus crisis is for us to change the latter, thus rendering it a matter of political concern. This politicization of our active life amounts to an Arendtian conception of biopolitics that is fundamentally different from Agamben’s. Where his take on biopolitics revolves around political impotence, ours concentrates on agency—on our ability, that is, to join together and make a new beginning.Among the many reactions from philosophers and political theorists to the coronavirus crisis, Giorgio Agamben’s is the most extreme. According to the Italian philosopher, governments all over Europe use Covid-19 as a pretext to end Western democracy. The measures they have taken are meant not so much to slow down the spread of the virus as to render the citizenry politically powerless by reducing them to their sheer biological existence. This interpretation of the pandemic and its political aftermath builds on the notion of biopolitics that Agamben advances in his multi-volume Homo Sacer series. And this notion, in turn, owes a great deal to the thought of Hannah Arendt. This leaves one pondering whether Agamben’s is the only way to avail oneself of Arendt’s ideas in order to tackle the coronavirus crisis. This paper responds to this question with a resounding no. It shows that Arendt’s thought can be put to quite different use. Rejecting Agamben’s vision of doom, we hold that the Covid-19 pandemic calls for an Arendtian conception of biopolitics that centres not on fatalism but on agency. The structure of this paper is as follows. First, we defend the proposition that what Agamben calls biopolitics is but a generalization of Arendt’s account of totalitarian domination. Second, we offer a critique of Agamben’s take on the coronavirus crisis, which bears alarming similarities to right-wing conspiracy theories. Third, we bring into relief Arendt’s keen awareness of the profound impact our active life has on the natural world. We combine this awareness with her definition of human beings as conditioned beings to suggest that she is mindful of the fact that our interacting with nature rebounds on us. This leads us to contend that Arendt, in a way, points us towards the unpleasant truth of Covid-19—namely, that it is the result of our foul treatment of the natural world. Fourth, we argue that since the way we affect nature is mediated by how we conduct our active life, the proper response to the coronavirus crisis is for us to change the latter, thus rendering it a matter of political concern. This politicization of our active life amounts to an Arendtian conception of biopolitics that is fundamentally different from Agamben’s. Where his take on biopolitics revolves around political impotence, ours concentrates on agency—on our ability, that is, to join together and make a new beginning
Zurück auf Los. Zur Studienausgabe von Hannah Arendts Dissertationsschrift Hannah Arendt: Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin. Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation. Studienausgabe, herausgegeben und mit einem Nachwort versehen von Thomas Meyer, Münc
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Truth and Politics. A Vulnerable Realm
Full text linkThe objective of this article is to discuss some aspects of Hannah Arendt’s thought on the relationship between truth and politics, which, although they were developed in a different context from the current one, are particularly relevant to reflecting on the notion of the “fake,” a concept which has become such a characteristic feature of contemporary culture that it is now a way of structuring our model of reality. Arendt’s contribution is analysed following two basic lines of argument. Firstly, we seek to show that her ideas reveal the problem of truth as it currently emerges to be one of indifference towards reality and the world. Subsequently we explain how this indifference relates to another key point in Arendt’s thought, namely, responsibility towards this same world. Once the synergy between responsibility and the world has been established, we examine the roles of the narrator and the spectator in constructing the relationship between truth and lies.The objective of this article is to discuss some aspects of Hannah Arendt’s thought on the relationship between truth and politics, which, although they were developed in a different context from the current one, are particularly relevant to reflecting on the notion of the “fake,” a concept which has become such a characteristic feature of contemporary culture that it is now a way of structuring our model of reality. Arendt’s contribution is analysed following two basic lines of argument. Firstly, we seek to show that her ideas reveal the problem of truth as it currently emerges to be one of indifference towards reality and the world. Subsequently we explain how this indifference relates to another key point in Arendt’s thought, namely, responsibility towards this same world. Once the synergy between responsibility and the world has been established, we examine the roles of the narrator and the spectator in constructing the relationship between truth and lies