Hannah Arendt was a German philosopher of Jewish descent. She began her studies with the famous German philosopher Martin Heidegger, but with the arrival of nazi rule in power, she was forced to flee Germany to settle in the United States. Hannah Arendt has developed a political philosophy focused on contemporary problems, such as totalitarianism and violence.
Among his works are those that evoke the processes that lead people to commit heinous acts under totalitarian regimes, one of his great successes was to affirm that many members of the Nazi party were normal people who, in certain circumstances, had committed unforgivable acts (acts they had never performed without these conditions and in which they had not been recognized).
- This statement earned her a lot of criticism because it highlighted something uncomfortable: many people who tortured.
- Mistreated and murdered were not bad people.
- But.
- In a way.
- Directed by their situation.
- It also cost her to lose friends.
- But she always defended.
- What she believed.
While their statements may seem distant, they are very current, in the common imagination there is still conviction that terrorists are crazy, following Hannah Arendt’s theories, it can be said that beyond her psychological health, there are other factors that drive people to choose the path of violence within an organization.
In Hannah Arendt’s theory, there are three fundamental conditions of human life: life, worldliness, and plurality. Each of these three conditions corresponds to an activity: producing, working and acting; In this way, the human condition of producing is life, that of work is worldliness and that of action is plurality. The development of these three activities corresponds to active life.
Producing is the activity that corresponds to the biological processes of the human body, some examples eat and sleep. They are activities necessary to live, but they do not last, they are exhausted when consumed or consumed, these needs are vital for survival and we cannot ignore them, so there is no place for freedom.
The second activity of working life is work, it is the activity that produces works and results, and includes construction, craftsmanship, art, good craftsmanship and, in general, artifices, refers to activities such as the manufacture of instruments or objects to be used, in addition to works of art. With this activity, we try to control nature.
Through work, the independent world of objects is built from its nature, this activity creates an artificial world, like home, differs from production because the objects obtained are durable, the result of the work is something productive and made to be used, not to be consumed.
With the completion of the last activity, action, individuals build what they are and thus differ from others, this activity allows a plurality to arise that makes us aware of differences in relation to others, thus the identity arises, from difference. between the game and the other. Only through action are individuals born and the private becomes public, since it is shared with others. Acting and talking, people show who they are.
Each of these activities takes place in its own space: the private sphere (produce), the social sphere (work), and the public sphere (act). The distinction between the public and private spheres is based on polished Greek tradition. The sphere is identified in the home, in this sphere we cannot speak of freedom or equality, but rather of a community of vital needs, in this sphere production is practiced. The private sphere is a natural space compared to the artificiality of the public space.
Public space is the space of action and discourse, through which we show ourselves to others and confirm our existence. The public refers to a shared world, created by manufactured objects and actions that create intangible objects such as laws, institutions or culture. The created space gives permanence, stability and durability to actions and objects; in the face of the fragility of action, public space gives it stability through memory; public space also contains public interests, other than private ones.
However, this distinction was spoiled by the emergence of another area, social one, which is the product of the emergence of foreign exchange relations in a capitalist economy, the capitalist socio-economic system assumes the entry of the economy into the public space, which is defined by public interests, which leads private interests to acquire public sense.
The problem with the interference of the economy in public space is that the private sphere, necessary since it shelters, replaces the public sphere, the consequence is that private interests and natural ties occupy the public place of the common. and the citizen action is dismantled.
One of the foundations of totalitarianism is the triumph of the carefree individual in public life, focused on his private interests and the safety of his own at all costs, this individual is the opposite of the citizen, who maintains an active commitment to life. world and public space.
On the other hand, the Private? He is an isolated individual in his interests of comfort and consumption. This individual has the right characteristics to fall into social and political conformism. However, totalitarianism not only ends public life, but also destroys privacy, leaving individuals in absolute solitude.