Arendt and Adorno: Political and Philosophical Investigations

Published by Stanford University Press 2012

Arendt and Adorno

Political and Philosophical Investigations

Edited by: Lars Rensmann and Samir Gandesha

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804782579

Overview
Contents

About this book

The first comparative study of two of the most influential political philosophers and theorists of the twentieth century, Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno, this book reconstructs affinities and tensions between the two thinkers and shows their relevance for political theory and philosophy in our time.

Author / Editor information

Lars Rensmann is DAAD Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He is the author of The Frankfurt School and Antisemitism: Politics, Theory, and Philosophy (forthcoming) and, with Andrei S. Markovits, Gaming the World: How Sports are Reshaping Global Politics and Culture (2010). Samir Gandesha is Associate Professor of Modern European Thought and Culture and Director of the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University.

Reviews

Douglas Moggach:
"This cogent, insightful account of two major intellectual figures seeks to reconstruct their theoretical contexts, to identify their respective contributions, and to establish their continuing relevance. It offers an important defense of a difference-sensitive universalism against particularisms of all kinds, from religious fundamentalism to postmodern identity fetishism. This volume helps to renew critical theory and mobilize its resources in order to explain and assess modernity."

Bryant William Sculos:
"Theodor W. Adorno and Hannah Arendt are two of the most important and controversial theorists of the twentieth century. Lars Rensmann's and Samir Gandesha's Arendt and Adorno is the first and only existing English language collection of essays delving into the interconnections, overlaps, and disagreements within the respective oeuvres of these German-American émigrés . . . Arendt and Adorno, in sophisticated and experimental fashion, provides a primarily academic audience with a much needed addition to the current debates (or more often lack of debate) between Arendtians and more classical Frankfurt School critical theorists, as well as an inspiring introduction for those who have only recently become interested in these thinkers."

Marica Morgan:
"The essays in this highly illuminating and thought-provoking volume are intricately and convincingly crafted to create new levels in the understanding of Arendt and Adorno as individuals, and in grasping the philosophic relationship between them, despite and because of their differences."

Peg Birmingham:
"Arendt and Adorno: Political and Philosophical Investigations is a long overdue and much needed volume that takes the gaze off the personal relationship and focuses instead on the many theoretical affinities between the two thinkers . . . [O]n the whole [the essays] offer a very rich and nuanced understanding of the convergences and divergences between Adorno's and Arendt's thought."

Stephen Eric Bronner:
"Hannah Arendt and T.W. Adorno are rarely discussed in the same breath. This fine collection draws out points of overlap and causes the reader to pause and reflect about their similarities and differences on important issues."

Fred Dallmayr:
"The book assembles the most distinguished experts on Arendt and Adorno. Despite the mutual antipathy between the two thinkers, the study reveals they had a surprising affinity, especially with regard to the critique and rethinking of modernity."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Contributors Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
One. Understanding Political Modernity Rereading Arendt and Adorno in Comparative Perspective Lars Rensmann and Samir Gandesha Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One. Political Modernity, Theory, and Philosophy
Two. Arendt and Adorno The Elusiveness of the Particular and the Benjaminian Moment Seyla Benhabib Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Three. Political Modernism The New, Revolution, and Civil Disobedience in Arendt and Adorno J. M. Bernstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
Four. From the Critique of Identity to Plurality in Politics Reconsidering Adorno and Arendt Dana Villa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
Five. Passion Lost, Passion Regained Dieter Thomä Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
Part Two. Legacies of Totalitarianism, Antisemitism, and Crimes against Humanity
Six. Grounding Cosmopolitics Rethinking Crimes against Humanity and Global Political Theory with Arendt and Adorno Lars Rensmann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
Seven. Debating Human Rights, Law, and Subjectivity Arendt, Adorno, and Critical Theory Robert Fine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
Eight. Blindness and Insight The Conceptual Jew in Adorno and Arendt’s Post-Holocaust Reflections on the Antisemitic Question Jonathan Judaken Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Nine. The Paralysis of Judgment Arendt and Adorno on Antisemitism and the Modern Condition Julia Schulze Wessel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Three. Political Theory in Exile, Exile as a Theoretical Paradigm
Ten. Theorists in Exile Adorno’s and Arendt’s Reflections on the Place of the Intellectual Dirk Auer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Eleven. Homeless Philosophy The Exile of Philosophy and the Philosophy of Exile in Arendt and Adorno Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	347

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 368

eBook

Published: July 4, 2012
ISBN: 9780804782579