Atavistic Novelty

This article offers a critique of Hannah Arendt’s interpretation of totalitarianism as formulated in her magnum opus—The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). It argues that, to comprehend totalitarianism, Arendt forged a heterodox method of historical analysis. Employing that method, she conceived totalitarianism as a form of transcendence of historical context. In doing so, however, she ignored crucial historical contexts that were in fact related to the history of totalitarianism. Subverting her interpretation of totalitarianism as transcendence, these elided contexts erupted inadvertently and repeatedly into her analysis—revealing that totalitarianism was solidly embedded in them. The Origins of Totalitarianism thus exhibits a conceptual contradiction that confuses its attempt to understand totalitarianism

Art · Contradiction · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Literature · Magnum opus · Novelty · Sociology · Theology · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · History · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Political Theology and Sovereignty

• The crisis of German ideology

  George L Mosse, Mosse Mosse•The crisis of German ideology•1981

  Incluir item

• The Origins of Totalitarianism

  Open Access•Hannah Arendt•On Violence•2007

  Incluir item

• France in Modern Times

  Jean T Joughin, Gordon Wright•The American Historical Review•1962

  Incluir item

• Ideology and Experience

  Michaël R Marrus, Stephen Wilson et al.•The American Historical Review•1983

  Incluir item

• The Origins of Totalitarianism

  Hannah Arendt•Princeton Readings in Political…•2018

  Incluir item

• Dictatorship in History and Theory

  Christof Mauch, David Lazar et al.•Dictatorship in History and Theory•2004

  Incluir item

• The Human Condition

  Hannah Arendt, Margaret Canovan et al.•Human Condition•2018

  Incluir item

• The Human Condition

  Hannah Arendt, Margaret Canovan•Human Condition•1998

  Incluir item

• The Rise of Political Anti-Semitism in Germany and Austria

  Helmut J Schmeller, Peter Pulzer•German Studies Review•1989

  Incluir item

• Demonizing the Jews

  R Robertson•German History•2013

  Incluir item

• The Politics of Assimilation

  John M Allswang, Michaël R Marrus•International Migration Review•1971

  Incluir item

• Into the Dark

  David A Hollinger, Stephen J Whitfield•Journal of American History•1981

  Incluir item

• Nazism, Culture and The Origins of Totalitarianism

  Steven E Aschheim•New German Critique•1997

  Incluir item

• The Self and History

  Open Access•Milen Jissov•Journal of History•2017

  Incluir item