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Ecology, labor, politics: Violence in Arendt’s Vita Activa

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Abstract

Hannah Arendt famously argued that acts of violence are corrosive to a free and plural politics. However, the broader implications of her critique of violence are less well known. Reading her concept of violence comprehensively, with regard to (ostensibly non-political) labor and work as well as action, this article reveals its broader relevance for contemporary political thought: the political question of violence lies at the heart of our ecological crisis and is crucial for the social structure of labor domination. While Arendtian politics is without normative guarantees, the conceptual distinction between instrumental violence and free politics is crucial, because it renders the political judgment of violence possible. In every realm of human activity, the refusal to acknowledge violence stunts our capacity to care for the world.

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Acknowledgments

For their thoughtful and enormously helpful comments on previous drafts, I gratefully acknowledge Amit Anshumali, Victoria Gross, Cate Fugazzola, John M. McCallum, Mary Elena Wilhoit, Patchen Markell, George Shulman, Linda M.G. Zerilli, and Rose Owen, as well as two anonymous reviewers and the editors at CPT.

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  1. Oregon Institute for Creative Research: E4, Portland, OR, 97215, USA

    Dawn Herrera

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Herrera, D. Ecology, labor, politics: Violence in Arendt’s Vita Activa. Contemp Polit Theory 22, 460–482 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-022-00612-2

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