The Public Realm and Contemplation in the Thought of Hannah Arendt and Jan Patočka

• • 
  • Presentation speakers
    • Daniel Clements, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium

  Abstract:

  Arendt and Patočka address history, philosophy, and the crisis of modern Europe with similar influences (chiefly Heidegger) and method, yet their understanding of how contemplation relates the European ideal of the public realm is incongruent. They both correlate closed systems of thought with closed societies and see the polis as a realm of free men, beyond necessity, unfixed and open-ended. They fault Plato for putting the ideal of the polis in crisis, a crisis which reached a fever pitch in the 20th Century. For Patočka, philosophy and politics are both rooted in polemos, the shaking of given sources of meaning. Once myth has ruptured, politics becomes a merely human realm of equals, just as for philosophy. There are no easy answers, the future is uncertain, ongoing discussion is needed, and one must have courage to risk themselves. The citizens of a polis are bound together by their common struggle, and the polis is the only context in which philosophy can take place. For Arendt, on the other hand, a life dedicated to contemplation is anti-social, demeans the vita activa (a term defines in context of “the trial of Socrates and the conflict between the philosopher and the polis”), depreciates man-made things (noting that the polis is a man-made thing), and is driven by a desire for quiet, stillness, and speechlessness (in other words, to be free from conflict and social interaction). This paper will explore their points of divergence in order to gain insight into the threat they believed the European ideal of the public realm was facing in the 20th century.

 

Related Presentations

 

The Impact of the Eurozone Crisis and its Regulation on the Decrease of European Bank Mergers

• Evangelia Nissioti

Visual Identity and the Human Crisis in Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil

• Adriano Messias De Oliveira

A Liberal Intergovernmental Approach to the Establishment of the European Stability Mechanism

• Madeleine Hosli
• Wen Pan
• Michael Lantmeeters

Propaganda or Cultural Diplomacy? Tarabya Cultural Academy

• Firdevs Bulut

A European Failure? The European Union’s Policy Towards Transnistria

• Keith Harrington

Populists in the Parliaments: A Comparative Analysis of Populist Parliamentarian Behaviour Concerning European Integration

• Federico Bonomi