Hannah Arendt on the crisis of modernity: Philosophy and politics in the post-totalitarian world.

摘要

Hannah Arendt is widely recognized as one of the most prominent political philosophers of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, Arendt's interpreters frequently express doubts about the political relevance of her thought. Arendt is often regarded as an anti-modernist and anti-democratic admirer of the Greek polis, whose thought has only little, if any, relevance for contemporary democratic politics or for understanding the problems of today's world.;In my dissertation, I challenge such conventional interpretation of Arendt's work, arguing that Arendt's thought is motivated not by nostalgia for the lost glory of ancient Greece, but by urgent concern for the present situation and the uncertain future of the world. The main subject of Arendt's political philosophy, according to my interpretation, is the current crisis of modernity, which is at the same time a crisis of the entire Western civilization.;This crisis, according to Arendt, emerged together with totalitarianism and totalitarianism also reveals its essence. The interpretation of Arendt's work should therefore proceed from The Origins of Totalilarianism, rather that from The Human Condition, which is usually regarded as the most systematic statement of Arendt's political philosophy. This approach puts Arendt's thought in a completely different light than the traditional interpretation, leading to radically different conclusions about her philosophic and political commitments. I dispute frequent characterization of Arendt as an anti-modernist thinker, arguing that her thought should be rather described as a radically modem. Moreover, I maintain that Arendt's critique of liberal democracy is more nuanced than her interpreters usually assume, arguing that her thought constitutes a powerful defense of democratic politics.;I argue that Arendt's critique of the crisis of modernity, which evolved from her reflections on totalitarianism, remains highly relevant even today, as it helps to elucidate such recent phenomena, as the economic globalization, the decline of the nation state, the perils and possibilities of European integration, or the problems related to the post-Cold War American hegemony.