Monday, December 26, 2016

Study Questions for Hannah Arendt

1. Arendt sees labor, historically central to the private world, has now moved so that much of society has become centered on it, at the expense of the public sphere. What does she mean? Why is this a bad thing?

2. In her discussion of Labor, Arendt pays respect to Marx, but says she will be critical of him. Why does Arendt challenge the significance of Marx’s vision of the growing power of the working class.

3. Arendt is often credited with reemphasizing the ideas of the Greek polis and using them to evaluate the contemporary world. How does the concept of ‘action’, support that view.

4. Compare Arendt with Aristotle, Machiavelli and Locke on the importance of the public sphere.

Application 1: When does an artist produce a work, and when action?


Application 2:  Using Arendt’s frame of reference, what would she advise those miners in West Virginia who lost work when their mine closed?

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