Review article

Hannah Arendt's Political Pluralism

Željko Senković

Abstract

Hannah Arendt, whose comprehension of human beings' sociability stands in aporia because of oppositionality between preference for elitist political freedom of antiquity and Augustinian egalitarian freedom, inborn to all human beings, warned of omnipresent peril of awakening of new totalitarianisms which destroy sociability and pluralism, as a possible consequence of Modernism's alienation. That dual theoretical line of arguing determined her interpretation of antique polis as an ideal of political community, and one of separating social from political problems. According to her, Aquinas made a mistake in equating terms politicus and socialis, and Modernism accepts that equation. This can be seen in progressive intrusion of social, economic and technical issues (which requires professional knowledge and professional decision) into political space (that should be generally accessible). Many factors contributed to that situation, i.e. the Protestant Ethic and French Revolution. In awakening of the new world, many of the oppressed and insulted wanted to satisfy their basic biological needs by entering the public spheres. Hannah Arendt's political elitism considers the emergence of multiple demands for social equality and social emancipation as a decadence of authentic public space, that is originally free from life's necessities. My analysis of Arendt's text »Reflections on Little Rock« shows the consequences of such position in specific problem of segregation in public education.

Keywords

Politics; pluralism; Hannah Arendt; antique polis; freedom; public spase; segregation

Hrčak ID:

4593

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/4593

Publication date:

3.4.2006.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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