The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt

The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt
Author: Seyla Benhabib
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2003
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780742521513

Interpreting the work of one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt rereads Arendt's political philosophy in light of newly gained insights into the historico-cultural background of her work. Arguing against the standard interpretation of Hannah Arendt as an anti-modernist lover of the Greek polis, author Seyla Benhabib contends that Arendt's thought emerges out of a double legacy: German Existenz philosophy, particularly the thought of Martin Heidegger, and her experiences as a German-Jewess in the age of totalitarianism. This important volume reconsiders Arendt's theory of modernity, her concept of the public sphere, her distinction between the social and the political, her theory of totalitarianism, and her critique of the modern nation state, including her life long involvement with Jewish and Israeli politics.

Reluctant Modernism

Reluctant Modernism
Author: George Cotkin
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780742531475

In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, Americans were faced with the challenges and uncertainties of a new era. The comfortable Victorian values of continuity, progress, and order clashed with the unsettling modern notions of constant change, relative truth, and chaos. Attempting to embrace the intellectual challenges of modernism, American thinkers of the day were yet reluctant to welcome the wholesale rejection of the past and destruction of traditional values. In Reluctant Modernism: American Thought and Culture, 1880-1900, George Cotkin surveys the intellectual life of this crucial transitional period. His story begins with the Darwinian controversies, since the mainstream of American culture was just beginning to come to grips with the implications of the Origins of Species, published in 1859. Cotkin demonstrates the effects of this shift in thinking on philosophy, anthropology, and the newly developing field of psychology. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of these fields, he explains clearly and concisely the essential tenets of such major thinkers and writers as William James, Franz Boas, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Henry Adams, and Kate Chopin. Throughout this fascinating, readable history of the American fin de si cle run the contrasting themes of continuity and change, faith and rationalism, despair over the meaninglessness of life and, ultimately, a guarded optimism about the future.

Reluctant Modernity

Reluctant Modernity
Author: Aleš Debeljak
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1998
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780847685837

In this book Aleš Debeljak offers a refreshing alternative to postmodernists such as Baudrillard who declare the death of art conceived as yet another source of rootless circulating fictions. Inspired by the melancholy critical theory of Adorno and Bejamin, Debeljak shows that with the dawning of modernity, art was made autonomous - art production was effectively emancipated from the exigencies of everyday life and its guiding ideal of purposive rationality. The deterioration of bourgeois liberal individualism into the narcissism of modern mass society accompanied the decomposition of art into simplified mass art and commercialized kitsch. Today, argues Debeljak, postmodern art is subjected to infinite reproducibility, total integration into mass society, and political resignation - it no longer represents an alternative reality. The postmodern institution of art thus cannot be simply cured of modern structures and assumptions, but is, instead, fated to a continuous and painful relationship with modernity. -- from back cover.

Albie Sachs and Transformation in South Africa

Albie Sachs and Transformation in South Africa
Author: Drucilla Cornell
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2014-03-05
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1317819586

Many critical theorists talk and write about the day after the revolution, but few have actually participated in the constitution of a revolutionary government. Emeritus Justice Albie Sachs was a freedom fighter for most of his life. He then played a major role in the negotiating committee for the new constitution of South Africa, and was subsequently appointed to the new Constitutional Court of South Africa. Therefore, the question of what it means to make the transition from a freedom fighter to a participant in a revolutionary government is not abstract, in Hegel’s sense of the word, it is an actual journey that Albie Sachs undertook. The essays in this book raise the complex question of what it actually means to make this transition without selling out to the demands of realism. In addition, the preface written by Emeritus Justice Albie Sachs and his interview with Drucilla Cornell and Karin van Marle, further address key questions about revolution in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries: from armed struggle to the organization of a nation state committed to ethical transformation in the name of justice. Albie Sachs and transformation in South Africa: from revolutionary activist to constitutional court judge illuminates the theoretical and practical experiences of revolution and its political aftermath. With first-hand accounts alongside academic interrogation, this unique book will intrigue anyone interested in the intersection of Law and Politics.

The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt

The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt
Author: Seyla Benhabib
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
Total Pages: 296
Release: 1996-05-20
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

Arguing against the standard interpretation of Hannah Arendt as an anti-modernist lover of the Greek polis, author Seyla Benhabib contends that Arendt's thought emerges out of a double legacy: German Existenz philosophy, particularly the thought of Martin Heidegger, and her experiences as a German-Jewess in the age of totalitarianism.

Modernism and the Social Sciences

Modernism and the Social Sciences
Author: Mark Bevir
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2017-09-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107173965

This study explores the rise and nature of modernist approaches to economics, sociology, international relations, administration, language, history and anthropology.

The Cambridge Companion to Hannah Arendt

The Cambridge Companion to Hannah Arendt
Author: Dana Villa
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2000-11-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521645713

A distinguished team of contributors examines the primary themes of Arendt's multi-faceted thought.

The Modernist Imagination

The Modernist Imagination
Author: Martin Jay
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781845454289

Some of the most exciting and innovative work in the humanities is occurring at the intersection of intellectual history and critical theory. This volume includes work from some of the most prominent contemporary scholars in the humanities.

Religion, Science, and Democracy

Religion, Science, and Democracy
Author: Lisa L. Stenmark
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2013-03-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0739142887

Despite the increasing popularity of “religion and science” as an academic discourse, the intersection of science and religion remains a front line in an ongoing “culture war.” The reasons for this lie in an approach to discourse that closely resembles the model of discourse promoted by John Rawls, in which plural discourse —such as between religion and science— is based on a foundation of shared beliefs and established facts. This leads to a “doctrines and discoveries” approach to the relationship of religion and science, which focuses on their respective truth claims in an attempt to find areas of agreement. This framework inherently privileges scientific perspectives, which actually increases conflict between religion and science, and undermines public discourse by inserting absolutes into it. To the extent that the science and religion discourse adopts this approach, it inadvertently increases the conflict between religion and science and limits our ability to address matters of public concern. This book suggests an alternative model for discourse, a disputational friendship, based on the work of Hannah Arendt. This approach recognizes the role that authorities —and thus religion and science— play in public life, but undermines any attempt to privilege a particular authority, because it promotes the position of the storyteller, who never settles on a single story but always seeks to incorporate many particular stories into her account. A disputational friendship promotes storytelling not by seeking agreement, but by exploring areas of disagreement in order to create the space for more conversations and to generate more stories and additional interpretations. Successful discourse between religion and science is not measured by its ability to determine “truth” or “fact,” but by its ability to continually expand the discourse and promote public life and public judgment.

Hannah Arendt and the Challenge of Modernity

Hannah Arendt and the Challenge of Modernity
Author: Serena Parekh
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2008-03-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 113589986X

Hannah Arendt and the Challenge of Modernity explores the theme of human rights in the work of Hannah Arendt. Parekh argues that Arendt's contribution to this debate has been largely ignored because she does not speak in the same terms as contemporary theoreticians of human rights. Beginning by examining Arendt’s critique of human rights, and the concept of "a right to have rights" with which she contrasts the traditional understanding of human rights, Parekh goes on to analyze some of the tensions and paradoxes within the modern conception of human rights that Arendt brings to light, arguing that Arendt’s perspective must be understood as phenomenological and grounded in a notion of intersubjectivity that she develops in her readings of Kant and Socrates.