The Public and the Private Realm

The Human Condition – Hannah Arendt

Paulina MendezRawan

Tahboub

1. Hannah Arendt Her Life and her work Her principal books

2. The Human Condition What was the context in which it was written

3. The public and the private realm: Man: a social or a political animal The Polis and the household The rise of the social The public realm: The common The Private Realm: Property The location of Human Activities

4. Conclusion

The Outline

• Linden (Hanover) October 14, 1906 – New York, December 4, 1975.

• Studies: Philosophy in the University of Marburg (1926)

University of Heidelberg (1928)

• During the World War, she was compelled to leave to France – 1933

• She spent five weeks in internal Gurs concentration camp in France – 1940.

• In 1941, Arendt escaped to the United States and became an editor at the

German Jewish magazine Aufbau.

Hannah Arendt:Her Life and work

She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact that

"men, not Man, live on the earth and inhabit the world".

Her principal books

• Using the example of the protagonist, born in 1771, shows the failure of the attempted assimilation of Jews rich and cultured in the nineteenth century due to increased social antisemitism.

Rahel Varnhagen. Lebensgeschichte einer deutschen Jüdin aus der Romantik. (1931 – 1933)

• It is he major work in which she traced the roots of Stalinist Communism and Nazism in both anti-Semitism and imperialism.

The origins of totalitarism (1951)

• Her most influential work, that distinguishes between the concepts of political and social, labour and work and various forms of action exploring implications of those distinctions. Her theory of political action, corresponding to the existence of a public realm, is extensively developed in this work

The Human condition (1958)

The Human Condition – What was the context in which it was written?

The first artificial

satellite (1957-1958)

The Cold War (1945-

1991)

The automation of man and

technology development

The fertilization

in vitro

The public and the private realmMan a social or a political animal

Three types of Human conditions:

Animal laboran

s

Homo faber

Man of Action

The work

- Needs of our body

- Survival

Introduces new objects durable

in the time which can be

shared

-Creator of history

-Action and speech

-Share ideas, dialogue and

thoughts

Man a social or a political animal

“All human activities are conditionated by the fact that men life together”

Action Society

Zóon politikum

Man a social or a political animal

City States

Human beingPublic

life

oikon

Private life

idion

Action (praxis) and speech (lexis)Everything merely

necessary or useful is strictly excluded in this

sphere

Private

Realm

Public Realm

Social Realm

The Polis and the Household

POLITICALPOLIS

HOUSEHOLDFAMILY, WORK

The Polis and the Household

Public Realm

Private

Realm

Social Realm

COLLECTIVE HOUSEKEEPING

Society

“The collective of families economically organized into the facsimile of one super-human family”

Nation

“ it’s political form of organization”

The Polis and the Household

The Realm of the Polis

The Sphere of Freedom

The Polis and the Household

“The mastering of the necessities of life in the

household was the condition for the freedom

of the Polis”

Middle Ages Societies

“Freedom is located in the realm of the social and force or violence becomes the monopoly of the governance”

The Greek Philosophers

• Political realm

• Force and violence

The Polis and the Household

The Polis and the Household

Private Realm

“Household”

Public Realm “Polis”

Freedom

• Social & Political realms are less distinct

• Politics a function of the society• Action, Speech and thought superstructures upon social interest

• Housekeeping Collective

The Polis and the Household

In the Modern World

The rise of the social

The emergence of the society has not only blurred the old borderline between private and political it also has changed the meaning of the two terms.

Why?

The rise of the social

SOCIAL SPHERE

- Housekeeping administration

- INTIMAT

E

Feelings

Emotions

PR

IVATE S

PH

ER

E

The intimacy of the heart has no objective tangible place in the world and can not be localized in the public sphere.

There was a rebellious reaction against society: the leveling demands of the social

Poetry, music and painting

The rise of the social

Equals or non- equals

Recognizes Demands

One opinion and one interest Certain kind of behavior Impose innumerable rules Exclude spontaneous action or outstanding achievement

NATION SOCIETY

The rise of the social

ECONOMICS appears as a technical tool to measure the behavior of the mass of society: -Long periods of time- Uniform behavior of the objects to be observed.

BEHAVIOR replaced the ACTION

Larger population

Restricted number of members

Public sphere SocietyPolis

The rise of the social

The significant events are in

rare deed not in the everyday

relationships also the historical

period shows itself only in the

few events that illuminate it.

Is the uniformity of society too bad?

The intimate liberties were

invaded by the social when

implanted behavioral

parameters.

In the post modern state I

will decide if I am man or

woman but I won’t decide

if I want to smoke, to have

children, to be fat or thin.

The public realm: The common

Appearance Reality

Everything that appears in public can be seen and heard.

PrivateIrrelevant

PublicRelevant

The public realm: The common

Plurality of individuals inherently unequal, which are 'constructed' as equals politically.

They are acting in concert with each other and the freedom can emerge

The public realm: The common

The human artifact gathers all together and yet prevent our falling over each

other

The public realm: The common

Actually this common world

can not have the capacity to gather

together.

Private life :“ To be deprived of things essential to a

truly human life”

• Deprived from:– Being heard and seen– An “objective”

relationship – The possibility to

achieve sth more permanent than life itself

The Private Realm: Property

The Private Realm: Property• In Modern terms

– Deprivation of an “objective” relationship

Loneliness

Public Realm

Private Realm Coexistence

The Private Realm: Property• The rise of Christianity

– “everybody should mind his own business”– The political responsibility is undertaken

exclusively for the sake of the well-being and salvation

Government

Christian

A necessary evil due to man’s sinfulness

Socialists

Hope to abolish it eventually

The Private Realm: Property

• Property and wealth are more into the Public realm than into the Private realm

• Poverty and propertylessness

Private Realm

Public Realm

Property

The Private Realm: Property

“Poverty forces the

free man to act like a

slave”

The social and the Private

Private Propert

yThe private property transcends generations

Wealth

Destinated to be use and consume

The social and the Private

Two dangerous situation if the private sphere disappear:

Necessity Life

Prevent the apathy Motivate the inittiative

The life is threatened where necessity is

altogether eliminated

It is necessary to have a private place

to keep the authenticity of

the life.

The Location of Human ActivitiesTendency to hide from

being heard or seen

Does Goodness

exist in this world?

Goodness and the public

realm

Love of goodness Vs.

Love of wisdom

Goo

dnes

s

The Location of Human Activities

Machiavelli 1469 -

1527

“either the Public Realm corrupted the Religious body and

thereby became itself corrupted, or the Religious body

remained uncorrupt and destroyed the

Public Realm altogether”

The society has conquered the public and the private realm and now, we are in the condition to realize the consequences for human existence when both public and private spheres of life are gone, the public because it has become a function of the private and the private because it has become the only common that we have.

Conclusion

What is the influence of the development of all media (TV, Internet, Radio, Social net) on action and speech?

Have these technological findings extinguished the last retreat of the private sphere, the intimacy?

How does the revolution in media affect the human condition, especially the human action and its components?

How would Hannah Arendt's describe the deep financial crisis the world is suffering nowadays?

Questions

Thanks for your attention