Arendt's 'What is Freedom?' Flashcards
(3 cards)
1
Q
Arendt: Background Info
A
- Born in Jewish family in Germany 1906
- Arrested in 1933 for researching antisemitism history, managed to get out
- Got to US in 1941 where she started writing, died 1975
2
Q
Arendt: Mistakes about Freedom
A
- We think that freedom is separate from politics, through Hobbes etc., we think freedom begins where politics ends and freedom is freedom from politics and law
- To conceive freedom as equivalent to free will, the question of free will makes freedom an internal question as freedom is something we can enjoy and experience internally
- The compound effect of these has been to leave us with anti-political conception of freedom
- Freedom as free will is a modern invention, blaming Christianity
3
Q
Arendt: Desired Freedom
A
- Need to recover Ancient Greeks thoughts, freedom is very purpose of politics, freedom was social status of free man
- To be free and to act are the same, to act is to perform, needs an audience so freedom needs to be in public sphere and become free through involvement in public sphere
- Since Ancient Greece we no longer see politics as having a place in the good life, only doing politics as it allows us to do other things
- Don’t understand politics as the space in which free people can act in the company of other free people
- Freedom is the capacity to begin, natality: every person born has opportunity for new beginning
