Between Past and Future

by Arendt, Hannah (2006)

Abstract

From the author of Eichmann in Jerusalem and The Origins of Totalitarianism, “a book to think with through the political impasses and cultural confusions of our day” (Harper’s Magazine) Hannah Arendt’s insightful observations of the modern world, based on a profound knowledge of the past, constitute an impassioned contribution to political philosophy. In Between Past and Future Arendt describes the perplexing crises modern society faces as a result of the loss of meaning of the traditional key words of politics: justice, reason, responsibility, virtue, and glory. Through a series of eight exercises, she shows how we can redistill the vital essence of these concepts and use them to regain a frame of reference for the future. To participate in these exercises is to associate, in action, with one of the most original and fruitful minds of the twentieth century.

Key Passage

It is the peculiarity of modern society, and by no means a matter of course, that it regards life, that is, the earthly life of the individual as well as the family, as the highest good; and for this reason, in contrast to all previous centuries, emancipated this life and all the activities that have to do with its preservation and enrichment from the concealment of privacy and exposed them to the light of the public world. This is the real meaning of the emancipation of workers and women, not as persons, to be sure, but insofar as they fulfil a necessary function in the life process of society. The last to be affected by this process of emancipation were the children, and the very thing that had meant a true liberation for the workers and the women because they were not only workers and women but persons as well, who therefore had a claim on the public world, that is, a right to see and be seen in it, to speak and be heard was an abandonment and betrayal in the case of the children, who are still at the stage where the simple fact of life and growth outweighs the factor of personality. (p.187)

Keywords

Ardent, Political Philosophy, Virtue, Responsibility, Modernity, Future, Justice

Themes

Between Past and Future [1961], Arendt Citations

Links to Reference

• https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=VZrpAgAAQBAJ
• https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VZrpAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=between+past+and+future&ots=176zhX1643&sig=87GgJF8hpY3Bg7BQe6oH3zaMq3g
• http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/uprising1313/files/2017/09/arendt_what-is-authority.pdf

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