The political humanism of Hannah Arendt / Michael H. McCarthy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCarthy, Michael H., 1942-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975--Political and social views.

Arendt, Hannah.

Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975.

Humanism.

Political and social views.

Physical Description:

ix, 311 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, [2012]

Summary:

At the end of the Second World War when the horror of the Holocaust became known, Hannah Arendt committed herself to a work of remembrance and reflection. Intellectual integrity demanded that we comprehend and articulate the genesis and meaning of totalitarian terror. What earlier spiritual and moral collapse had made totalitarian regimes possible? What was the basis of their evident mass appeal? To what cultural resources and political institutions and traditions could we turn to prevent their recurrence? After years of profound study, Arendt concluded that the deepest crisis of the modern world was political and that the enduring appeal of political mass movements demonstrated how profound that crisis had become.

The Political Humanism of Hannah Arendt offers a dialectical account of the political crisis that Arendt identified and shows why her interpretation of that crisis is especially relevant today. Michael H. McCarthy provides detailed analysis and appraisal of Arendl's political humanism, the revisionary anthropology she based on the politically engaged republican citizen. Finally, this work distinguishes the merits from the limitations of Arendt's genealogical critique of "our tradition of political thought," showing that she tended to be right in what she affirmed and wrong in what she excluded or omitted. It will be valuable not only to students and scholars of political philosophy, but also to all citizens concerned about the state of contemporary politics. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The City in Ruins 25

Totalitarianism as a Limit Situation

The Burden of Our Time

The Sources of Our Political Crisis

Notes

2 Look to the Great and Common World 63

The Spirit of Arendtian Politics

The Cultural Convictions of Modernity

The Victory of the Animal Laborans

3 Our Tradition of Political Thought 111

Overcoming Tradition

Greek Political Philosophy

The Platonic Inheritance

Aristotle's Practical Philosophy

Poiesis and Praxis

Ruling and Being Ruled

The Best Way to Live

4 The Marxist Reversals of Tradition 179

Progress and Disillusion

Dialectical Materialism

The Critique of Capitalism

The Arendtian Critique of Marx

The Glorification of Labor and the Naturalization of Man

Violence as the Essence of Politics

The Science of Historical Necessity

Marxism As Ideology: An Arendtian Critique

The Merits and Limitations of Marxism

5 The Discontents of Liberal Democracy and the Continuing Relevance of Arendtian Thought 237

PART I The Critical Appropriation of Tradition

The Old and the New

The Discontents of Liberal Democracy

A Crisis of Legitimacy

The Promise and Perils of Globalization

American Democracy Revisited

Toward a New Progressive Agenda

E Pluribus Unum: The Challenge of Contemporary Pluralism

PART II The Critique of Liberalism

Public Liberty

Participation and Representation

The Primacy of Politics Over Economics

The Social Question Revisited: Distributive Justice and Political Equality

The Renewal of Civil Society

The Common World and the Common Good

Healing the Rift Between Thought and Action: The Importance of Practical Wisdom

Is There A Way To Get There From Here?

Notes.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780739177198

0739177192

9780739177204

0739177206

OCLC:

795177932