FILO-1381B Filosofía y Totalitarismo: Hannah Arendt

Totalitarianism is, according to Hannah Arendt, the central event of modern times. Her effort to comprehend this phenomenon, in its specific novelty, leads her to examine and question, to a great extent, some of the traditional political categories, and their assumptions, in order to propose a different way of understanding the sphere of politics. This effort has had its influence in some of the most suggestive and baffling figures of contemporary political thought who, following Arendt, also think that totalitarianism, as our age’s horizon, demands a renewed reflection regarding politics. Thus, the purpose of this course will be to examine the Arendtian notion of totalitarianism and its attempt to critically rethink certain assumptions and traditional conceptions of politics, while making these reflections dialogue with some coeval perspectives which have also drank from these fountains. With this objective in mind, some chapters of Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition will be read, as well as some texts from Jean-Luc Nancy, Giorgio Agamben, Miguel Abensour and Roberto Esposito.

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