Arendt and Heidegger : the fate of the political / Dana R. Villa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Villa, Dana Richard.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975--Contributions in political science.

Arendt, Hannah.

Heidegger, Martin, 1889-1976--Contributions in political science.

Heidegger, Martin.

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (346 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1996.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Theodor Adorno once wrote an essay to "defend Bach against his devotees." In this book Dana Villa does the same for Hannah Arendt, whose sweeping reconceptualization of the nature and value of political action, he argues, has been covered over and domesticated by admirers (including critical theorists, communitarians, and participatory democrats) who had hoped to enlist her in their less radical philosophical or political projects. Against the prevailing "Aristotelian" interpretation of her work, Villa explores Arendt's modernity, and indeed her postmodernity, through the Heideggerian and Nietzschean theme of a break with tradition at the closure of metaphysics. Villa's book, however, is much more than a mere correction of misinterpretations of a major thinker's work. Rather, he makes a persuasive case for Arendt as the postmodern or postmetaphysical political theorist, the first political theorist to think through the nature of political action after Nietzsche's exposition of the death of God (i.e., the collapse of objective correlates to our ideals, ends, and purposes). After giving an account of Arendt's theory of action and Heidegger's influence on it, Villa shows how Arendt did justice to the Heideggerian and Nietzschean criticism of the metaphysical tradition while avoiding the political conclusions they drew from their critiques. The result is a wide-ranging discussion not only of Arendt and Heidegger, but of Aristotle, Kant, Nietzsche, Habermas, and the entire question of politics after metaphysics.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A NOTE TO THE READER

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION: The Problem of Action in Arendt

PART I: Arendt's Theory of Political Action

CHAPTER 1. Arendt, Aristotle, and Action

CHAPTER 2. Thinking Action against the Tradition

CHAPTER 3. Arendt, Nietzsche, and the "Aestheticization" of Political Action

PART II: Arendt and Heidegger

CHAPTER 4. The Heideggerian Roots of Arendt's Political Theory

CHAPTER 5. Groundless Action, Groundless Judgment: Politics after Metaphysics

CHAPTER 6. The Critique of Modernity

PART III: The Critique of Heidegger's Philosophical Politics

CHAPTER 7. Arendt, Heidegger, and the Oblivion of Praxis

CHAPTER 8. Heidegger, Poixsis, and Politics

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [313]-322) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9786612752346

9781400808243

1400808243

9781282752344

1282752340

9781400821846

1400821843

OCLC:

700688707