Humanity in times of crisis

Odin Lysaker

pp. 293-310

in: Guttorm Fløistad (ed), Philosophy of justice, Berlin, Springer, 2015

Abstract

The belief in a politics of humanity, even in times of crisis, can be argued to serve as the basis of Hannah Arendt's political thought. By presupposing freedom as a human condition, Arendt's account of the political addresses what she takes to be humans' capability to begin something anew, which involves new-born children as well critique of the society. Also, one way in which Arendt may be read, is by holding that the politics of humanity is, fundamentally speaking, grounded in new-born's embodiment. Although Arendt rejects a direct link between the body and the political respectively, it still seems as if her account of humanity and dignity should be interpreted as depending on the ontological fact of the human body. Nonetheless, according to Arendt, humans' bodily existence needs to be recognised in spaces of appearance in order to be acknowledged as belonging to the world of political freedom.

Cited authors

Arendt Hannah