Duration
45h SEM
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This year's seminar will be entirely devoted to the thought of Hannah Arendt.
Vita activa. Philosophy and politics in Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was born 120 years ago. Her political thought is among the most significant and influential of the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century, while remaining unclassifiable. Her pioneering analysis of totalitarianism (1951), when read carefully, proves to be as disconcerting as it is relentless.Her analyses of the 'banality of evil' during the Eichmann trial (1961) caused a worldwide controversy. Similarly, her comparative reflections on the American and French Revolutions - which (on first reading) appear to praise the former at the expense of the latter - are still the subject of debate today.
Hannah Arendt is, indeed, unclassifiable: her critique of imperialism and her praise of workers' councils make her, in her own way, an heir to Rosa Luxemburg's socialism; but her visceral commitment to the exercise of civil and political rights and to the separation of powers links her to the liberal tradition; and her thought takes conservative tones when she adopts Heidegger's critique of technology and modernity.
At the heart of Arendt's thought lies the vita activa, the basis of her philosophical anthropology and her political phenomenology. This will be the guiding principle of the seminar we are dedicating to her this year. How fruitful is the tripartite division of the vita activa into labor, work and action ? We shall examine Arendt's thesis that man's political nature, revealed through action and speech, has been, as it were, obscured, 'forgotten'-first by the philosophical tradition of the vita contemplativa dating back to Plato, and subsequently by the modern cult of technology and the 'social', from Descartes and Locke to Marx. Does loyalty to the political require us to renounce philosophy, or which philosophy? What critical counterpoint do ancient Greece and Rome offer in this regard? Must we really set aside the 'social question', if it leads to the sacrifice of plurality and civic participation? What 'other' modernity does Arendt invite us to invent, in an age of climate breakdown, the digital catastrophe, and feminist and decolonial struggles?
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
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Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Formation de premier cycle en philosophie et/ou en sciences humaines, sociales et juridiques.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
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Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Face-to-face course
Additional information:
3th Floor Philosophy. Thursday 4-7 PM
Course materials and recommended or required readings
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Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
oral exam
Written work / report
Further information:
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam AND oral exam
Written work / report
Additional information:
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Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
e.delruelle@uliege.be
chiara.collamati@uliege.be