The Public and the Private Realm
The Human Condition – Hannah Arendt
Paulina MendezRawan
Tahboub
1. Hannah Arendt Her Life and her work Her principal books
2. The Human Condition What was the context in which it was written
3. The public and the private realm: Man: a social or a political animal The Polis and the household The rise of the social The public realm: The common The Private Realm: Property The location of Human Activities
4. Conclusion
The Outline
• Linden (Hanover) October 14, 1906 – New York, December 4, 1975.
• Studies: Philosophy in the University of Marburg (1926)
University of Heidelberg (1928)
• During the World War, she was compelled to leave to France – 1933
• She spent five weeks in internal Gurs concentration camp in France – 1940.
• In 1941, Arendt escaped to the United States and became an editor at the
German Jewish magazine Aufbau.
Hannah Arendt:Her Life and work
She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact that
"men, not Man, live on the earth and inhabit the world".
Her principal books
• Using the example of the protagonist, born in 1771, shows the failure of the attempted assimilation of Jews rich and cultured in the nineteenth century due to increased social antisemitism.
Rahel Varnhagen. Lebensgeschichte einer deutschen Jüdin aus der Romantik. (1931 – 1933)
• It is he major work in which she traced the roots of Stalinist Communism and Nazism in both anti-Semitism and imperialism.
The origins of totalitarism (1951)
• Her most influential work, that distinguishes between the concepts of political and social, labour and work and various forms of action exploring implications of those distinctions. Her theory of political action, corresponding to the existence of a public realm, is extensively developed in this work
The Human condition (1958)
The Human Condition – What was the context in which it was written?
The first artificial
satellite (1957-1958)
The Cold War (1945-
1991)
The automation of man and
technology development
The fertilization
in vitro
The public and the private realmMan a social or a political animal
Three types of Human conditions:
Animal laboran
s
Homo faber
Man of Action
The work
- Needs of our body
- Survival
Introduces new objects durable
in the time which can be
shared
-Creator of history
-Action and speech
-Share ideas, dialogue and
thoughts
Man a social or a political animal
“All human activities are conditionated by the fact that men life together”
Action Society
Zóon politikum
Man a social or a political animal
City States
Human beingPublic
life
oikon
Private life
idion
Action (praxis) and speech (lexis)Everything merely
necessary or useful is strictly excluded in this
sphere
Private
Realm
Public Realm
Social Realm
The Polis and the Household
POLITICALPOLIS
HOUSEHOLDFAMILY, WORK
The Polis and the Household
Public Realm
Private
Realm
Social Realm
COLLECTIVE HOUSEKEEPING
Society
“The collective of families economically organized into the facsimile of one super-human family”
Nation
“ it’s political form of organization”
The Polis and the Household
The Realm of the Polis
The Sphere of Freedom
The Polis and the Household
“The mastering of the necessities of life in the
household was the condition for the freedom
of the Polis”
Middle Ages Societies
“Freedom is located in the realm of the social and force or violence becomes the monopoly of the governance”
The Greek Philosophers
• Political realm
• Force and violence
The Polis and the Household
The Polis and the Household
Private Realm
“Household”
Public Realm “Polis”
Freedom
• Social & Political realms are less distinct
• Politics a function of the society• Action, Speech and thought superstructures upon social interest
• Housekeeping Collective
The Polis and the Household
In the Modern World
The rise of the social
The emergence of the society has not only blurred the old borderline between private and political it also has changed the meaning of the two terms.
Why?
The rise of the social
SOCIAL SPHERE
- Housekeeping administration
- INTIMAT
E
Feelings
Emotions
PR
IVATE S
PH
ER
E
The intimacy of the heart has no objective tangible place in the world and can not be localized in the public sphere.
There was a rebellious reaction against society: the leveling demands of the social
Poetry, music and painting
The rise of the social
Equals or non- equals
Recognizes Demands
One opinion and one interest Certain kind of behavior Impose innumerable rules Exclude spontaneous action or outstanding achievement
NATION SOCIETY
The rise of the social
ECONOMICS appears as a technical tool to measure the behavior of the mass of society: -Long periods of time- Uniform behavior of the objects to be observed.
BEHAVIOR replaced the ACTION
Larger population
Restricted number of members
Public sphere SocietyPolis
The rise of the social
The significant events are in
rare deed not in the everyday
relationships also the historical
period shows itself only in the
few events that illuminate it.
Is the uniformity of society too bad?
The intimate liberties were
invaded by the social when
implanted behavioral
parameters.
In the post modern state I
will decide if I am man or
woman but I won’t decide
if I want to smoke, to have
children, to be fat or thin.
The public realm: The common
Appearance Reality
Everything that appears in public can be seen and heard.
PrivateIrrelevant
PublicRelevant
The public realm: The common
Plurality of individuals inherently unequal, which are 'constructed' as equals politically.
They are acting in concert with each other and the freedom can emerge
The public realm: The common
The human artifact gathers all together and yet prevent our falling over each
other
The public realm: The common
Actually this common world
can not have the capacity to gather
together.
Private life :“ To be deprived of things essential to a
truly human life”
• Deprived from:– Being heard and seen– An “objective”
relationship – The possibility to
achieve sth more permanent than life itself
The Private Realm: Property
The Private Realm: Property• In Modern terms
– Deprivation of an “objective” relationship
Loneliness
Public Realm
Private Realm Coexistence
The Private Realm: Property• The rise of Christianity
– “everybody should mind his own business”– The political responsibility is undertaken
exclusively for the sake of the well-being and salvation
Government
Christian
A necessary evil due to man’s sinfulness
Socialists
Hope to abolish it eventually
The Private Realm: Property
• Property and wealth are more into the Public realm than into the Private realm
• Poverty and propertylessness
Private Realm
Public Realm
Property
The Private Realm: Property
“Poverty forces the
free man to act like a
slave”
The social and the Private
Private Propert
yThe private property transcends generations
Wealth
Destinated to be use and consume
The social and the Private
Two dangerous situation if the private sphere disappear:
Necessity Life
Prevent the apathy Motivate the inittiative
The life is threatened where necessity is
altogether eliminated
It is necessary to have a private place
to keep the authenticity of
the life.
The Location of Human ActivitiesTendency to hide from
being heard or seen
Does Goodness
exist in this world?
Goodness and the public
realm
Love of goodness Vs.
Love of wisdom
Goo
dnes
s
The Location of Human Activities
Machiavelli 1469 -
1527
“either the Public Realm corrupted the Religious body and
thereby became itself corrupted, or the Religious body
remained uncorrupt and destroyed the
Public Realm altogether”
The society has conquered the public and the private realm and now, we are in the condition to realize the consequences for human existence when both public and private spheres of life are gone, the public because it has become a function of the private and the private because it has become the only common that we have.
Conclusion
What is the influence of the development of all media (TV, Internet, Radio, Social net) on action and speech?
Have these technological findings extinguished the last retreat of the private sphere, the intimacy?
How does the revolution in media affect the human condition, especially the human action and its components?
How would Hannah Arendt's describe the deep financial crisis the world is suffering nowadays?
Questions
Thanks for your attention
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