The structure of the concept of political freedom in Hannah Arendt's philosophy

2019
journal article
article
cris.lastimport.wos2024-04-09T19:15:28Z
dc.abstract.enThis paper is devoted to clarifying Hannah Arendt’s concept of political freedom (which, at certain points, is markedly obscure) by the means of analysing its structure. My analysis proceeds in three steps. Firstly, I distinguish a pre-political concept of freedom as exercising spontaneity, which is at the root of Arendt’s understanding of political freedom. Secondly, I analyse her account of freedom as exercising action and indicate its relationship to the elementary freedom of spontaneity. Arendt endowed action with a distinguished importance, since she assumed that it is the only activity within the vita activa (the other two being labour and work), which has a special anthropological and axiological significance. According to Arendt, only action allows one to truly experience the fundamental aspect of the human condition, which is the fact of human plurality; it is also the only activity which allows one to exercise specifically public principles, such as solidarity, equality, or justice. Thirdly, I indicate how these two accounts of freedom translate into Arendt’s concept of political freedom. This analysis reveals that the Arendtian concept of political freedom is markedly original. She did not define it in a usual manner, i.e. through indicating bundles of legal and political rights which determine the accepted scope of participation in the public affairs. The inherent part of her concept of political freedom is a specific account of how it must be exercised (i.e.through action). Political freedom understood as the participation in governance exercised through action is not merely an activity of instrumental, but also anthropological and axiological importance, which is due to the special anthropological and axiological meaning of action. In the final section, I discuss the practical dimension of Arendt’s theory. She doubted whether the traditional representative democracy is capable of accommodating her "rich" ideal of political freedom, therefore she proposed an alternative account of political system based on councils. I formulate objections against this proposition and demonstrate that councils would presumably fail to accommodate Arendt’s exacting account of political freedom.pl
dc.affiliationWydział Filozoficzny : Instytut Filozofiipl
dc.contributor.authorEliasz, Katarzyna - 110159 pl
dc.date.accession2019-12-03pl
dc.date.accessioned2019-12-16T13:56:19Z
dc.date.available2019-12-16T13:56:19Z
dc.date.issued2019pl
dc.date.openaccess0
dc.description.accesstimew momencie opublikowania
dc.description.number1pl
dc.description.physical29-42pl
dc.description.publication1pl
dc.description.versionostateczna wersja wydawcy
dc.description.volume10pl
dc.identifier.doi10.26913/avant.2019.01.03pl
dc.identifier.eissn2082-6710pl
dc.identifier.issn2082-7598pl
dc.identifier.projectROD UJ / OPpl
dc.identifier.projectDEC2016/23/D/HS5/01814pl
dc.identifier.urihttps://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/129163
dc.identifier.weblinkhttp://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/K_Eliasz_The_Structure_of_the_Concept.pdfpl
dc.languageengpl
dc.language.containerengpl
dc.rightsUdzielam licencji. Uznanie autorstwa - Użycie niekomercyjne - Bez utworów zależnych 4.0 Międzynarodowa*
dc.rights.licenceCC-BY-NC-ND
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.pl*
dc.share.typeotwarte czasopismo
dc.subject.enHannah Arendtpl
dc.subject.enpolitical freedompl
dc.subject.enpublic actionpl
dc.subject.enspontaneitypl
dc.subject.encouncilspl
dc.subject.enrepresentative democracypl
dc.subtypeArticlepl
dc.titleThe structure of the concept of political freedom in Hannah Arendt's philosophypl
dc.title.journalAvantpl
dc.title.volumeThe theory and practice of political freedom in interdisciplinary perspectivepl
dc.typeJournalArticlepl
dspace.entity.typePublication
cris.lastimport.wos
2024-04-09T19:15:28Z
dc.abstract.enpl
This paper is devoted to clarifying Hannah Arendt’s concept of political freedom (which, at certain points, is markedly obscure) by the means of analysing its structure. My analysis proceeds in three steps. Firstly, I distinguish a pre-political concept of freedom as exercising spontaneity, which is at the root of Arendt’s understanding of political freedom. Secondly, I analyse her account of freedom as exercising action and indicate its relationship to the elementary freedom of spontaneity. Arendt endowed action with a distinguished importance, since she assumed that it is the only activity within the vita activa (the other two being labour and work), which has a special anthropological and axiological significance. According to Arendt, only action allows one to truly experience the fundamental aspect of the human condition, which is the fact of human plurality; it is also the only activity which allows one to exercise specifically public principles, such as solidarity, equality, or justice. Thirdly, I indicate how these two accounts of freedom translate into Arendt’s concept of political freedom. This analysis reveals that the Arendtian concept of political freedom is markedly original. She did not define it in a usual manner, i.e. through indicating bundles of legal and political rights which determine the accepted scope of participation in the public affairs. The inherent part of her concept of political freedom is a specific account of how it must be exercised (i.e.through action). Political freedom understood as the participation in governance exercised through action is not merely an activity of instrumental, but also anthropological and axiological importance, which is due to the special anthropological and axiological meaning of action. In the final section, I discuss the practical dimension of Arendt’s theory. She doubted whether the traditional representative democracy is capable of accommodating her "rich" ideal of political freedom, therefore she proposed an alternative account of political system based on councils. I formulate objections against this proposition and demonstrate that councils would presumably fail to accommodate Arendt’s exacting account of political freedom.
dc.affiliationpl
Wydział Filozoficzny : Instytut Filozofii
dc.contributor.authorpl
Eliasz, Katarzyna - 110159
dc.date.accessionpl
2019-12-03
dc.date.accessioned
2019-12-16T13:56:19Z
dc.date.available
2019-12-16T13:56:19Z
dc.date.issuedpl
2019
dc.date.openaccess
0
dc.description.accesstime
w momencie opublikowania
dc.description.numberpl
1
dc.description.physicalpl
29-42
dc.description.publicationpl
1
dc.description.version
ostateczna wersja wydawcy
dc.description.volumepl
10
dc.identifier.doipl
10.26913/avant.2019.01.03
dc.identifier.eissnpl
2082-6710
dc.identifier.issnpl
2082-7598
dc.identifier.projectpl
ROD UJ / OP
dc.identifier.projectpl
DEC2016/23/D/HS5/01814
dc.identifier.uri
https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/129163
dc.identifier.weblinkpl
http://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/K_Eliasz_The_Structure_of_the_Concept.pdf
dc.languagepl
eng
dc.language.containerpl
eng
dc.rights*
Udzielam licencji. Uznanie autorstwa - Użycie niekomercyjne - Bez utworów zależnych 4.0 Międzynarodowa
dc.rights.licence
CC-BY-NC-ND
dc.rights.uri*
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.pl
dc.share.type
otwarte czasopismo
dc.subject.enpl
Hannah Arendt
dc.subject.enpl
political freedom
dc.subject.enpl
public action
dc.subject.enpl
spontaneity
dc.subject.enpl
councils
dc.subject.enpl
representative democracy
dc.subtypepl
Article
dc.titlepl
The structure of the concept of political freedom in Hannah Arendt's philosophy
dc.title.journalpl
Avant
dc.title.volumepl
The theory and practice of political freedom in interdisciplinary perspective
dc.typepl
JournalArticle
dspace.entity.type
Publication
Affiliations

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