On Revolution - Hannah Arendt (week 2)

Hannah Arendt was one of the most influential political theorists of the twentieth century. In On Revolution (1963), she offers a philosophical analysis of political revolutions and their transformative power on society. Comparing the French and American Revolutions, in particular, she investigates their different objectives, approaches, and outcomes, their relationship to violence, and dedication to freedom. In transitioning from uprising to orderly nation building, she argues, a movement must preserve "the lost treasure of revolution": a core spirit of public happiness or welfare founded in freedom and equality.

Arendt makes her case by developing a reading of Billy Budd in which Melville's story is an allegory for the public realm and what it means to be a citizen in the world. What does it mean for there to be goodness beyond virtue and evil beyond vice? What's the difference between political, moral, and legal judgment?

Schedule:

• Week 1 (May 18): Chapters 1-3
• Week 2 (May 25): Chapters 4-6

On Revolution:

• Archive pdf
• Monoskop pdf

Supplemental:

• "On Revolution" Virtual Reading Group (13 parts)

Extracts:

• "... the poet but embodies in verse those exaltations of sentiment that... the opportunity being given, vitalizes into acts." (Billy Budd, 4)

This meetup is part of the series Fig Leaves and Fancy Pants.