{"id":35123,"date":"2026-01-14T12:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=35123"},"modified":"2026-01-14T12:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:42:16","slug":"hannah-arendt-seminar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=35123","title":{"rendered":"Hannah Arendt seminar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Below is the syllabus of the seminar on Hannah Arendt that I will teach this semester. (I&#8217;d still accept suggestions!) I&#8217;ve removed all the practical information except for my policy on AI, just in case that&#8217;s useful for other teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hannah Arendt <\/strong>(1906-75) personally experienced some of the great events of the 20th century, interacted with many famous contemporaries, and offered challenging arguments about totalitarianism and democracy, migration and human rights, Jewishness and Israel, modernity and science, feminism, activism, and the role of intellectuals. We will critically discuss her texts, her life, and her context and relate her ideas to other thinkers and issues of the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Objectives<\/strong>: To build an understanding of Arendt\u2019s own thought in its context; To analyze and evaluate conflicting arguments about the major philosophical, historical, and strategic issues that confronted her; To learn to make stronger normative and interpretive arguments in writing and discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy:\u00a0<\/strong>This is a humanities seminar, and the entire rationale is that we can learn by intensively reading complex texts, discussing them with peers, and producing our own writing in response. Extensive research shows that &#8220;deep reading&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/11\/22\/opinion\/ezra-klein-podcast-maryanne-wolf.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has educational and spiritual benefits<\/a>, while substituting AI summaries for reading\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/2506.08872\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">causes substantial brain decay<\/a>. I am not sure whether instructors can currently detect the use of AI or penalize it. It is your responsibility to learn in college, and you will\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0learn if you substitute AI tools for reading and writing. That said, I do not object to querying large language models (LLMs) for additional information and insights about the assigned texts and topics; using AI tools to translate texts that would otherwise be inaccessible to you; or even writing papers in your native language and using an AI tool to translate your work into English. Further discussion of whether and how to use AI is welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, Jan 15: Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During class, we will watch portions of a 1963 German television interview of Hannah Arendt to get a feel for her personality. And we will read and discuss Arendt\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=33144\">Klage<\/a>\u201d (\u201cLament\u201d or \u201cComplaint\u201d), an early poem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, Jan 20: Martin Heidegger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hannah Arendt, \u201cMartin Heidegger at Eighty,\u201d\u00a0<em>The New York Review<\/em>, October 21, 1971. (Note that Arendt writes this when she is 65.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Martin Heidegger,\u00a0<em>The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Finitude, Solitude<\/em>\u00a0(1930), trans. W. McNeil &amp; N. Walker (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995),\u00a0\u00a716-17, \u00a718c, \u00a719-36<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Additional recommended reading for anyone who wants to write about Heidegger and Arendt: Jeffrey Andrew Barash, &#8220;Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt and the politics of remembrance,&#8221; International Journal of Philosophical Studies 10.2 (2002): 171-182.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, Jan 22: Being Jewish, being a woman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Watch the PBS documentary,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/americanmasters\/hannah-arendt-documentary\/36135\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess<\/em>, excerpts, and a letter from Arendt to Jaspers dated 9\/7\/1952, both in\u00a0<em>The Portable Hannah Arendt,<\/em>\u00a0edited by William Peter Baehr (Penguin 2000),\u00a0pp. 49-72<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Elisabeth Young-Bruehl,\u00a0<em>Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World\u00a0<\/em>(Yale 1982), pp. 56-59 (a portion of\u00a0chapter 2)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, Jan 27: Statelessness, migration, and human rights<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/hannah_arendt_we_refugees\/page\/n5\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">We Refugees.<\/a>\u201d (1943)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>Origins of Totalitarianism,\u00a0<\/em>chapter 9<em> (&#8220;The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man&#8221;).<\/em>\u00a0You can skim or skip the historical detail from the bottom of p. 269 the last line on p. 276.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not assigned, but useful if you want to focus on this topic: Jacques Ranci\u00e8re, \u201cWho is the Subject of the Rights of Man?\u00a0Download Who is the Subject of the Rights of Man?,\u201d The South Atlantic Quarterly 103, no. 2\/3 (2004): 297\u2013310<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, Jan 29: Nazism and Stalinism I<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>Origins of Totalitarianism,\u00a0<\/em>chapters 11 and 12<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, Feb 3: Nazism and Stalinism II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>Origins of Totalitarianism, chapter 13<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, Feb 5: How she uses history<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Walter Benjamin, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfu.ca\/~andrewf\/books\/Concept_History_Benjamin.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Theses on the Philosophy of History.<\/a>&#8221;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>&#8220;T<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/1404861?seq=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">he Modern Concept of Histor<\/a>., The Review of Politics,<\/em>\u00a0vol. 20, no. 4, 1958, pp. 570\u201390.<em>\u00a0Y<\/em>ou may read only pp. 585-590 (from &#8220;It has frequently been asserted that modern science was born when attention shifted from the search after the &#8216;What&#8217; to the investigation of &#8216;How &#8230;&#8221; to the end).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>David Luban, \u201cHannah Arendt and the Primacy of Narrativ<a href=\"https:\/\/canvas.tufts.edu\/courses\/73399\/files\/10044715\/download?download_frd=1\">e<\/a>,\u201d in Luban,\u00a0<em>Legal Modernism<\/em>\u00a0(University of Michigan Press, 1994), pp, 179-206<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arendt, \u201cA Reply to Eric Voegelin, The Review of Politics, Jan., 1953, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jan., 1953), pp. 76-84\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[Additional recommended reading for anyone who wants to write about Arendt on historical narrative: Seyla Benhabib, &#8220;Hannah Arendt and the Redemptive Power of Narrative.&#8221; Social Research (1990): 167-196]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, Feb 10: German war guilt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Karl Jaspers,\u00a0<em>The Question of German Guilt\u00a0<\/em>(1947), pp. 1-44.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arendt, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/matiane.wordpress.com\/2020\/10\/26\/organized-guilt-and-universal-responsibility-by-hannah-arendt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Organized Guilt and Universal Responsibility<\/a>\u201d (1945)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, Feb 12: From Europe to America<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt to Jaspers, letter dated 1\/29\/1946 <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Samantha Rose Hill,\u00a0<em>Hannah Arendt<\/em>\u00a0(Reaktion Books, 2021), pp. 97-117<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Watch the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dVSRJC4KAiE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1963 interview<\/a> and\/or read it in Baehr, pp. 3-22. Note pp. 20-21 on coming to the USA.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, Feb 17: Modernity 1: Public and Private<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>The Human Condition, pp. 7-11, 17-21, 22-78<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;[Additional recommended article for anyone who wants to write about the public\/private distinction in Arendt: Hanna Fenichel Pitkin, &#8220;Justice on relating private and public,&#8221;<em>&nbsp;<\/em>in Amy Allen (ed<em>) Hannah Arendt&nbsp;<\/em>(Routledge, 2017)&nbsp;<em>89-114.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, Feb 19 : no class (substituting Monday schedule)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, Feb 24: Modernity 2: Action<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/canvas.tufts.edu\/courses\/73399\/files\/10009645?wrap=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Human Condition<\/a>, 175-247<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&nbsp;<\/em><strong>Thursday, Feb 26: Modernity 2: Political Freedom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>The Human Condition<\/em>, 305-325<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>J\u00fcrgen Habermas, &#8220;Hannah Arendt&#8217;s communications concept of power,&#8221; translated by Thomas McCarthy, Social Research (1977): 3-24.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, March 3:&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt, \u201cTo Save the Jewish Homeland: There is Still Time\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commentary.org\/articles\/mortbarrgmailcom\/to-save-the-jewish-homelandthere-is-still-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Commentary.<\/a>\u00a0(1948)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Young-Bruehl, pp. 137-9, 173-81 (portions of\u00a0chapter 4\u00a0and\u00a0chapter 5)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, March 5: The Adolf Eichmann case I<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>Eichmann in Jerusalem,\u00a0<\/em>3-67 (chapters I-V), 90\u201395<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, March 10: Adolf Eichmann II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>Eichmann in Jerusalem<\/em>, pp. 112-150 (VII and VIII).<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, March 12: Adolf Eichmann III<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>Eichmann in Jerusalem,<\/em>\u00a0274-279 (chapter XV and epilogue)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Letters to Mary McCarthy, 9\/20\/1963 and Gershom Scholem 7\/24\/1963<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[Additional recommended texts for anyone writing about Eichmann:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sandra K. Hinchman, &#8220;Common Sense &amp; Political Barbarism in the Theory of Hannah Arendt.&#8221; Polity 17.2 (1984): 317-339.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Peg Birmingham, &#8220;Holes of oblivion: The banality of radical evil.&#8221; Hypatia 18.1 (2003): 80-103.]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>(March 14-22 = Spring Break)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, March 24:&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>The importance of truth<\/strong>&nbsp;(in the wake of the Eichmann controversy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt, \u201cTruth and Politics,\u201d in<em>\u00a0Between Past and Future<\/em>, pp. 227-264<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, March 26: Republicanism and revolution I<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>On Revolution,<\/em>\u00a01963 (excerpts)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Counterpoint: Philip Pettit,\u00a0<em>Republicanism: A theory of freedom and government<\/em>. Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 1-50 (or less)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Tuesday, March 31: Republicanism and revolution II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>On Revolution<\/em>\u00a0(excerpts)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Counterpoint: Christopher H. Achen, and Larry M. Bartels, &#8220;Democracy for realists: Why elections do not produce responsive government&#8221; (2017)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Thursday, April 2: Feminism and the public\/private distinction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Amy Allen, &#8220;Solidarity after identity politics: Hannah Arendt and the power of feminist theory.&#8221;\u00a0<em>Philosophy &amp; Social Criticism<\/em>1 (1999): 97-118.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>[Consider:] Mary G. Dietz,\u00a0<em>Turning Operations?: Feminism, Arendt, and Politics<\/em>. Routledge, 2002, excerpts (hard copy in Tisch Library, not online)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tuesday, April 7:&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;The Civil Rights Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt, \u201cReflections on Little Rock\u201d (1959), in Baehr, pp. 231-246<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Young-Bruehl, pp. 308-18 (a\u00a0portion of chapter 8)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The response from Ralph Ellison, discussion in Danielle Allen,<em>\u00a0Talking to Strangers<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, April 9: Violence in the 1960s<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt,\u00a0<em>On Violence\u00a0<\/em>(1970) excerpts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arendt, Noam Chomsky, Robert Lowell, Conor Cruise O&#8217;Brien, Robert B. Silvers, Mitchell Goodman and Susan Sontag (debate), \u201cThe Legitimacy of Violence as a Political Act?(1967)\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arendt,<em>\u00a0Eichmann in Jerusalem<\/em>, pp. 173-5 (on Denmark), and 230-33 (on German resistance)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chad Kautzer, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.lib.purdue.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=3551&amp;context=clcweb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Political Violence and Race: A Critique of Hannah Arendt.Links to an external site.<\/a>&#8221;\u00a0<em>CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture<\/em>3 (2019)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Tuesday, April 14: Education<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>[Peter Levine is away]<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt, \u201cThe Crisis in Education,\u201d\u00a0<em>Between Past and Future<\/em>, pp. 173-96<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2020\/05\/take-hannah-arendts-final-exam-for-her-1961-course-on-revolution.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">final exam.<\/a>\u00a0for Hannah Arendt\u2019s 1961 course]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Tuesday, April 21:&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Science<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arendt, &#8220;Man&#8217;s Conquest of Space.&#8221;\u00a0<em>The American Scholar<\/em>\u00a0(1963): 527-540.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arendt, \u201cPrologue,\u201d The Human Condition (pp. 1-6)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thursday, April 23: Final discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Below is the syllabus of the seminar on Hannah Arendt that I will teach this semester. (I&#8217;d still accept suggestions!) I&#8217;ve removed all the practical information except for my policy on AI, just in case that&#8217;s useful for other teachers. Hannah Arendt (1906-75) personally experienced some of the great events of the 20th century, interacted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,48,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civic-theory","category-continental-philosophy","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35123"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35126,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35123\/revisions\/35126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}