Political Action Is a ‘We’ and Not an ‘I’ (On Hannah Arendt)

Lecture

Language: German
Duration: 13:30–15:15
In person

What’s it about?

Political Action Is a ‘We’, Not an ‘I’ This introduction to Hannah Arendt’s thinking on the political aims to explore her conception of political action: the talk focuses on her way of thinking, her understanding of human action, and her conception of world-shaping action. Action is to be understood as a political ‘we’ that does not represent an extension of the ‘I’, but is constituted by differences in relatedness. The aim is to offer inspiration and guidance towards an understanding of solidarity and collectivity that does not dissolve into sameness and cosy harmony, but rather into a sense of commonality that can emerge through conflict and difference. In an age of ‘me-time’, ‘we-time’ has become secondary. (Neoliberal) self-centredness is the antidote to solidarity in any form. Arendt’s understanding of power, which she derives from ‘to will’ rather than ‘to do’, is also underpinned by collective action. And the meaning of this action as political action is, in her terms, ‘freedom’. A freedom rooted in acting together with others, and not in the sovereignty of individuals, not in independence from everyone else, and not in asserting oneself against them.

Aim of this contribution

Reflecting together