Apuntes sobre los orígenes de la política en Hannah Arendt

Abstract

Hannah Arendt's interest in the phenomenon of politics runs transversally through both her thought and her work. In an entry in her Denktagebuch 1950-1973 (2018), Arendt reflects on the fact that political philosophy has its origin, for the Western philosophical tradition, between the decline of the polis and Plato's response to the corruption of politics. On the contrary, if we want to talk about the origin of politics itself, we must go back, according to Arendt's genealogy, to a time more closely linked to mythological narrative than to historical narrative: the Trojan War. Arendt's relationship to Hellenic thought is essential to understanding the programmatic core of her thought and work. Above all, in the way in which she combines these ideas with other traditions such as Aristotelianism, republicanism and her Germanic and Hebrew heritage. For this reason, we present, together with Roberto Esposito, a journey through the ideas that make up the origin of politics for Arendt's phenomenology, forming a triangle between Troy, Athens and Rome. Furthermore, we will show the limits of this interpretation when entering into dialogue with another fundamental author for understanding political philosophy in the 20th century, Simone Weil. Both authors show a bond that, without knowing each other, seem to complement. The aim of all this is to make visible the importance of the Roman world in Arendt's thought.