Hannah Arendt
03 Oct 1994 12:00What the Hell is she saying, half the time? Most of On Revolution and The Origins of Totalitarianism are extremely lucid, and the latter is quite gripping; but every so often she arrives at some startling proposition and I cannot for the life of me see how she got there, or even, sometimes, what on earth it's supposed to mean. I find her ideas about "elementary republics" and the nature of authority particularly unclear.
- Recommended:
- Eichmann in Jerusalem.
- The Origins of Totalitarianism. Get one-volume second edition "with added prefaces," if possible.
- Ernest Gellner, "From Königsberg to Manhattan, or, Hannah, Rahel, Martin and Elfride, or, Thy Neighbor's Gemeinschaft" in Culture, Identity and Politics
- To read:
- HA
- Crises of the Republic
- The Human Condition
- Life of the Mind
- Richard Wolin, Heidegger's Children: Hannah Arendt, Karl Löwith, Hans Jonas, and Herbert Marcuse
