an analysis of hannah arendt's concept of worldlessness

170 Pages·2008·8.04 MB·English

AN ANALYSIS OF HANNAH ARENDT'S
CONCEPT OF WORLDLESSNESS
Nicholas Graham
Department of Potitical Science
McGiII University, Montreal
September 1390
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.
o Nicholas Graham, 1990.
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The thoughts come to me,
1a m no longer a stranger ta them.
1g row in them as in a place,
As in a plowed field.
(Hannah Arendt, 1952)
ABSTRACT
This thesis explores the theme of "worldlessness" in the politieal thought of
Hannah Arendt.
The thesis analyzes "worldlessness" by way of Arendt's reflections on the
sub-themes of "contemporary crisis," the "Western tradition," the "modern age" and
the modern phenomenon of "thoughtlessness." These sub-themes are examined
in ehapters one, two, four and five respectively. Cnapter three examines Arendt's
conception of politics and "the world."
The analysis proceeds on the basis of Arendt's stated conviction that
political thought must take its bearings from "incidents of living experience" if it is
to be adequate to its subject matter. More specifically, it investigates the basis and
significance of Arendt's contention that the modern condition of "worldlessness"
has produced a rupture between thought and experience which has radically
altered the character of contemporary understanding. In general terms, the thesis
examines the origins of modern worldlessness and the implications of this for
contemporary thinking.
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RÉSUMÉ
La présente thèse a pour but cl'elCaminer le thème de "l'absence de relation
au monde" dans la pensée politique de Hannah Arendt.
La thèse procède à l'analyse du concept de "l'absence de relation au
monde" en tenant compte de la réflexion d'Arendt sur les thèmes secondaires
suivants: "la crise contemporaine," "la tradition occidentale," "l'époque moderne"
et le phénomène moderne du "vide au niveau de la pensée. Ces thèmes
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secondaires seront examinés respectivement dans les chapitres un, deux, quatre
et cinq. Pour sa part, le chapitre trois traitera de la conception d'Arendt en ce qui
concerne la politique et "le monde."
Les propos de cette thèse sont fondent sur la conviction déclarée d'Arendt
que la pensée politique doit prendre pour repères "des incidents concrets de
l'existence" si elle veut être adaptée au sujet auquel elle s'applique. Plus
spécifiquement, la thèse examine la base et la signification de l'affirmation d'Arendt
selon laquelle la condition moderne du concept de "l'absence de relation au
monde" a provoqué une rupture entre la pensée et l'expérience, ce qui a modifié
radicalement le caractère de la compréhension contemporaine. En termes plus
général, la thèse examine les origines modernes de "l'absence de relation au
monde" et ses implications pour le mode contemporain de pensée.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: Ihe Crisjs of Understanding ...................... 1
A) Totalitarianism and the 'Break' with Tradition: ................ 1
B) Totalitarianism as an 'Unprecedented' Event: ............... 11
C) Alternative Views: Arendt's Contemporaries: ............... 14
CHAPTER 1WO: The Western Tradition ........................... 24
A) The Hold of Tradition: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24
B) The Advantage of the 'Break' with Tradition: ................ 28
C) The Tradition: ...................................... 32
CHAPTER THREE: Arendt's Alternative to the Tradition ............... 47
A) The ~ ContemplatiY.a and the ~ Activa: ................. 47
B) The Human Condition: .. .................. ,.......... 54
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C) The Activa: ..................................... 57
i) The Private Realm: .............................. 58
ii) The Public Realm: .............................. 60
iii) Labour: ...................................... 65
iv) Work: ......... ......... ,.................... 68
v) Action: ...................................... 71
CHAPTER FOUR: The Collapse of the Public and private .............. 81
A) The Modern Age: .................................... 81
B) First Narrative -- Events in the Modern Age: ................ 87
C) Modern Society: .................................... 92
D) The Rise of the Animal Laborans: ................. . . . . . .. 95
CHAPTER FIVE: The Decline of the Tradition ..................... 106
A) Second Narrative -- Understanding in the Modern Age: .... . .. 106
B) Knowing as Making: ................................ 110
C) The End of the Tradition: .......................... . .. 122
i) Kierkegaard: .................................. 124
ii) Marx: ....................................... 125
iii) Nietzsche: ................................... 127
CHAPTER SIX: Conclusion .................................. 132
A) Eichmann in Jerusalem: ............................. 132
B) Worldlessness and Thoughtlessness: 141
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 152
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CHAPTER ONE
The Cr;sis of Understanding
A) Totalitarianism and the 'Break' with Tradition:
The political thought of Hannah Arendt is inspired by a profound sense of
crisis. She writes in the conviction that our tradition of thought, political and
moral, lies in ruins. This conviction is not the product of a nihilistic critique; it
arose from her confrontation with the event of totalitarianism. Arendt's first
systematic political treatise, The Origins of Totalitarianismi was written in the
shadows of what she called the "dark times" of the post-Holocaust, post-Gulag
world. By the phrase "dark times," however. Arendt did not mean sirnply times
of horror, but rather t;",es of intellectual and moral confusion; times in which
she insisted (quoting de Tocqueville) "the mind of man wanders in obscurity."2
We live in a time wh en the events of the world seem to threaten the mind with
realities that defy ail sense and meaning. It is a time of paradox, a time of crisis.
The crisis character of our time, according to Arendt, was first revealed to us by
the event of totalitarianism.
Totalitarian domination as an established fact, which in its
unpreceder.tedness cannot be comprehended through the usual
categories of political thought, and whose 'crimes' cannot be
judged by traditional moral standards or punished within the legal
framework of our civilization, has broken the continuity of
Occidental history. The break in our tradition is now an
accomplished fact.:I
The Orlglns of Totalltarlanlsm. Thlrd edttlon wtth new prefaces (New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovlch, 1973). Orlglnally publlshed ln 1951. Hereafter ctted 8S Origlns.
Arendt dlscusses the Inspiration and meanlng behlnd her use of thls phrase ln the Preface to MIn
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ln park Times (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovlch, 1968). pp.vlII-Ix.
:1 Between PaS! and Future (Harmondsworth: Penguln Books Ud. 1968). p.26.
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Hannah Arendt, perhaps more th an any other writer, categorically
characterizes totalitarianism as an entirely new political phenomenon. It
constitutes, she insists, an "unprecedented" event in the history of mankind. She
does not conceive of totalitarianism as many writers do, as sim ply a
contemporary if monstrous version of the ancient or modern forms of tyranny;
not even as a technologically advanced military dictatorship or police state. Ali
su ch parallels she claims are inadequate "devices" for capturing this unique
phenomenon. It eludes comprehension. Indeed, much of what Arendt has to
say about totalitarianism is written explicitly against the popular "conviction that
everything that happens on earth must be comprehensible to man."4 ~uch a
conviction, she insists, leads people to interpret history by commonplaces; to
the normalizing use of platitudes which are as pernicious to critical
understanding as they are common in popular discourse.
Comprehension does not mean denying the outrageous, deducing
the unprecedented trom precedents, or explaining phenomena by
such analogies and generalities that the impact of reality and the
shock of experience are no longer felt. It means, rather, examining
and bearing consciously the burden which our century has placed
on us -- neither denying its existence nor submitting meekly to its
weight. Comprehension in short, means the unpremeditated,
attentive facing up to, and resisting of, reality -- whatever it may
be.1I
Comprehension, for Arendt is a never-ending enterprise which she
distinguishes from correct information and scientific, explanatory knowledge, in
4 Orlglns. p.vtll. Arendt employa the n18scullne form when referrlng ta 'people ln generaI.' Sinee thls
Is an out-dated convention, 1 use gender-neutral terms ln my discussion. exceptions appear onIy
where direct or Indirect reference ta Arendt's tmet seems to requlre adherlog ta her usage.
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part, because it never produc6s unequivocal results. Arendt most often referred
to the activity of thinking not as "comprehension" which suggests the completed
goal of cognition, but as understanding; "an unending activity by which, in
constant change and variation, we come to terms with, reconcile ourselves to
reality, that is, try to be at home in the world.,,11
Our virtual inability to understand, categorize or judge totalitarian
phenomena is the peculiar feature of its appearance that Arendt means to
address with her claim that totalitarianism is unprecedented. Although the
totalitarian exercise of power as domination and extermination have parallels in
the political practices of the past, Arendt insists that these parallels, or
similarities, cannat account for those features of totalitarian practice which are
historically unique.
Arendt was convinced that 'crimes' on such a scale as those committed
by the Stalinist and Nazi regimes marked a decisive turning point in history,
breaking down ail the standards we know and signalling the arrivai of a new
age. This new, Hyet unknown age,· as Arendt calls it, is an age for which the
tradition of the past is irrevocably lost. For in face of the mass murders of our
century, tradition can no longer provide us with either the meaning of what was
done or the moral standards by which to judge it. Arendt was convinced that
the "radical" nature of totalitari&n evil clearly revealed that there were Mmatters
concerning men and the possibilities of their organized living together about
8 Hannah Arendt, ·Understandlng and PoIltlcs,· Partisan Rev!ew (July / August 1953). p.3n. Arendt later
reformulated the distinction between understandlng and comprehension as the dlfference between
'hlnklng· and ·knowlng.· See note 21.
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which tradition had nothing to say.,,7
Arendt's appreciation for the absolute novelty of totalitarianism did not
lead her ta argue that it was an historical aberration, a temporary outbreak of
moral insanity. Ratner, she was convinced that the appearance of this event
represented an extreme manifestation of "modernity" as such. In particular, the
appearance of this incomprehensible event signitied more than just the pcrhaps
obvious faet that thought, in relation to this event, is impotent. It signified this
and much more, namely, that thought in general is in a state of crisis. In her
preface ta the tirst edition of The Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt summarizes
the crisis character of our times succinctly:
Mie can no longer afford ta take that which was good in the past
and simply cali it our heritage, to discard the bad and simply think
of it as a dead load which by itself time will bury in oblivion. The
subterranean stream of Western history has finally come ta the
surface and usurped the dignity of our tradition. This is the reality
in whlch we live. And this is why ail efforts ta escape from the
grimness of the present into nostalgia for a still intact past, or into
the anticipated oblivion of a better Mure, are vain.·
Arendt's politieal thought begins with her experience in attempting ta
understand totalitarianism. The formative impact that this event had on her
subsequent interest in and original conception of politics cannot be
overemphasized. Arendt's concern with the "break" with tradition and the
ta
7 Stan Draenos, "Thin king W1thout a Ground," ln Melvyn Hill (ed). Hannah Arendt: Beçoyery of the
Public Wodd (New York: St. Martins Press, 1979). p.210 .
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QrW, Preface to the Flrst edltlon, p.lx.
The Impact of thls event on Arendt's subsequent thought, partlculady as It relates to the "break" wlth
the tradition, however, can and has been underestlmated. 1 am qulte convlnced, for example, that
Stephen Whltfleld does not glve enough attention to the break wlth tradition as a recurrlng theme
ln Arendt's work. 1t herefore find It dlff/cult to agree with hls position that Arendt 'ost Interest"ln the
sUbJect of totalltarlanlsm after completlng The Orlglns of Totalitarlanlsm. See, S. Whitfleld, Into the
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Park: Hannah Arendt and Totalitarianlsm (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980).