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Violence > Hannah Arendt > Flashcards

Hannah Arendt Flashcards

1
Q

What is the main focus of Arendt?

A

Violence in the political realm

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2
Q

Name a academic who believes violence is only a manifestation of power?

A

Max Weber = “the rule of men … based on the means of legitimate … violence”

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3
Q

Why does Arendt believe that ‘the organisation of violence’ shouldn’t be conflated with political power?

A

Only works if you follow Marxist assertion that the state is an instrument of oppression owned by the ruling class

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4
Q

What does Bertrand de Jouvenel believe about war?

A

War is an activity of states which pertains to their essence

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5
Q

What questions does de Jouvenel’s work rise?

A

Would the end of warfare mean the end of states?

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6
Q

How dies Arendt define power and rule?

A 
Power = an instrument of rule 
Rule = owns its existence to the instinct of domination
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7
Q

What does Jean Paul Sartre say about violence?

A

A man feel more like a man when he is imposing himself and making others the instruments of his will

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8
Q

According to de Jouvenel what is the essence of power?

A

To command and to be obeyed

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9
Q

What is the development of Jouvenel’s assertion that to be obeyed is the essence of power?

A

If the essence of power is the effectiveness of command then there is no greater power than what comes out the end of a gun

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10
Q

What does Arendt believe in contrast to thinkers like Jouvenel?

A

Violence isn’t a manifestation of power but power is a kind of mitigated violence

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11
Q

What evidence is there to support the notion that power is a form of mitigated violence?

A

Line up with the definition of the forms of government given in Greek antiquity (the rule of man over man)
Biblical definition of law as the simple relation between command and obedience (in reference to the 10 commandments)

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12
Q

What does Arendt believe is the cause of tyranny and rebellion?

A

The unaccounted rule of bureaucrats - what she calls the ‘rule of Nobody’

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13
Q

What biological evidence further corroborates are notion of power?

A

Discoveries of inborn instinct of domination and agressiveness

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14
Q

What does John Stuart Mill believe about power?

A

Humanity has 2 inclinations: one to be exercise power over others and the other to have power exercised over themselves

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15
Q

What did men of 18th century revolutions do to change the concept of power?

A

Believed in a republic where the rule of law would out an end to the rule of men - populations would be obedient to laws to which they have given consent

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16
Q

How does power manifest itself in a democratic republic?

A

Within all political institutions which would loose their legitimacy without the support of the people

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17
Q

Why is tyranny the most violent and least powerful form of government?

A

Power of the government rests of the numbers of people who support it

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18
Q

What is one of the most obvious distinctions between power and violence?

A

Power always stands in need of numbers whereas violence up to a point can manage without them as it relies on other processes

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19
Q

What are the extreme forms of power and violence?

A 
Power = all against one
Violence = one against all (not possible without instruments) - if an unarmed minority gains any victory its because the majority refused to use its power
20
Q

What is an issue which Arednt is concerned over?

A

Thinkers using words such as power, strength, force, authority and violence as synonyms because they perform the same function but they are more complex than this

21
Q

What does Arendt define as power?

A

The ability not just to act but to act in concert - power isn’t the property of an individual but belongs to a group and only remains in existence as long as the group keeps together

22
Q

What does Arendt define as power?

A

Inherently singular and independent- someone may prove their strength in relation to other things/persons
Can always be overpowered by the many - jealous of the strength of an individual

23
Q

How does Arendt define force?

A

Commonly used as a synonym for violence but should only be used to indicate the energy released by physical and social movements

24
Q

How does Arendt define authority?

A

Can be vested in individuals e.g. between a parent and child

Can be vested in offices e.g. government bodies or the church

25
Q

What is the hallmark of authority?

A

Unquestioned recognition by those asked to obey - to remain in authority requires respect for the person/office (contempt and laughter is its enemies)

26
Q

How does Arendt define violence?

A

Distinguished by its instrumental character - most close to strength as its uses its tools to multiple natural strength

27
Q

What does Arendt believe is a tempting but fundamentally incorrect notion?

A

That violence is the prerequisite of power and power nothing but a façade

28
Q

What example does Arendt use to discredit the notion that violence is the prerequisite of violence?

A

Revolution

29
Q

What do theoreticians of revolution believe?

A

The chances of revolution have decreased in proportion to the increased destructive capacities of weapons in the hands of the government

30
Q

How does Arednt argue against theoreticians of revolution?

A

Past 70 years there have been many successful and unsuccessful revolutions
The violent capacities of the government compared to the revolutionaries has always been more absolute

31
Q

How does Arednt instead believe that revolutions are won?

A

When the power structure of the government fails - as long as commands are obeyed and the army are prepared to use their weapons (after this fails the weapons change hands and the violent capacities of the government don’t mean anything)

32
Q

According to Arendt has a government exclusively based on the means of violence ever existed?

A

No - even totalitarians whose sole instrument of rule is torture needs a powerbase e.g. secret police or other despots in solidarity
Single men without other to support him never have enough power to use violence successfully

33
Q

Give an example which proves that superiority in the means of violence doesn’t guarantee victory.

A

Vietnam war - USA were helpless against a ill-equipped but well-organised opponent

34
Q

What is the essence of all government?

A

Power - but not violence as by its nature it is instrumental and needs guidance and justification

35
Q

Does power need justification?

A

No - but it does need legitimacy

36
Q

What is the difference between legitimacy and justification?

A

Legitimacy bases itself on an appeal to the past

Justification relates to an end that lies in the future

37
Q

Can violence be justifiable?

A

Yes - but it can never be legitimate (it loses its justifiability the farther its indented aim recede into the future

38
Q

Why does no one question the use of violence in self-defense?

A

As the danger is clear and present and the end justifying the means is immediate

39
Q

What is the relationship between power and violence?

A

Although they are distinct phenomena they usually appear together (with power being the predominant factor)

40
Q

What happens when violence and power confront eachother in their pure forms?

A

Violence will always defeat power e.g. If Ghandi’s powerful non-violent movement went up against an enemy more akin to Nazi Germany the outcome would’ve been slaughter

41
Q

What happens when a government is loosing power?

A

They substitute it for violence - leading t the destruction of power

42
Q

Why is terror different to violence?

A

Terror is the form of government that comes into being when violence, having destroyed all power, doesn’t abdicate but remains in full control

43
Q

When is terror successful?

A

When all organised opposition has been destroyed and society has been atomised

44
Q

What is the difference between totalitarian domination (based on terror) and dictatorships (established by violence)?

A

Former turns not only against its enemies but also against its friends - paranoid about all forms of power

45
Q

What is the climax of terror?

A

When it perceives enemies within itself

46
Q

What is Arendt’s conclusion?

A

Power and violence are opposites - where one rules absolutely the other is absent
Violence appears when power is in jeopardy but left to itself will result in the destruction of power

47
Q

Is the opposite of violence non-violence?

A

No - violence can destroy power but it cant create it

Violence (6 decks)

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