Resistere in tempi bui

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to analyze the thought of some philosophers about the dramatic events of the XX’s century, especially referring to the Arendt’s considerations. Arendt's thinking is characterized by the separation between politics and violence, but in the articles published in the review Aufabau she suggests the need of a Jewish Army to participate in World War II. This is not a contradiction: we have to consider war and violence as pre-political tools. Therefore, it’s useful to compare this articles with Was ist Politik?, where Arendt analyzes the relationship between polis and polemos as Homer narrates in the Iliad. Reading the Homer’s narration, so important also for Weil and Bespaloff, it’s possible to understand that the Arendt’s requirement of a Jewish army as a way react to a dramatic situation; after the establishment of the real political sphere, we have to appeal to violence only in case of extreme need.