Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Friendship

ISBN-13: 9781472513175 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 232 str.

Jon Nixon

Opis

For Hannah Arendt, friendship had political relevance and importance. The essence of friendship, she believed, consisted in discourse, and it is only through discourse, she argued, that the world is rendered humane. This book explores some of the key ideas in Hannah Arendt's work through a study of four lifelong friendships -- with Heinrich Blucher, Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers and Mary McCarthy. The book draws on correspondence from both sides, illuminating our understanding of the social contexts within which Arendt's thinking developed and was clarified. It offers a cultural history of ideas: shedding light on two core ideas in Arendt - of 'plurality' and 'promise', and on how those particular ideas emerged through a particular set of relationships, at a significant moment in the history of the West. This book offers an original and accessible 'way in' to Arendt's work for students and scholars of politics, philosophy, intellectual history and literature.

Recenzje

[Nixon's] theoretical discussions of Arendt's work are concise and well formulated ... The book is very accessible and clearly written ... [and] is a great place to start thinking about Arendt and her times. The Review of Politics 20150810

Spis treści

Preface and AcknowledgementsChapter 1 A child of the timeChapter 2 Friendship and pluralityChapter 3 Friendship as promiseChapter 4 Arendt and Heidegger: the struggle for friendshipChapter 5 Arendt and Jaspers: becoming worldlyChapter 6 Arendt and McCarthy: becoming our selvesChapter 7 Arendt and Blücher: flourishing togetherChapter 8 The hermeneutics of friendshipChapter 9 The republic of friendshipEpilogue: A woman of the worldAppendix: Outline chronology of Arendt's life and worksReferencesIndex

O autorze

Jon Nixon is Honorary Professor in the Center for Lifelong Learning Research and Development at The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, and Visiting Professor at Middlesex University, UK.