A Guide to the Upcoming Conversation on Hannah Arendt

What Hannah Arendt Can Teach Us Now: An Elephant in the Room Series

Welcome to “What Hannah Arendt Can Teach Us Now”!

This Elephant in the Room series is a conversation, not a set of essays. In her work, Hannah Arendt emphasized civic dialogue and engagement to facilitate good functioning of pluralistic republics.

Accordingly, I will facilitate discussion, rather than provide my own interpretation in essay form.

Our emphasis will be on how Arendt approaches the rise of twentieth-century authoritarianism and to what extent her ideas can be applied to the current US political situation.

Thoughts? Comments? Criticisms? Put them in the comments section.

What you need to get the most out of this series:

• We are starting with Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism.

• I am using the iBooks/Penguin Modern Classics 2017 edition. If enough people prefer, I will switch to the print edition to coordinate page numbers better. Let me know in the comments section.

• It’s NOT necessary to obtain a copy for this Elephant in the Room series. These discussions are designed so that you don’t need to read along. Nevertheless, I highly recommend obtaining a copy of the book if you want to study Arendt’s ideas more fully.

Opening suggestions to facilitate dialogue:

1. Read my introductory essay to understand what this conversation is about: https://rtgreenwald.substack.com/p/what-hannah-arendt-can-teach-us-now?r=3axcqw

2. Reader participation is ideal. I don’t claim the final word. I’m just here to facilitate discussion.

3. Consider DMs to participate with privacy. I know many people prefer not to comment publicly. If you have something to say, but prefer to remain anonymous, I will post your comments without identifying details (for academics: think The Common Rule). Please exercise discretion when sending DMs.

4. Civil discourse is paramount. I will monitor the comments section to keep our discussion on point and civil.

Structure of the Conversations:

I expect a variety of readers. Some will come with casual interest in basic information. Others will be more steeped in academic discourse and will be looking for a more in-depth exploration. In order to bridge the gap, I will structure our conversations as follows:

1. The first half will be written with basic explanations and questions for the casual reader.

2. In the middle, there will be quotes from Arendt or other materials for everyone to consider.

3. The second half will address more in-depth issues.

I look forward to our conversations!

First Topic: Why Hannah Arendt presents antisemitism as the first talking point for The Origins of Totalitarianism.