The Political Theory of Hannah Arendt: A Public Intellectual in the Public Square

FAIN: FV-250749-16

San Diego State University Foundation (San Diego, CA 92182-1931)
Kathleen B. Jones (Project Director: February 2016 to December 2019)

A four-week summer seminar for sixteen schoolteachers to examine the works of the political theorist, Hannah Arendt.

This four week seminar will study intensively two key works by the political theorist, Hannah Arendt. The proposed seminar fits well the new NEH initiative, "The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square." As a public intellectual, Arendt brought humanities' perspectives to bear on central 20th century questions, issues remaining salient in the present. Among topics explored will be Arendt's investigation of the problem of evil and terror in the contemporary age, her philosophical perspective on violence in politics, her examination of how dramatic advances in science and technology changed relationships between humans and the natural world, and her reflections on the conditions of democratic rule and the scope and significance of global human rights.