References
- For a more detailed investigation of Arendt's view of the philosophical tradition, in particular her critique of the claims to scientific knowledge, see Steve Buckler, “Coming out of Hiding: Hannah Arendt on Thinking in Dark Times”. The European Legacy. Vol. 6, No. 5, 2001; 615–31.
- For a more detailed elaboration of the performative nature of political action and the profound meaningfulness inherent in many political metaphors derived from the theatre see Robert C. Pirro, Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Tragedy. De Kalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2001, in particular chapter two.
- Arendt distinguishes the unmasking of a person where nothing is left but the ‘natural man’, from the unmasking of the hypocrite. The hypocrite pretends “to be the assumed role”, and therefore he leaves nothing behind once the mask is torn away. “Psychologically speaking”, she writes, “one may say that the hypocrite is too ambitious; not only does he want to appear virtuous before others, he wants to convince himself. By the same token, he eliminates from the world, which he has populated with illusions and lying phantoms, the only core of integrity from which true appearance could rise again, his own incorruptible self.” (Arendt 1990, 103). This is the reason why it is not the criminal but the hypocrite who is “really rotten to the core” (Arendt 1990, 103).
Bibliography
- Arendt, Hannah. 1985 (1951). The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt.
- Arendt, Hannah. 1990 (1963). On Revolution. London: Penguin Books.
- Arendt, Hannah. 1981 (1978). The Life of the Mind. One Volume Edition. Mary McCarthy (ed.). San Diego, New York, London: Harcourt.
- Arendt, Hannah. 1989. Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy. Ronald Beiner (ed.). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
- Arendt, Hannah. 1993 (1961). Between Past and Future. Eight Exercises in Political Thought. New York: Penguin.
- Arendt, Hannah. 1998 (1958). The Human Condition. Second Edition. Margaret Canovan (ed.). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
- Beiner, Ronald. 1989. “Interpretative Essay: Hannah Arendt on Judging”. In, Hannah Arendt—Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy. Ronald Beiner (ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1989, 89–156.
- Biskowski, Lawrence J. 1993. “Practical Foundations for Political Judgment: Arendt on Action and World.” In, The Journal of Politics. Vol. 55, No. 4, November, 867–87.
- Deutscher, Max. 2007. Judgment After Arendt. Hampshire: Ashgate.
- Fuss, Peter 1979. “Hannah Arendt's Conception of Political Community.” In, Hill, Melvin A. (ed.). Hannah Arendt: The Recovery of the Public World. New York: St. Martin's Press.
- Kohn, Jerome (ed.). 2003. Responsibility and Judgment. Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books.
- Kristeva, Julia. 2001. Hannah Arendt. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Owens, Patricia. 2007. Between War and Politics: International Relations and the Thought of Hannah Arendt. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Young-Bruehl, Elisabeth. 1982. “Reflections on Hannah Arendt's The Life of the Mind.” In, Political Theory. Vol. 10, No. 2, May 1982, 277–305.
- Young-Bruehl, Elisabeth. 2006. Why Arendt Matters. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.