2018 ICSI Public Lecture: Richard J. Bernstein - The Relevance of Hannah Arendt

The Institute for Critical Social Inquiry will open part of its programming to the public – a series of lectures taught by this Summer's faculty cohort of Richard J. Bernstein (NSSR), Nilüfer Göle (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales), and Jean and John Comaroff (Harvard University).

THE RELEVANCE OF HANNAH ARENDT

Since her death in 1975 there has been a growing international interest in the work of Hannah Arendt. She was remarkably perceptive about the perplexities and problems of the contemporary world that have intensified in recent years. She thought deeply about “dark times” as well about the sources of illumination. In this seminar we will explore several interrelated themes that have contemporary relevance. These will include: 1) Statelessness, Refugees, and the “Right to Have Rights”; 2) Totalitarianism and Total Domination; 3) Politics and Public Freedom; 4) Truth, Politics, and Lying; 5) Radical Evil and the Banality of Evil.

Richard J. Bernstein is Vera List Professor of Philosophy and former Dean of the New School for Social Research. His interests span Pragmatism, Anglo-American, and Continental philosophy, with an emphasis on social and political questions.

About the Institute:
The Institute for Critical Social Inquiry (ICSI) is designed to provide advanced graduate students and junior faculty from around the world with the opportunity to spend one week at the New School’s campus in Greenwich Village working closely with some of the most distinguished thinkers shaping the course of contemporary social inquiry. Each of these scholars will teach a week-long seminar on a foundational thinker or topic of contemporary concern in a series of hands-on, intensive, and intimate sessions.

Location:
Johnson/Kaplan Auditorium
63 5th Ave, New York, NY
Monday, June 11, 2018 at 5:30 pm

[Depierres]

At 1:13:40, the question raising the issue of the environmental or ecological crisis is entirely on target and hits a real blind spot in Arendt's doctrine. There appears to be an unquestioned (or unthought) belief in endless growth and innovation in it. Apparently, she did not read "The Limits to Growth", which was published in 1972. Or else, she did not take it seriously. Nor did she seem to heed Günther Anders's warnings in that respect. But the lure of natality was great.