International Political Theory. Series Editor Gary Browning Oxford Brookes University Oxford United Kingdom

Transcription

1 International Political Theory Series Editor Gary Browning Oxford Brookes University Oxford United Kingdom

2 The Palgrave Political Theory Series provides students and scholars with cutting-edge scholarship that explores the ways in which we theorise the international. Political theory has by tradition implicitly accepted the bounds of the state, and this series of intellectually rigorous and innovative monographs and edited volumes takes the discipline forward, reflecting both the burgeoning of IR as a discipline and the concurrent internationalisation of traditional political theory issues and concepts. Offering a wide-ranging examination of how International Politics is to be interpreted, the titles in the series thus bridge the IR-political theory divide. The aim of the series is to explore international issues in analytic, historical and radical ways that complement and extend common forms of conceiving international relations such as realism, liberalism and constructivism. More information about this series at This book advances our understanding of Hannah Arendt s ideas of action and political life with an original and provocative focus on the idea of the daimon. Tchir critically assesses Arendt s encounter with Heidegger, Marx, and Kant, leaving us with a better understanding of her and the political theorists with whom she grappled. As a result, we are left with new insights into how Arendt s political theory can speak to the contemporary condition. Professor Anthony Lang, University of St. Andrews, UK

3 Trevor Tchir Hannah Arendt s Theory of Political Action Daimonic Disclosure of the Who

4 Trevor Tchir Department of Law and Politics Algoma University Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada International Political Theory ISBN DOI / ISBN (ebook) Library of Congress Control Number: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

5 To my mother, Sharon Tchir, a worldly woman of courage and principle

6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would especially like to thank Catherine Kellogg and Koula Mellos for their invaluable mentorship over the years. I would also like to thank some of the other inspiring professors of politics at the University of Alberta and the University of Ottawa, from whom I had the pleasure to learn in the classroom: Don Carmichael, Anna Yeatman, Steve Patten, Janine Brodie, Douglas Moggach, Gilles Labelle, André Vachet, François Houle, Salam Hawa, and Boniface Kaboré. Many thanks to those who provided helpful advice on different parts of the manuscript during its early stages, in particular, David Kahane, Patchen Markell, Mary Dietz, Phillip Hansen, Charles Barbour, and Roger Epp. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers of later versions. Many cheers and thanks to former colleagues or fellow graduate students with whom I have enjoyed collaborating, reading, and reflecting, or who offered a particular word or act of encouragement along the way: Jean-Jacques Defert, Dan Webb, Michael Kulicki, Ian Watts, James Czank, Amy Swiffen, Stéphanie Martens, Grayson Hunt, Dion Blythe, Magdalena Zolkos, Robert Nichols, Courtney Mason, David Reddall, Robert Meynell, Marielle Rivard, Allyson Rogers, Cody McCarroll, Omid Payrow Shabani, Mickey Vallee, and Marc Spooner. Thanks to my colleagues and students at Algoma University for making it a fun, engaging, and purposeful place to work. I appreciate the professionalism and friendliness of everyone I have worked with at Palgrave Macmillan. Thanks also to Continuum, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, and the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust for their generous permission to re-publish previously printed material. vii

7 viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Finally, a very personal thank-you to my wife, Kristy, my brother, Stephen, and my mother, Sharon, for their dependable support, interest, and love. Much of this book was written just after my father left this world, and my own thoughts on Arendt s account of worldly immortality are informed by the experience of grieving him. So, I would like to honor his memory here, and I like to think that he would find cause for nostrovia! with the completion of this book.

8 PERMISSIONS Parts of Chapter 2 were previously published in Arendtian Action: Performative Disclosure of the Who in Declensions of the Self: A Bestiary of Modernity, edited by Jean-Jacques Defert, Trevor Tchir, and Dan Webb. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Published with the permission of Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Parts of Chapters 2, 3, and4 were previously published in Daimon Appearances and the Heideggerian Influence in Arendt s Account of Political Action in Action and Appearance: Ethics and the Politics of Writing in Hannah Arendt, edited by Anna Yeatman, Philip Hansen, Magdalena Zolkos, and Charles Barbour. New York: Continuum, Published with the permission of Continuum International Publishing Group. History of Political Theory Machiavelli, Niccolo. Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, Copyright 1955 by Hannah Arendt. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust. Political Theory of Kant. Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, Copyright 1955 by Hannah Arendt. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust. Kant s Moral Philosophy. Seminar at University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Copyright 1964 by Hannah Arendt. Reprinted by permission ix

9 x PERMISSIONS of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust. Philosophy and Politics: the Problem of Action and Thought after the French Revolution. Lecture, Copyright 1954 by Hannah Arendt. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust. Plato. Seminar at Columbia University, New York, NY, Copyright 1960 by Hannah Arendt. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust. Marx, Karl. Seminar at University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Copyright 1966 by Hannah Arendt. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust. Philosophy and Politics, What is Political Philosophy? Lectures and seminar at New School for Social Research, New York, NY, Copyright 1969 by Hannah Arendt. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust.

10 CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Action s Disclosure of the Who and the World 15 3 Appearances of the Divine Daimon 65 4 Aletheia: The Influence of Heidegger 97 5 Labor and World Alienation : Arendt s Critique of Marx The Dignity of Doxa: Politicizing Kant s Aesthetic Judgment Forgotten Fragments: Arendt s Critique of Teleological Philosophies of History Conclusion 235 Index 247 xi