Hannah Arendt: The Politics of Philosophy

Hannah Arendt was one of the most dynamic and original thinkers of the twentieth century. She once described her philosophy as “thinking without banisters,” which meant engaging the ideas and events of her time without ideological preconditions. Topics of her work included the Holocaust and Israel, race theory and racism in America, nationalism, totalitarianism, and moral responsibility under dictatorship. Controversial but always innovative, her work provides an immediate gateway to the discussion of ethics, politics, and the purpose of philosophy. We will read selections from her Eichmann in Jerusalem, Responsibility and Judgement, Origins of Totalitarianism, and The Jewish Writings. We will also watch interviews and the feature film from director Margarethe von Trotte, Hannah Arendt (2012).