Exam 2 Study Guide Flashcards
Who was Hannah Arendt and why is she important?
a german born philosopher who provided readers with works that offer a way of thinking and teaches how to think instead of offering a set of arguments to think. She is important because she believed that thinking begins and comes out of our experiences.
How would you concisely summarize Arendt’s legacy?
She is one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century and believed that things in history happened for a reason and we should learn from them. She studied the human condition and how humans actions have changed throughout history.
Why does Hannah Arendt place so much importance on the concept of “thinking”? What is her understanding of what it means to think? Why does she describe her way of thinking as “thinking without a banister”? (See Hill pgs. 9-12, 208-210; Arendt on Arendt pgs. 443-444, 473)
She believes we have this ability to think but don’t ever actualize it and use it in the ways we should because we all need to be able to think and answer questions. Thinking without a banister means that we have lost the safety net of thinking and need to get past it to be able to open our minds and truly think.
Why is solitude essential to thinking? What does she mean by the 2-in-1 dialogue? (Seel Hill pgs. 11-12)
she believes you must be able to experience the silent dialogue of thought away from the public.The 2-in-1 is a way of working out what it means to be a person.
Why does Arendt describe her way of thinking about the world as “pearl diving”? What does this mean (see Hill pgs. 10-11)
Because she says her work deals with elements of the past once they have undergone their sea-change. It is a way of approaching history in a fragmented way where one can bring to the surface the good parts of history and build upon them.
Arendt states, “There are no dangerous thoughts; thinking itself is a dangerous act”? Why is this so? Why does thinking have the power “to make us come undone”? (see Hill pg. 11)
Thinking has the power to unsettle the way a person understands the world and it has the power to make us come undone because it makes us question things around us and look from different perspectives.
Is Arendt more interested in teaching us what to think or how to think?
How to think, she never offers a set of arguments for us to think
Why does Arendt reject ideological thinking and identity politics? How do these undermine our individuality and critical thinking?
She never subscribed to a particular school of thought and had a commitment to understanding the different ways of thinking and led to the rejection of those types of thinking.
What does Arendt mean by the term “natality”?
As humans, we are born with the capacity for new beginnings; we have the capacity to act anew and afresh; and the consequences of our actions are never fully predictable or predetermined
What does Arendt claim is the basic subject of our thought? (see Hill, pg. 7; Arendt on Arendt pg. 449)
Experience
What is a totalitarian government? How does it arise? What are its characteristics? Its aims (see Arendt’s “ On the Nature of Totalitarianism)
a. Totalitarianism is the most radical denial of freedom
b. A force which abolishes both classes and civil society and which transforms all social groups into a structureless mass of individuals (it allows no space for free action)
c. It claims to have discovered and to execute the laws of nature/history that are based upon perennial movement (not reason or permanence)
d. It sacrifices the individual for the sake of the “species”
e. It substitutes terror (instead of law) as the essence of gov’t and as a tool for subjugating its citizens
f. Differs from despotism and tyranny
g. Totalitarianism erases any possibility for spontaneity in society, in speaking, acting; it is not interested in new beginnings.
h. Iron Band of otalitarianism compresses us together; atomization of the masses –
people subscribe to forms of ideological thinking which doesn’t allow for
movement and thought;
i. thus, people become superfluous as they lose dignity, community, and meaning,
and love
j. characterized by radical acts of erasure of remembrance
k. uses techniques of exploitation, suppression, murder and creates a complicity of
the victims in their own demise
l. It morally ruins both the victims and the perpetrators before it terminates them
m. Individuals respond to lies by thinking that is great that you have made a lie
(people become o.k. with untrue statements because it is effective/comports with
a particular ideology)
n. Individuals stop judging and thinking according to the categories of truth/lies
(truth loses its meaning)
o. Totalitarianism seeks to fabricate the truth
p. Impulse that leaves to masses behaving in irrational ways (rationalism is no
longer a metric) – masses who are not thinking
q. . Totalitarian regimes also slowly erode the abilities of individuals to question
immoral actions and practices and to think for themselves
r. It claims the right to global rule/ conquest
How do Montesquieu and Kant influence Arendt’s thinking about forms of government?
a. Montesquieu - discovered that governments have both structures and associated principles of action
i. Republics - based upon virtue and love of equality
ii. Monarchies - based upon honor and passion for distinction
iii. Tyrannies - based upon the will to dominate springing from fear (despair over the impossibility of action), anxiety, loneliness, and impotence
b. Kant - divides structures of gov’t into two basic categories
i. Republican forms - has separated/divided powers
ii. Despotic forms - has powers (executive, legislative, judgement) consolidated
How do totalitarian governments differ from other forms of government, particularly from tyrannical governments (i.e. what makes totalitarian government unique)? (see, e.g. pgs. 345-348 of “On the Nature of Totalitarianism”)?
Their use of violence, specifically terror to keep people in fear and isolation so they don’t revolt
Be able to discuss the two primary manifestations of totalitarian governments in the 20th century and their characteristics.
nazi germany- hitler believed he was an executioner of laws higher than himself
Stalinist Russia- destroyed real and imaginary enemies in order to gain power and execute his plans
both used extreme force and fear to gain power
What roles do ideology, terror, and loneliness play in totalitarian regimes? (see pgs. 349-360 of “On the Nature of Totalitarianism)
In totalitarian regimes, Montesquieu’s principles of action is replaced by ideologyas the driving force.
Only isolated individuals can be totally dominated
What effects does totalitarianism have on its citizens/subjects?
i. Individuals stop thinking according to categories of truth and lies
ii. Rationalism is no longer a metric
iii. Morally ruins both victims and perpetrators
iv. Radical acts of erasure of memory
v. Individuals become superfluous/ lose dignity/ lose individuality
What did Arendt mean by the phrase “ the Banality of evil”. To whom did she apply this term? Why?
- Evil is the lack of good and it spreads very easily, Eichmann was not “naturally” evil, he just had a disconnect between his own rational thoughts and his actions, he just had shallow thoughts and did what he was told without any internal conflict.
- Adolf Eichmann
Who wrote The City of God and the Confessions?
St. Augustine
Be able to summarize Augustine’s political legacy.
That political laws should be in accord with natural or eternal law, essentially politics should align with God’s reasoning.
What was the basic purpose/function of the state according to Augustine?
The purpose of the state is to maintain law and order and help keep the wicked under control through the fear of punishment. The state is a divine gift from God and is an expression of divine justice and mercy.
What is the basic purpose of our life as a human according to Augustine?
God designed all humans to live together in the “bond of peace.” We as humans should live in the conception of peace as well.
Why does Augustine often make reference to an interior “civil war” that characterizes our life as humans?
Our desire to be virtuous and the vice within us.
How did the concept of original sin impact Augustine’s political philosophy?
He believed that it affected the guilt within everyone of us.
Why does Abramson assert that Augustine “is a philosopher of the will’s resistance to rational knowledge” (pg. 128)?
Even though Augustine was around in the time of Paganism which has a decent separation of religion and philosophy based, he ran with Christianity to shape his theory which relied heavily or thinking based on God’s consequences.
According to Abramson, why is politics possible for Augustine? Why is it necessary? (pg. 134)
Politics is possible because human beings are capable of uniting in the good of friendship and community. Politics is necessary because the very love of things human leads us astray and needs to be disciplined.
If politics cannot bring us justice, what can it bring us according to Augustine? (Abramson, pg. 135)
States may not bring us justice, but they may bring us peace. In addition, although only the church can teach the true moral values, belonging to a political community can make a certain sort of friendship possible which, among the good humans, is to be highly prized.
Why did Augustine argue that the love of God was the central principle of morality and justice?
Because it gives society a unified purpose or meaning.
What was the supreme good according to Augustine, and what was the supreme evil?
Eternal life with God is the Supreme good and damnation/ eternal death is the supreme evil.
What is “justice” according to Augustine and is it possible on this earth?
Justice will always be imperfect in human societies, the will of God is the basis for actual justice as well as morality and law, he also sees justice as not being a political concept but rather something that can only be found in the “commonwealth whose founder and ruler is Christ” - It is giving everyone else what he says is due; he takes Cicero’s take on Rome and Plato’s Republic to be the basis for it.
What are the differences between kingdoms and republics according to Augustine ? (Abramson. pgs. 137-138)
In Kingdoms there is no semblance of an agreement on ruling, only a lust for power. By contrast, even though republics do not embody true justice, they can embody a kind of agreement between rulers and ruled.
What is Augustine’s basic viewpoint on slavery? Did St. Augustine believe slavery was natural, or a result of sin?
he thought slavery was a natural form of power over another but that it is not intended by god and it arose from sin
What characterized the city of God (the heavenly city)? Who are its citizens? (see pgs. 136-137, Abramson)
The city of God is characterized as a place where individuals who love god and are driven by the love of god go- the members are predestined there and while they are on earth they live through their faith and are blessed with God’s love of them and love God; they also have the church as God’s representative on Earth; true justice is only in the city of God.
What characterized the earthly city (the city of man)? Who are its citizens? (see 136-137, Abramson)
Earthly city includes those who are already set for damnation- it’s also a city that can never have justice as it was founded on crime and violence from original sin and driven by a lust for power/domination
According to Augustine, why should we not expect to find lasting happiness in this earthly life?
Basically, Augustine argued that the human race can be divided between those who love God and those who love themselves and the world. He believes that the best political community that we can hope for here on earth is one that provides incomplete peace and order. The state is the product of humanity’s sinful condition and is divinely ordained to provide control and restrain evil.
Which thinker that we studied wrote Summa Theologica and On Kingship?
St. Thomas Aquinas
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas and why is he important?
One of the greatest scholastic philosophers, he offered 5 proofs of Gods existence and is known to have synthesize aristotle and christianity.
St. Thomas Aquinas argued that church and state play complimentary roles in advancing human fulfillment.
True
_____ argued that the state should secure the common good by keeping the peace, organizing the activities of citizens into harmonious pursuits, providing for the resources to sustain life, and preventing obstacles to the good life?
Aquinas
