Lectures on Hannah Arendt by Ramin Jahanbegloo (Agora Philosophical Association)

Hannah Arendt is the most interesting and controversial political thinker of the twentieth century. Among twentieth-century thinkers, few have subjected the traditional concepts of political philosophy to research, examination, and critique as Arendt has. Yet despite this, Arendt can hardly be considered a member of any particular school of thought, nor can she be labeled with a political tag such as liberal, Marxist, conservative, or anarchist. In this respect, the reader, upon reading Arendt's works, is unable to determine a specific political line for her. Interestingly, in some of her writings, Arendt defends council democracy, while in others, she references conservative thinkers like Edmund Burke. Similarly, she sometimes attends to the achievements of modernity, and at other times, as a critic of modernity, she stands alongside postmodern thinkers. In any case, however, Arendt is a thinker who, in all her writings, lectures, and conversations, focuses on the two concepts of politics and philosophy, and directs every moment of her life toward understanding and comprehending these two realms.

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