Revolutionary constitutions: Arendt's inversions of Heidegger

Abstract

Hannah Arendt's most ingenious philosophical idea was to transform Heidegger's ontological difference of being (Sein) and existing (Seiende). Whereas for Heidegger existing was founded in being as the origin of all meaning, for Arendt existing, in the form of the concrete historical praxis of ‘political animals’ in space and time (as she suggests in Vita Activa), founds being. This is exemplified in modern revolutionary praxis as in the French and American Revolutions (as she suggests in On Revolution). The problem then becomes that of maintaining the original revolutionary power in a power-founding constitutional order.

Keywords:

• being in the world
• communicative power
• evolution
• normative learning
• emancipation

Notes

1. On the attempt to bring Hegel, Marx and Arendt together, see Fine, Political Investigations (2001).

2. See the sharp criticism of Furet, Ozouf and others in Tilly (1995, pp. 1–9).

3. A phenomenological reading of Arendt makes much sense, in particular as a solution of the much discussed contradictions of her book; on this point, see Fine (2015).

4. On the great legal revolutions, see especially Harold Berman's works (1950/1963, 1983, 1986, 2006). For an attempt of an evolutionary reconstruction, see Brunkhorst (2014).

5. On the fruitfulness and topicality of the distinction in constitutional theory, see (Möllers, 2004).

6. Habermas (1981a), one of the first critics, is still convincing in this respect.

7. For an instructive representation and comparison of (the intriguing similarities) of Kant's and Marx’ deliberations on revolution, see Ypi (2014).

8. Luhmann uses the term reflexive mechanism for the same thing as Arendt's dematerialized mechanism.

9. The original source of the self-radicalization thesis of Origins is Franz Neumann, Behemoth (1942). The thesis became important for historical research and the explanation of the Holocaust through Hans Mommsen (1976).

10. This is the translation of M. Vatter and V. Lemm from the German original.

11. This was already observed by Marx (2008) and Tocqueville (1983).

12. I wish to thank Rodrigo Cordero for this hint.

13. Arendt has added this only in the German edition (translated into English by M. Vatter and V. Lemm). Because of her many changes, henceforth, I sometimes quote the German edition of Origins, Human Condition, On Revolution and On Violence.

14. Arendt shares this thesis with Luhmann (1988, p. 30), for whom it is clear that ‘absolute power’ in a complex society means ‘small power.’

15. Quote translated by Poul Kjaer.

16. This is also the basic idea of Habermas (1992).