Artikel

Hannah Arendt, de joden, het totalitarisme en de ontwikkeling van nieuwe politieke theorie

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Abstract

Hannah Arendt, the Jews, totalitarianism and the formulation of new political theory - Arendt’s innovative views on antisemitism have been neglected in the post-war historiography on antisemitism. This neglect is due to Arendt’s peculiar views, in which the development of this ideology is partially seen as a result of the interactions between Jews and non-Jews and in which factors are considered such as the rise of Jewish chauvinism. Her insights can only be incorporated in traditional antisemitism-research with great difficulty. In consequence of the controversy about the Eichmann book, some scholars have tried to detect in Arendt’s whole work an anti-Jewish tendency. Their arguments that the private-public dichotomy from The human condition is a transposition from the pariah-parvenu dichotomy from The origins-, that Arendt places the whole Jewish people and their history in the ’contempting’ private sphere, but that she, on the other hand, failed to give substantiality to her notion of political action, must be considered as deliberate misreadings of Arendt, presumably with the purpose to discredit her work. These scholars use a scientific debate concerning the question that Arendt denudes politics of means and ends for their own purpose. With reference to this debate the author offers a synopsis of the views of Knauer, Canovan and D’Entrèves, arguing that Arendt did not screen means¬ ends relations out of action. In conclusion, he holds that Arendt's work can be seen as a life-long effort to evaluate political systems, including the American one, in search of potential totalitarian tendencies.

How to Cite:

Denayer, W., (1991) “Hannah Arendt, de joden, het totalitarisme en de ontwikkeling van nieuwe politieke theorie”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 36(2), 117–142. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95070