Arendt and Heidegger : The Fate of the Political

Theodor Adorno once wrote an essay to "defend Bach against his devotees." In this book Dana Villa does the same for Hannah Arendt, whose sweeping reconceptualization of the nature and value of political action, he argues, has been covered over and domesticated by admirers (including critical theorists, communitarians, and participatory democrats) who had hoped to enlist her in their less radical philosophical or political projects. Against the prevailing "Aristotelian" interpretation of her work, Villa explores Arendt's modernity, and indeed her postmodernity, through the Heideggerian and Nietzschean theme of a break with tradition at the closure of metaphysics. Villa's book, however, is much more than a mere correction of misinterpretations of a major thinker's work. Rather, he makes a persuasive case for Arendt as __the__ postmodern or postmetaphysical political theorist, the first political theorist to think through the nature of political action after Nietzsche's exposition of the death of God (i.e., the collapse of objective correlates to our ideals, ends, and purposes). After giving an account of Arendt's theory of action and Heidegger's influence on it, Villa shows how Arendt did justice to the Heideggerian and Nietzschean criticism of the metaphysical tradition while avoiding the political conclusions they drew from their critiques. The result is a wide-ranging discussion not only of Arendt and Heidegger, but of Aristotle, Kant, Nietzsche, Habermas, and the entire question of politics after metaphysics. CONTENTS PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A NOTE TO THE READER LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION: The Problem of Action in Arendt PART I: Arendt’s Theory of Political Action CHAPTER 1. Arendt, Aristotle, and Action CHAPTER 2. Thinking Action against the Tradition CHAPTER 3. Arendt, Nietzsche, and the “Aestheticization” of Political Action PART II: Arendt and Heidegger CHAPTER 4. The Heideggerian Roots of Arendt’s Political Theory CHAPTER 5. Groundless Action, Groundless Judgment: Politics after Metaphysics CHAPTER 6. The Critique of Modernity PART III: The Critique of Heidegger’s Philosophical Politics CHAPTER 7. Arendt, Heidegger, and the Oblivion of Praxis CHAPTER 8. Heidegger, Poixsis, and Politics NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX Argues that Hannah Arendt"���'s reconceptualization of the nature and value of political action has been covered over and domesticated by admirers. This book explores Arendt's modernity, and indeed her postmodernity, through the Heideggerian and Nietzschean theme of a break with tradition at the closure of metaphysics. Argues that Hannah Arendt" 's reconceptualization of the nature and value of political action has been covered over and domesticated by admirers. This book explores Arendt's modernity, and indeed her postmodernity, through the Heideggerian and Nietzschean theme of a break with tradition at the closure of metaphysics.