The difficulties of undestanting the totalirian system

the uproar caused by Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism

Authors

  • Maria Cristina Müller

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20873/rpv6n2-02

Abstract

The aim of this text is to present some of the criticisms that Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism received and the discussions they aroused, demonstrating the difficulties in understanding the totalitarian system and the novelty that Arendt's interpretation generated. Among the main critics are Raymond Aron, Waldemar Gurian, Kurt Blumenfeld, Eric Voegelin and Karl Jaspers. Some of the criticisms will be presented to, then, establish the discussion based on the arguments contained in Arendt's texts. The main references will be the works of Arendt Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition, the texts “Understanding and politics”, “On the nature of totalitarianism: an essay in understand”, “Tradition and the modern age”, “The concept of history: ancient and modern”, “What is authority” and “A reply to Eric Voegelin”. Arendt's letters with Karl Jaspers and Kurt Blumenfeld and some of the critics' texts will also be used. The biographies on Arendt by Elizabeth Young-Bruehl, Sylvie Courtine-Dénamy and Laure Adler and texts by Odílio Alves Aguiar and Daiane Eccel will be used as important sources. It was concluded that Arendt challenged understanding by not simply describing events, but by carrying out what she believed to be philosophy itself, an exercise in thought.

Author Biography

Maria Cristina Müller

Pós-Doutora em Filosofia pela Universidade Federal de Goiás - UFG/GO. Doutora em Filosofia pela Universidade Federal de São Carlos - UFSCar/SP. Mestre em Filosofia pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCPOA. Graduada em Filosofia Licenciatura Plena pela Universidade de Passo Fundo - UPF/RS. Professora Associada da Universidade Estadual de Londrina - UEL/PR - onde atua no Departamento de Filosofia desde o ano de 2000. Docente do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia da Universidade Estadual de Londrina. Foi Coordenadora do GT Filosofia Política Contemporânea da ANPOF. Concentra suas pesquisas na área de Filosofia Política e Ética com ênfase em Hannah Arendt. Desde 2018 também investiga o tema A Presença da Mulher na Filosofia. 

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Published

2021-12-30

How to Cite

Müller, M. C. . (2021). The difficulties of undestanting the totalirian system : the uproar caused by Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism. Perspectivas, 6(2), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.20873/rpv6n2-02

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2021): Dossiê Hannah Arendt: "Pensar o que estamos fazendo"

Section

Dossiê Hannah Arendt: "Pensar o que estamos fazendo"

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