Arendt's Political Thought in the Age of Migrants and Refugees
New School for Social Research: Philosophy
CRN: 15993
Credits: 3
How fitting is Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy to address the summation of the crises of late capitalism that fall under the heading of climate change, namely, ecological destruction, increasing inequality, poverty, and, most explicitly and particularly, the dire consequence of all this: a world of migrants and refugees? The pulse of Arendt’s political thought is the claim that political action is an irreducible and necessary form of human meaningfulness. Her model of lives decimated by exclusion from the political were stateless persons and refugees during World War II – the argument of The Origins of Totalitarianism. In response to the devastation of statelessness, she constructed her theory of political ‘action,’ as opposed to ‘labor’ or ‘work,’ in The Human Condition; revolutionary founding in On Revolution; civil disobedience; and the idea of the right to have rights. Aytem Gündoğdu and Étienne Balibar have already deployed Arendtian materials to address contemporary struggles of migrants. We shall place these accounts in relation to other recent writings on migrants and refugees, including by Arash Abizadeh, David Owen and others.
College: New School for Social Research (GF)
Department: Philosophy (GPHI)
Campus: New York City (GV)
Course Format: Lecture (L)
Modality: In-Person
Max Enrollment: 25
Add/Drop Deadline: September 11, 2023 (Monday)
Online Withdrawal Deadline: November 19, 2023 (Sunday)
Seats Available: Yes
Status: Open*
* Status information is updated every few minutes. The status of this course may have changed since the last update. Open seats may have restrictions that will prevent some students from registering. Updated: 8:10pm EDT 5/28/2023