THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF HANNAH ARENDT

by Margaret Canovan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 14, 1974

A prim but thoughtful summary of Hannah Arendt's view of politics, drawing principally on The Human Condition, Origins of Totalitarianism, and On Revolution. Canovan fails to follow through on her promise to elucidate Arendt's Central European roots, and dwells instead on her use of Greek thought and her Whiggish version of elitist individualism. Some of Arendt's most extravagant unclarities and sophistries are politely identified while Canovan gives marked weight to the virtues of her emphasis on personal action, as opposed to sociological reductionism, and to Arendt's location of freedom in public, not private, life. Arendt's plays on Nietzschean transvaluation of ethics are slighted, and it seems unfortunate that Canovan focuses on her surveys of the human condition in general, rather than her particular observations of specific questions and crises; a plumbing of Eichmann in Jerusalem or Lying In State's applause for the Pentagon Papers expose would afford deeper surgery into Arendt's political thought. Essentially a doctoralthesis book, this study remains more graceful, useful and serious than most secondary sources on living theorists.

Pub Date: Aug. 14, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION