Heritages and its predicaments: the break of tradition in Hannah Arendts\' thought

Author(s)

Victor Frohlich

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2024-03-18

Examining board members

Silvana de Souza Ramos; Maria Cristina Müller; Thiago Dias da Silva; Maria das Graças de Souza

• Advisor: Silvana de Souza Ramos

Abstract

This work seeks to discuss the theme of the break with Western tradition in Hannah Arendts thought by considering some key moments in the authors work. Besides proposing a biographical overview and a cross-study between her reading of certain authors of the German philosophical tradition and key moments in their work, our main focus is on Arendts production between the 1940s and 1950s especially on the texts written before the publication of her first mature work, Origens do Totalitarismo (1951), which serve in a certain way as preparation both for the different historical examinations of this book and for her understanding of the rupture with tradition, and in the work of 1951 itself. From the analysis of these texts, we primarily seek to understand how the break with the tradition carried out by totalitarianism allows us to understand that this regime not only undermines certain values of the Western tradition that were impoverished during Modernity, but also radicalizes some prejudices inherent to this same tradition, prejudices without which the totalitarian regime could not have emerged. This understanding of the prejudices inherent in Western thought makes it possible to highlight how Arendts critical position regarding the tradition of political philosophy which, in its elementary responses, had always avoided human plurality leads her to seek references that oppose the traditional attitude of hierarchical relationship between the philosopher and the political thing one of the most interesting elements of her intellectual contribution (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 21/00446-5 - The philosophical-political tradition in Hannah Arendts thought
• Grantee: Victor Frohlich Cortez
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master