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Index

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2019

David Arndt
David Arndt
Affiliation:
St Mary's College, California

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Chapter
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Arendt on the Political , pp. 273 - 282
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019
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Index

the absolute, problem of, 182, 225–227, 231–232
action(s), 1–3, 26–27, 29–31, 40–41, 137, 211, 214
American colonists’ understanding of, 201–202
deliberation as a form of, 69–70
freedom and, 62–63, 140–141, 184, 186, 252
instrumental concept of, 22–24, 127–128, 135–136
vs. labor, 26–27
vs. making, 22–24, 124–129, 135–136
natality and, 186–187
plurality and, 203
principle(s) and, 161–162, 187–188, 253–254
revelatory power of, 64–65, 93–94
thought and, 15–16, 25–26, 31, 40–41, 84, 128–129, 265
Adams, John, 157–158, 191–192, 204–205, 210, 242
Agamben, Giorgio, 135n77, 137n89
agonism, politics as, 6, 63–64
American colonists. See also American revolutionaries
as anti-democratic, 198–199
experiences of, 198–211
inherited concepts and, 191–192, 211
nontheoretical understanding of political matters, 198–199
self-government and, 191, 198–211, 215–217, 222, 239–240
understanding of freedom, 208–210
American Revolution, 27, 164, 188–189, 196, 211–221
Arendt’s interpretation of, 7, 192–198
Christian interpretations of, 194–196, 261
classic liberal interpretations of, 193–194, 196, 261
forgotten legacy of, 1, 190–192, 198, 256–262, 264–265
revolutionaries’ views of, 197, 218–219
social interpretations of, 195–197, 261
spirit of, 256–258
American revolutionaries, 157–158, 197–198, 253–254. See also American colonists
choice of republic over monarchy, 193–194, 213–214, 216–217
failure to articulate practical understanding in theoretical terms, 192, 196–197
failure to articulate the meaning of the Revolution, 191–192
failure to establish institutions for political engagement, 258–260
gap between political theories and nontheoretical understanding of politics, 197–198, 218–221, 225, 227, 230–232, 261–262, 264–265
insights preserved in nontheoretical writings and practical political documents, 196–197
self-government and, 218–220, 225, 256–260
understanding of law, 227
understanding of political authority, 225, 253–254
understanding of power, 219–220, 244–245
understanding of principle(s), 157–158, 164
antagonism, politics as, 6
anti-essentialism, 111n9
appearing, 84, 86–87, 117, 123–124
appearance(s), vs. being, 86n4
as mere semblance or illusion, 123–124
opinion and, 64–65, 87–88, 117, 123–124
the polis as space of, 64–65
as self-showing of beings themselves, 123–124
arche and archein, 130–132, 161–162
Arendt, Hannah, readers of,
Benhabib, Seyla, 75–76
Birmingham, Peg, 75–76
Gottsegen, Michael, 78
Hull, Margaret Betz, 74–75
Kateb, George, 75–76, 78
McGowan, John, 75–77
Parekh, Bhikhu, 75–76
Passerin d’Entrèves, Maurizio, 77, 168–169
Pitkin, Hanna, 78
Villa, Dana, 6–7, 78, 102
Young-Bruehl, Elisabeth, 7, 75–76
Arendt, Hannah, works of, 20–31
biography of Rahel Varnhagen, 11
Crises of the Republic, 27
Eichmann in Jerusalem, 27–29, 91–92
The Human Condition, 26–27, 40–41, 132–133
Introduction into Politics (Einfürung in die Politik), 6–7, 24, 26
“Karl Marx and the Great Tradition” (lecture series), 23–24
The Life of the Mind: Thinking, 30–31, 132
The Life of the Mind: Willing, 30–31
Love in Saint Augustine, 11
Men in Dark Times, 91–92
Origins of Totalitarianism, 20–22, 234–235
Between Past and Future, 27, 36–37
On Revolution, 27, 41, 157–158
“Thinking and Moral Considerations,” 29–30
“The Totalitarian Elements in Marxism,” 22–23
On Violence, 17n27, 82–83, 167, 190
Aristotle, 7, 23–25, 42–46, 55, 87–89, 111–113, 127, 130–139
concept of essence, 134–135
distortion of Greek understanding of politics, 108–109, 131n63, 136–139
on human nature, 134–135, 138–139
metaphysical understanding of politics, 134–139
metaphysical terms derived from the sphere of making, 131–134
Metaphysics, 130–139, 135n77, 161–162, 186
Nicomachean Ethics, 133–136, 161–162, 162n175
Politics, 23–24, 51–52, 106n62, 134–136, 142–143
on principle(s), 161–163, 187–188
assemblies
Athenian, 54–59, 81–82, 246–247, 258–260
colonial, 188, 208–211, 219, 240–241, 254–255, 258–260
Athenian politics, 53–66, 72, 81–82, 142, 233–234, 246–247, 252, 258–260
Cleisthenes, 54–55, 173–174, 258–260
demes, 54–55, 258–259
Isagoras, 54–55
Peisistratos, 54–55, 173–174, 246–247
Solon, 54–55, 91
authority, 27, 44–45, 82–83, 139, 148–157, 202, 211. See also auctoritas
American revolutionaries’ practical understanding of, 225, 253–254
Arendt’s definition of, 175–176
Aristotle and, 151–152
in Declaration of Independence, 251–255
doctrine of ideas and, 150–151, 156
as foreign to Greek politics, 149–150
foundation and, 152–153, 155–156, 251–254
genealogy of, 155–157, 222–223
law(s) and, 157–160
moral, 175–176
natural law and, 151–152, 156
Plato and, 150–152, 154–156
power and, 154–157, 168, 175–176
principle(s) and, 161, 252–253
problem of, 221–224
religion and, 152–155, 194, 205–206, 222–227
Roman understanding of, 152–155, 161
secular politics and, 221–222
tradition and, 152–155
Beard, Charles, 195–196
Becker, Carl, 238
being
vs. appearance, 84, 86
as appearing, 86n4, 86
Berlin, Isaiah, 140
Bolshevism, 20–23
Cartledge, Paul, 53n20
charters, 198–203
Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company, 199–200, 204–205
Cicero, 154–155
citizenship, 59, 204–205
Black and Native Americans deprived of, 236–237
in the polis, 55–56
as “the right to have rights,” 236–238
valued over rulership, 143
civil disobedience, 17, 27
civil liberties, 208–209, 213–217, 219, 240–241
civil rights, 194, 208–209, 213–214
coercion, 69, 170–171, 175–176
command, 21–22, 44–46, 68–70, 124–126, 167–168, 245–246
authority and, 175–176
law(s) and, 168–169, 181–182
power and, 170–173
commonality and plurality, 67, 74–75
common good, 67–68, 74–75, 77, 100–101, 203, 210–211
common interest, action and, 203
communities, 100–101, 181–182, 204–205
political vs. nonpolitical forms of, 82–83
political vs. ruled by one man, 72, 81–82, 245–246
compacts, 198, 201–202, 204–208, 211, 219–220, 222, 229
Mayflower Compact, 200–201
concepts, pure, 170n15
consensus, 202, 208, 236–237
consent, 208, 211, 255, 258–260, 262, 264
as fictitious, 207
of the governed, 193–194, 244–247
law and, 206–208
responsibility and, 207–208
tacit, 207–208
constitutional monarchies, 213–214
constitution-making, 219–222
Continental Congress, 213, 254–255
contracts, 178–180, 184–186, 201–203
American colonists and, 199–203
horizontal, 178–180, 202–208, 219–220, 244–245, 250–251
as means by which power is generated and sustained, 178–180
vertical, 178–180, 202–204, 206–208, 219–220, 244, 249–250
covenant of first church of Boston, 200
covenants, 198–203, 211, 219–220
critical dismantling, 34–38, 119–121
Destruktion, 34–36, 42–46
Konstruktion, 34, 37–38, 42–46
Reduktion, 34, 36–37, 42–46
Declaration of Independence, 7, 188, 194, 196–197, 209–210, 219–255
as act of foundation, 247–252, 255
as act of revolution, 228, 255, 264–265
Bill of Rights in, 213, 227–255
as horizontal contract, 250–251
legitimacy based on practical principles implicitly governing act of Declaring Independence, 245–246, 248–249, 251–255, 261–262, 264–265
modeled on colonial compacts, 229
modeled on mathematics, 229–232
as performative, 247–249, 255
political authority in, 251–255
principle(s) in, 164
rooted in practical experiences of colonists, 198
self-evident truths in, 231–233, 248–249, 251–252
self-reflexive self-grounding structure of, 248–249, 251–252
as statement of political theory, 228
two different forms of discourse in, 229–232
two notions of power and legitimacy in, 245–246, 249–251
deliberation, 22–23, 56–58, 69–72, 84–85, 106, 115–116, 124–129, 138, 202–203, 210–211, 237–238, 245–246, 255, 258–260
common, 56, 99–100, 105–107, 124–126, 202–203, 237–238, 245–246, 255, 258–260
reduction of deliberation to instrumental thinking, 136–137
Socratic thought and, 113–115
democratic politics, 31–33, 82–83, 108–109, 168, 198–199
Derrida, Jacques, 48n4, 249n152
Descartes, René
on principle(s), 162–163
despotism, 61, 70
dialogue, 84–85, 108–111, 115–116
Dio Cassius, 149
Diogenes Laertes, 109n4
dissent
principle(s) of, 208
right to, 188, 206–208
domination, 21–22, 50, 81–83, 142, 183, 204–205
doxa, 87, 105–106, 110. See also opinion
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 236–237
Economics and politics, 60–61, 77–78
Eichmann, Adolf, 27–30, 91–92, 98–99, 114–115
Epictetus, 144–147, 182–183
Epicurus, 25
equality, 68–69, 77, 202–205, 255, 258–260, 262
Declaration of Independence and, 233–234
freedom and, 233–234
legal, 54–57, 77, 143–144, 193–194, 233–234, 252
natural inequality, 233–234
political, 77, 233–234
principle of, 68–70
essence, 130–132
Aristotle’s concept of, 134–135
as idea, 120–124, 126–127
as measure, 117–120
Plato’s concept of, 119–121
Socratic thought and, 110–113
essentialism, 111n9
Euripides
Ion, 59
The Phoenician Women, 58–59
The Suppliant Women, 58–59, 81–82, 143–144
events, 20, 92, 94, 96–98
historical meaning of, 94
limited perspective on, 190–191
novelty of, 94–98, 103–104, 137
singularity of, 94–98, 103–104
evil, 27–28, 114–115
examples, thinking in, 91–92
prime examples in phenomenology, 79–80
experience as basis of thought, 7–8, 31, 36–37, 47, 225
family, vs. the polity, 81
fascism, 4, 79–80
Finley, M. I., 3–4, 52n19, 53n20, 55–56, 78–81, 158–159
force, 44–45, 82–83, 174–175
Foucault, Michel, 3–5, 78–80, 167–168
foundation(s)
authority and, 152–153, 155–156, 221–222, 251–254
Connecticut, founding of, 201–202, 204–205
Declaration of Independence as act of, 247–249
principle(s) and, 187–188
freedom, 13, 27, 60, 137, 139–140, 186–187, 211, 252
action and, 62–63, 184, 186, 188
American colonists’ understanding of, 208–210
vs. arbitrariness, 187
autonomy and, 182–183
causality and, 186
Christian concepts of, 145–147, 182–183
contracts and, 184–186
elevated over life, 143
and enfranchisement, 215
equality and, 233–234
exemplar shifts from citizen to the sovereign, 145
experienced in action, 140–141
as freedom of choice, 79–80, 145, 239–240
Greek understanding of, 58–59, 141–145
as horizon of possibilities, 188, 214, 239–240
inner freedom as derivative, 184
law and, 159, 169
liberation and, 143, 146–148, 182–183, 208–209, 214–215
natality and, 186–187
negative, 140, 147–148, 182–186, 214, 239–241
nonsovereign, 183–186
nontheoretical understanding of, 140
not understandable by returning to ancient political philosophy, 140
plurality and, 183–186
politics and, 62–63, 70, 81, 143–144, 186
and the power to act, 184–186, 214, 239–240
principled action and, 187–188
self-government and, 208–210, 214–215, 239–240
sovereignty and, 142–143, 145, 147–148, 169, 182–186
Stoic philosophy and, 147
from subjection to arbitrary will of others, 208–209
from subjection to necessities of life, 142
transposition of worldly to spiritual, 144–147
will and, 147–148, 182–183
freedom of assembly, 188, 215, 237–238
freedom of choice, 184–186
freedom of movement, 214
freedom of speech, 56–59, 103–105, 143–144, 188, 214–215, 237–238
freedom of thought, 105
free obedience, 124–126
French Revolution, 27, 195, 215, 217–218
Glorious Revolution of 1688, 213
government, 27
based on contract, 244–245
as distinct from politics, 73
power as essence of, 177
republican, 193–194, 213–214, 216–217, 219–220
supposed ends of, 166–167
understood as forms of rule, 42–46, 49, 123–126, 168
Greek political thought, 17, 66, 108–109, 149–150, 156–157
authority as foreign concept in, 149–150
distorted by the Western philosophical traditions, 108–109
exemplarity of, 66
nontheoretical discourse of, 52–53
understanding of freedom in, 58–60, 141–145
understanding of politics, 50–66 (see also the polis)
Habermas, Jürgen, 172n21
happiness, 241–242
American revolutionaries and, 242–244
in Declaration of Independence, 241–244
political life and, 135–137, 241–242
private vs. public, 242–244, 257–260
Hegel, G. W. F., 34, 95
Heidegger, Martin, 10–11, 13, 26–27, 41, 50–51, 80
Being and Time, 10–11, 38–40
Introduction to Metaphysics, 86n4
on being and appearance, 86n4
on Destruktion, 34–35, 119–121
on Konstruktion, 37
on Plato’s view of truth, 122–123
on the political, 50–52, 79
on Reduktion, 36
on theory, 38–39
on three tasks of critical dismantling, 34–37
Herodotus, 43–44, 70, 142–143, 161
The History, 68
hierarchy, 129, 151–152
authority and, 175–176
law(s) and, 181–182
as only one possible power structure, 171
historiography, Greek and Roman, 96–98
history, 27, 84, 96–98, 137–138
Arendt’s approach to, 43–44, 98–99
complexity of historical truth, 98
distorted by concepts of causality, 94–95
distorted by concepts of laws of, 22–23
distorted by concepts of process, 94, 96
distorted by concepts of progress, 94–95
distorted by concepts of telos of, 95
distorted by delusion of human control over, 95
modern philosophies of, 94–96
totalitarian views of, 21–22
Hobbes, Thomas, 4–5, 168–169, 178–180
Homer, 161, 252
Achilles in, 63–64, 91, 161
Athena in, 57–58
Hector in, 63–64
Odysseus in, 161
as exemplar of impartiality, 100–101
The Iliad, 63–64, 100–101
Honig, Bonnie, 72n87
the household (oikos) vs. the polity, 60–63, 81, 124–126
Hugh of St. Victor, 24–25
human nature
Arendt on, 234
Aristotle on, 134–135, 138–139
natural rights and, 166–167, 234
political rights and, 234
human rights, 193–194, 235–238
Hutcheson, Francis, 238–239
the ideal, 127
essence and, 120–123, 127
as measure of the actual, 120–122
idea(s), 119–124, 130–132, 166–167
essence as, 120–124, 126–127
Plato on, 95–96, 150–151, 156
as transcending politics, 166–167
imagination, 84–86, 90–91, 99, 102–104
impartiality, 100–101, 123–124, 210–211
the individual
powerlessness of, 174
sovereignty of, 182–183
strength and, 174
instrumental thinking, 22–24, 127–128, 176–177
interpretation, tasks of, 197–198
isegoria, 56–59, 143–144
isonomy, 43–44, 54–59, 68, 81–82, 143–144, 233–234. See also equality
Jaspers, Karl, 10–13, 23–24
Jefferson, Thomas, 164, 188, 191–194, 209–210, 238–239, 244–251, 258–260. See also Declaration of Independence
happiness and, 241–244
self-evident truths and, 228–234
Jouvenel, Bertrand de, 167–168
judgment, 29–31, 84–86, 89, 99, 102, 115–116, 123–124, 138, 210–211
determinant, 89–90
reflective, 89–90, 103–104
as seeing things in their singularity, 89–90
Kant, Immanuel, 10, 25–26, 182–183
“enlarged way of thinking,” 99, 104–105
on history, 94–95
on representative thought, 99, 105
on two kinds of judgment, 89
Kirk, Russell, 4–5
law(s), 27, 139, 211, 222–223
as artificial, 158–160, 206–208
authority and, 157–160, 227
commandments and, 159–160, 168–169, 181–182, 225–227
concepts of, 167, 181–182, 225–227, 262, 264
as directives, 181–182, 206–208, 227
divine, 157–160, 194, 217–218, 222–223, 225–227
freedom and, 159, 169
genealogy of, 225–227
Greek understanding of nomos, 158
as imperatives, 159–160, 181–182, 206–208, 227
legitimacy of, 206–208
natural, 151–152, 156, 158–160, 222–224, 234
new understanding of in American politics, 206–208, 227
Roman understanding of lex, 158, 225–227
secular, 159, 225–227
set above men, 166–167
sovereignty and, 159, 181–182
Ten Commandments as model of, 159, 225–227
leadership, vs. rulership, 124–126
legitimacy
in Declaration of Independence, 245–246
problem of, 158–160, 166–167, 182, 221
Lévinas, Emmanuel, 3–4, 78–80, 167
liberalism, 193–194, 208–209, 214
liberation, 147, 215–216, 218
as emancipation from subjection, 208–209, 214
freedom and, 146–147, 182–183, 214–215
sovereignty and, 145
liberty, 238–244
as end of politics, 49
vs. freedom, 143, 182–183
negative, 184–186, 239–241
positive, 182–183
as right to limited government, 215, 240–241
as right to self-government, 240–241
life, as the end of politics, 49, 238–244
life of the mind, vs. life of action, 15–16
Locke, John, 238
appeal to “God in Heaven,” 224
on political contracts, 249–250
on principle(s), 163–164
self-evident truths in, 228–229
Madison, James, 222
Maier, Pauline, 216n63, 254
making, 119–121, 126–127, 132–134
vs. acting, 95–96, 124–129, 135–136
Mao Zedong, 168
Marx, Karl, 21–24, 95–96
debt to the Western philosophical traditions, 23
totalitarianism and the philosophy of, 21–23
measure, 88, 101, 120–124
essence and, 117–120
Plato and, 117–120
memory. See also remembrance
failures of, 192, 260–262
the polis as space of, 65–66
metaphysics
Aristotle and, 130–139, 161–162, 186
critical dismantling of, 119–121
political philosophy and, 130–131
Mill, John Stuart, 147–148, 182–183
Mills, C. Wright, 167–168
monarchies, 72, 168, 181–182, 213–214, 249–251
rejected by American revolutionaries, 193–194
vertical contracts and, 249–250
Montesquieu (Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu)
on principle(s), 187–188
The Spirit of the Laws, 163–164
Mouffe, Chantal, 3–4, 6, 167
Nancy, Jean-Luc, 4
narrative thought, 92–99
anecdotes, 98
life stories, 93–94
natality, free action and, 186–187
National Socialism (Nazism), 4, 9, 20–22, 27–31, 77. See also Nazis
natural law(s), 151–152, 156, 158–160, 222–224, 234
natural right, 193–194, 224, 234, 248–249
Nazis, 9, 11–12, 31–33, 98
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 25, 102
nontheoretical discourse, 40–42, 47, 52–53, 85, 197–198
nontheoretical thought, 38–42, 84–86, 197–198, 218–221, 225, 230–231
nonviolence, 69–70, 170–171, 255, 258–260
nonviolent revolutions, 256–257
Oakeshott, Michael, 3–4, 78–80
obedience, 21–22, 29–30, 44–46, 49, 68, 72, 124–126, 167–168, 170–171, 175–176, 245–246
authority and, 168,
power and, 170–173
objectivity, 102
impartiality and, 101, 123–124
plurality of perspectives and, 104–106
in political thought, 101–102, 104–106
scientific, 101–102
oligarchies, 72, 168, 178–180, 258–260
opinion, 84–88, 99–106, 110, 117–119, 123–126, 208
measure and, 118–119
perspective and, 88, 99–101, 123–124
Platonic demotion of, 123–124
political thought and, 86–89
reconceived by Arendt in light of her phenomenological concept of appearing, 87–88
Paine, Thomas, 213n53
partisanship, 100–101, 263–265
Paul, St., 145–147, 159, 182–183
perspective(s), 16, 64–65, 90–91, 102n55, 102, 105, 117–119, 190–191
opinion and, 88, 99–101, 123–124
plurality of, 88, 101–106, 102n55
political thought and, 101–102
representative thought and, 99–101
persuasion, 57–58, 69, 71–72, 85, 103, 117, 124–126, 150, 175–176. See also rhetoric
phenomenology, 7, 26, 34, 39–41, 43–44, 86–88, 120, 148
philosophers
philosopher-kings, 126–127, 150, 154–155, 228–229
political role of, 115–116, 121–122
philosophy, 40–41, 85
political (see political philosophy)
political theory and, 20
politics and, 18–19, 24–27, 84–85, 91, 102, 108–109, 116–117, 129, 138–141, 263–264
phronesis, 89
Plato, 7, 23–25, 42–46, 84, 111–113, 116–129, 140, 191–192
allegory of the cave, 121–124
anti-political philosophy, 123–126, 129
authority and, 150–152, 154–156
concept of measure in, 117–120
concept of rule in, 124–126
departure from Socrates, 116–117
distortion of Greek understanding of politics, 108–109, 123–126, 129
doctrine of ideas, 95–96, 150–151, 156
Gorgias, 24
on opinion, 123–124
philosopher-kings and, 124–126
politics and, 23–24, 108–109, 120, 123–129, 136, 150–151
on politics as matter of rule, 123–127, 129, 150–151
The Republic, 129
self-evident truths and, 163, 228–229
Seventh Letter, 117
on task of political philosopher, 121–124
truth and, 122–124, 163, 228–229
Platonic thought, vs. Socratic thought, 109
plurality, 67, 74–75, 88
action and, 203
as a condition of politics, 47, 67, 74–75
freedom and, 183–186
objectivity and, 102n55, 104–106
of perspectives, 101–106, 102n55, 123–124
power and, 184–186
rights and, 237–238
truth and, 102n55, 104–106
the polis, 24, 50–66, 108, 140
Aristotle on, 134
distinctive character of, 66, 79–80
the family vs., 81
Greek understanding of, 50–52
the oikos and, 60–61, 81, 124–126, 143
as the prime example of political community, 43–44, 79–80
as space of appearances, 64–65
as space of freedom, 62–63
as space of memory, 65–66
as space of struggle, 63–64
vs. three other kinds of communities, 60–61
two institutions defining, 55–56
the political
Arendt’s concept of, 26, 41–42, 47–48, 74–83
definitions of, 31–33, 76, 78
four distinctions implied by, 71–74
Greeks’ understanding of, 50–66 (see also the polis)
Heidegger on, 50–52, 79
other concepts of, 78–83
pure concept of, 24, 34, 47–84
seven traits defining, 68–71
political discourse, 71–72, 85, 102–107
vs. philosophical discourse, 84–85, 102
political life, 41, 211, 263–265
Aristotle’s debasement of, 138–139
dignity of, 6, 62, 210–211, 217–218, 237–238
happiness and, 135–136, 198–211, 215–216, 241–242
vs. philosophical life, 108, 140–141
Plato’s debasement of, 123–124
Socrates’ stance toward, 115–116
political philosophy, 18–19, 26, 139
classical, 122–124, 139–165 (see also Aristotle; Plato; Socrates)
metaphysics and, 130–131
phenomenology and, 40–41
political questions, vs. technical questions, 73–74
political rights, 237–238
derived from nature of politics, 237–238
human nature and, 234
political sphere, 26–27
definition of, 76
as distinct from other spheres of human existence, 79–82
seven traits defining, 68–71
political theory. See also political philosophy
Arendt’s approach to, 7, 42–46, 265
vs. nontheoretical understanding of politics, 218–221, 225, 230–232
vs. political philosophy, 20
political thought, 85. See also political philosophy; political theory
Arendt’s view of, 85
Aristotle’s view of, 138
faculties of, 84–91, 102–104
forms of, 91–102
as largely nontheoretical, 7, 84, 88–89, 102, 122–123
objectivity of, 102, 104–106
vs. philosophical thought, 84–85, 91, 102, 123–124, 129
Plato’s view of, 122–124
politicization, 71–72, 77
politics, 47, 62, 134
conditions of, 74–75
essence of, 23–24, 71–72
as matter of rule, 49, 123–127, 129, 166–167
meaning of, 3–7, 23–24, 26–27, 43–44, 48–50, 167, 265
as means to an end, 49, 82–83, 136, 166–167
not a universal and necessary part of human life, 48–49, 74–75, 82–83, 166–167
philosophy and, 18–19, 24–27, 108–109, 116–117, 129, 138–141, 263–264
prejudices against, 1–3, 48–50, 74–75, 80, 82–83
as struggle for power to rule, 21–22, 50, 82–83, 167
as technical expertise and management, 124–126, 129, 136
totalitarianism as death of, 21–22
power, 1–2, 27, 44–45, 81–83, 167–169, 204–205, 211, 214
American colonists’ understanding of, 201–202, 219–220, 244–245
Arendt’s definition of, 172–173
authority and, 154–157, 168, 175–176, 222–223
command and, 170–173
contracts as means to generate, 178–180
in Declaration of Independence, 245–246, 249–251
de jure vs. de facto, 73
domination and, 82–83
as essence of government, 177
horizontal contracts and, 245–246
inherited concepts of, 44–46, 170–174, 262, 264
nonhierarchical forms of, 171
plurality and, 184–186
as power-over-others, 167–168, 173–174, 219–220, 244–245
as power-to-do, 173–174, 178–180, 184–186, 214, 219–220, 239–240
precedes distinction between means and ends, 176–177
revolutions and, 44–45, 170–171
sovereignty and, 82–83
strength and, 174
two levels of, 173–174
tyranny and, 173–174
vertical contracts and, 245–246
violence and, 168, 170–172, 176–177
prejudices against politics, 1–3, 48–50, 74–75, 80, 82–83, 263–264
end of politics as liberty, 49
end of politics as life, 49
politics as means to an end, 49
politics as struggle for power to rule, 49–50
politics as universal and necessary part of human life, 48–49
principle(s), 130–132
actions and, 161–162, 187–188, 252–254
American revolutionaries and, 157–158, 164
Aristotle on, 161–163, 187–188
authority and, 161, 252–253
in Declaration of Independence, 164
Descartes on, 162–163
freedom and, 187–188
genealogy of concept of, 161
Locke on, 163–164
Montesquieu on, 163–164, 187–188
practical, 251–255
as self-evident truths, 162–163
as “spirit of the laws,” 163–164
private happiness, 242–244
private sphere, 193–194, 208–209
vs. public sphere, 21–22, 70–72, 104–106, 106n62, 124–126
promises, mutual, 184–186, 202–204, 210–211, 222, 244–245, 250–255, 258–260
public happiness, 209–211, 215–216, 241–244, 257–260
public sphere, 67, 70, 74–75
vs. private sphere, 70–72, 104–106, 106n62, 124–126
public spirit, 210–211, 257–260
pure concepts, definition of, 170n15
questions
political vs. social, 77–78, 195
political vs. technical, 73–74
representative government, 193–194, 258–260
representative thought, 99–102, 104–105
Kant on, 99, 105
Socratic thought and, 113–114
responsibility, 114–115, 207–208
revolution(s), 27, 77, 94, 98–99, 164, 211–213
as change of rules, 181–182
Cuban revolution, 27
definition of, 27, 211–213
distinguished from similar phenonomena, 211–213, 217
as fight for political freedom, 216–217
as founding of new form of government, 211–213, 217
genealogy of concepts of, 27
history of, 170–171
Hungarian Revolution, 27, 170–171
nonviolent, 170–172, 256–257
pathos of novelty in, 137, 217
power and, 44–45, 170–171
problem of authority and, 221–222
secularization and, 217–218
vicious circle of legitimation in, 221
violent, 170–171
rhetoric, 57–58, 84–85, 123–124, 262
rights, 235–236
belonging to human beings in the plural, 235–238
citizenship as the right to have, 236–238
human nature and, 166–167, 234–235
natural, 193–194, 223–224, 234, 248–249
right to revolution, 247–251
Robespierre, Maximilien, 195, 224
Rome, Ancient
authority in, 149, 152–156, 161, 222–223, 252–253
founding of, 152–154, 156, 187–188
as model for American revolutionaries, 253
religion in, 152–155
tradition in, 17
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 147–148, 178–180, 182–183
rule, 42–46, 49, 81, 126–127, 129, 263–265
concept taken from household, 124–126
excluded from political life, 68, 70, 72–73, 82–83, 124–126, 142–143, 204–205, 209–210, 217
as “fundamental problem of political philosophy,” 169–170
politics as matter of, 49, 150–151
rulership, 72, 81–82, 124–126, 129, 245–246
vs. citizenship, 68, 70
vs. leadership, 124–126
Ryan, Alan, 124n39
Schmitt, Carl, 3–4, 51, 78–80, 167
secular politics, 149, 217–218, 221–222
self-evident truths, 228–233
Arendt’s view of, 231–232
Jefferson and, 228–234, 248–249, 251–252
Locke and, 228–229
Plato and, 163, 228–229
self-government, 198–203, 211, 263–265
American colonists’ experience of, 198–211, 215–220, 222, 239–240, 256–260
arising out of practical considerations, 198–199, 202–203
freedom and, 208–210, 240–241
self-sufficiency, ideal of, 184–186
Seneca, 143
singularities/singularity, 92–98, 103–104
of events, 96
judging, 89–92
of persons, 103–104
slavery, 69, 142, 145, 147
in ancient Greece, 53–55
in the United States, 236–237
social and political equality, 77
social histories of the American Revolution, 195–196
Socrates, vii, 87, 91–92, 108–116, 129
as model of politically engaged thinker, 108–109
trial and death of, 116–117, 142n103, 150, 228–229
Socratic thought, 109–116
cognition and, 113–115
deliberation and, 113–115
dialogue, 87, 108–109, 115–116
essences and, 110–113
judgment and, 113–115
vs. Platonic thought, 109n4, 109
relevance to political life, 115–116
representative thinking and, 113–114
sovereignty, 81–82, 140, 147–148, 219–220
citizenship and, 142
freedom and, 142–143, 147–148, 169, 182–186
illusion of, 183–184
law and, 159, 181–182
political power and, 82–83, 169
of the will, 182–183
“spirit of 1776,” 256–258
“spirit of the laws,” 163–164
Strauss, Leo, 123n38, 128n50, 129, 136n84
strength, 44–45, 82–83
power vs., 174
Taney, Roger, 236–237
technical questions, vs. political questions, 73–74
telos, 94–95, 130–136, 161–163, 166–167, 187–188
theory, 38, 88–89, 138, 197, 229–230
Arendt’s concept of, 38, 41
history and, 43–44
limits of, 197–198
nontheoretical discourse and, 40–42
nontheoretical thought and, 29–30, 38–42, 84, 197–198
phenomenology and, 39–41
scientistic conceptions of, 22–23
thinking, 7–8, 30–31
action and, 15–16, 25–26, 84, 128–129, 265
essences and, 110–111
everyday speech and, 41
in examples, 91–92
experience of, 14–15
in narrative, 92–99 (see also narratives)
remembrance and, 198, 260–262
representative (see representative thought)
tasks of, 14–16, 265
thoughtlessness, 114–116
Thucydides, 102
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 196
totalitarianism, 98–99
as anti-political, 21–22, 24, 31–33, 176–177
as eluding terms of traditional political theory, 17–18
essence of, 20–22
Marxism and, 21–23
“politicization” of everything within, 4
unprecedented nature of, 20
town meetings, 202, 208–211, 240–241, 255, 258–260
tradition(s), 7–8, 17–20
authority and, 152–155
Destruktion and, 34–36
tradition(s), internal differences in 17n27
truth(s), 27, 84, 87–88, 93–94, 98, 123–124. See also self-evident truths
as correspondence, 122–124
as illumination or aletheia, 98, 122–123
plurality of perspectives and, 104–106
tyranny, 59, 61, 81–82, 246–247
Oedipus and, 61
Peisistratos, 54–55, 173–174, 246–247
powerlessness generated by, 173–174
Thirty Tyrants and, 115
the universal, 130–132, 137–138
U.S. Constitution, 194–196, 258–260
exclusion of Black and Native Americans from, 236–237
Founders’ failure to incorporate town meetings in, 258–260
God not mentioned in, 224–225, 227
understanding of authority implicit in, 261, 264–265
violence, 44–45, 78, 82–83, 124–126, 175–176, 204–205
excluded from political life, 69–72, 76–77, 176–177
as extra-political condition of politics, 176
power and, 168, 170–172, 176–177
Virgil, 161, 187–188, 252–253
the Aeneid, 153–154
vita activa, 24–27, 40–41, 84, 108, 138–140, 210, 242
vita contemplativa, 24–27, 40–41, 84, 108, 135–136, 138–141, 210, 242
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), 167–168
will, 30–31, 140, 147–148, 169
freedom and, 147–148, 182–183
Wills, Garry, 238–239

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  • Index
  • David Arndt, St Mary's College, California
  • Book: Arendt on the Political
  • Online publication: 15 October 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108653282.012
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  • Index
  • David Arndt, St Mary's College, California
  • Book: Arendt on the Political
  • Online publication: 15 October 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108653282.012
Available formats
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  • Index
  • David Arndt, St Mary's College, California
  • Book: Arendt on the Political
  • Online publication: 15 October 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108653282.012
Available formats
×