Critique of Traditional Political Philosophy

Abstract

Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy grew out of her intense dissatisfaction with the Western tradition of political philosophy. In her view it is ‘inauthentic’ and not really a tradition of political but civil philosophy. Her reasons for dissatisfaction are well summarized in the following four remarks: Our tradition of political philosophy is incapable of asking adequate, meaningful questions, let alone of giving answers to its own perplexities.1 Our tradition of political philosophy, unhappily and fatefully, from its very beginning, has deprived political affairs … of all dignity of their own … From this blow which philosophy dealt to politics at the very beginning of our tradition, political philosophy never recovered.2 Our philosophical tradition of political thought beginning with Parmenides and Plato was found explicitly in opposition to the polis and its citizenship.3 … the greater part of political philosophy since Plato could easily be interpreted as various attempts to find theoretical foundations and practical ways for an escape from politics altogether.4 KeywordsPolitical PhilosophyPolitical CommunityPolitical LifeTraditional PhilosophyHuman AffairThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.