On Violence by Hannah Arendt

Political theorist, philosopher, and feminist thinker Hannah Arendt's book On Violence explores the nature, causes, and significance of violence in the second half of the twentieth century. In this classic work, Hannah Arendt puts her theories about violence into historical perspective, examining the relationships between war and politics, violence and power. Questioning the nature of violent behavior, she argues against Mao Zedong's dictum "power grows out of the barrel of a gun," proposing instead that "power and violence are opposites; where one rules absolutely, the other is absent." As wars and strongmen gain ground across the world, Arendt's writing is more relevant to us than ever.

On Violence can be found here.

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Stockholm Philosophy Study group is a group for thoughtful discussion on philosophical topics. Everyone is welcome regardless of previous philosophical experience, but we would like everyone you to read the text ahead of time as the conversation will revolve around it. This is a space were we learn from and listen to each other, our focus is on deliberation, not debate. If we are a large group, remember to leave room for everybody's voices to be heard. We read all sorts of philosophical texts, some are easier and some are difficult. If you don't understand everything, don't worry, we will make sense of it together.

Please note that this is a cross-post for an event being arranged via the Discord server. Discussion between meetups happens on Discord, and this group may be unmonitored. If you join the server you also get to vote on our coming readings, so please consider joining.

Hope to see you at the meetup!