Abstract
The aim of the chapter is to compare Arendt’s reception in both the intellectual and academic fields of two European countries, Germany and Italy, which experienced similar transformations in correspondence with three global conjunctures of crises: the defeat of fascist regimes, the student protest in 1968, and the end of the cold war. The main goal is to understand to what extent these social and political moments of crisis had similar impacts on the rebirth and development of the social sciences and humanities in the two countries and, as a consequence, how they conditioned the ways in which Hannah Arendt has been received and eventually consecrated.
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Notes
- 1.
If we look, for example, at Arendt’s reception in German newspapers up to the mid-1960s, before getting tenure, she was either mentioned as a “writer” or as “Frau Arendt” (cf. Grüning 2017). Her masterpiece The Human Condition (Arendt 1958) presents an especially literary style, whereas her most controversial works, Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963) and Reflections on Little Rock (1959), were originally journalistic essays.
- 2.
I refer here, in particular, to: (1) her exile in the United States during the Nazi Regime as a Jewish-born intellectual; (2) her antagonism with Adorno, especially because of the intellectual heritage of Walter Benjamin; and (3) to her love affair with Martin Heidegger when she was still his student.
- 3.
For the German case, the analysis is limited to the German Federal Republic.
- 4.
The journals database has been constructed from the following sources: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com; serial.unibo.it; www.rivisteweb.it; www.torrerossa.it; webofknowledge.com; www.worldcat.org. The databases include all the articles published in Germany and Italy that indicate the name Hannah Arendt in the title. In addition, to identify Arendt’s core mediators I have used the following national bibliographical sources: www.dnb.de; www.sbn.it; http://opac.bncf.firenze.sbn.it. The interviews quoted here draw from a sample of 30 interviews I carried out with Arendt’s mediators in Germany (18) and in Italy (12) from October 2014 until March 2017.
- 5.
An analysis of newspaper articles on Hannah Arendt (Die Zeit) can be found in Grüning (2017).
- 6.
General journals are considered to occupy a central position, whereas specialized journals hold a peripheral position.
- 7.
Interview with Simona Forti (April 2015).
- 8.
As Lars Rensmann said during his interview (October 2015, my translation): “They control the market on Arendt’s works.”
- 9.
Both in Germany and in Italy, Arendt’s reception in handbooks and textbooks started in the 1990s.
- 10.
She also co-founded the Arendt-Preis by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, close to the Green Party. In his interview, Peter Rüdel (March 2017) confirmed the close relationship between some Arendt scholars and the intellectual milieu around the Green Party (Die Grünen).
- 11.
See interviews with Lars Rensmann (October 2015) and Peter Rüdel (March 2017).
- 12.
For example, the “Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung,” a state institution created in 1991 and devoted to “political education.” The institution promotes collaborations with both scholars and media.
- 13.
Interview with Stephan Gosepath (August 2015).
- 14.
See Habermas, Jürgen. 1999. “Der Zeigefinger. Die Deutschen und ihr Denkmal.” Die Zeit, March 31: 41–43.
- 15.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: German Core Authors of Works on Arendt
Name | Discipline | Reception | Career | Last position | N. work | Period |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ernst Vollrath | Philosophy | Mid | y | H | 3 | 1972–1996 |
Alfons Söllner | Political theory | Mid | y | H | 6 | 1987–2011 |
Wolfgang Heuer | Political theory | Early | n | L | 9 | 1987–2011 |
Karl Heinz Breier | Political theory | Early | y | H | 5 | 1992–2012 |
Otto Kallscheuer | Political theory | Mid | y | H | 4 | 1993–2010 |
Barbara Hahn | Literature | Mid | y | H | 4 | 1994–2012 |
Antonia Grunenberg | Political theory | Late | y | H | 9 | 1995–2013 |
Roland Schindler | Sociology | Early | n | / | 3 | 1996–2003 |
Christina Schues | Philosophy | Early | n | L | 5 | 1997–2011 |
Rahel Jaeggi | Philosophy | Early | n | L | 5 | 1997–2008 |
Winfried Thaa | Political theory | Middle | y | H | 7 | 1997–2011 |
Grit Strassenberger | Political theory | Early | y | M | 4 | 1999–2015 |
Christa Schnabl | Theology | Early | y | M | 3 | 1999–2009 |
Hauke Brunkhorst | Sociology | Late | n | H | 4 | 1999–2011 |
Waltraud Meints-Stender | Political education | Early | n | L | 5 | 1999–2012 |
Annette Vowinckel | History | Early | n | M | 5 | 1999–2004 |
Christina Thürmer-Rohr | Educational science | Late | n | H | 4 | 2000–2006 |
Claudia Althaus | Social science | Early | n | / | 4 | 2000–2007 |
Micha Brumlik | Educational science | Late | n | H | 4 | 2003–2008 |
Julia Schulze | Political theory | Early | y | m | 5 | 2003–2015 |
Lars Rensmann | Political theory | Early | y | H | 3 | 2003–2010 |
Christian Volk | Political theory | Early | y | m | 5 | 2005–2015 |
Peter Trawny | Philosophy | Middle | n | H | 5 | 2005–2008 |
Thomas wild | Literature | Early | n | l | 3 | 2005–2009 |
Liliane Weissberg | Literature | Late | n | H | 4 | 2005–2012 |
Olivier Marchart | Political philosophy/sociology | Early | n | H | 3 | 2005–2007 |
Stefanie Rosenmüller | Philosophy of law | Early | y | m | 5 | 2007–2015 |
Appendix 2: Italian Core Authors of Works on Arendt
Name | Discipline | Reception | Career | Last position | N. work | Period |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pier Paolo Portinaro | Political philosophy | Early | n | H | 4 | 1983–1987 |
Teresa Serra | Political philosophy | Early | y | H | 5 | 1984–2012 |
Alessandro dal Lago | Sociology | Early | y | H | 5 | 1985–2006 |
Roberto Esposito | Literature/h. pol. Th./theor. Philosophy | Early | y | H | 8 | 1985–2001 |
Simona Forti | History of political thought | Early | y | H | 10 | 1988–2008 |
Adriana Cavarero | Political philosophy | Middle | y | H | 6 | 1989–2008 |
Francesco Fistetti | History of philosophy | Middle | y | H | 7 | 1989–2007 |
Laura Boella | Moral philosophy | Middle | y | H | 9 | 1991–2015 |
Paolo Costa | Philosophy | Early | y | M | 4 | 1993–2003 |
Elena Taviani | Esthetics | Early | y | H | 4 | 1993–2013 |
Alessandra papa | Moral philosophy | Early | n | L | 3 | 1993–2010 |
Laura Bazzicalupo | Political philosophy | Early | y | H | 8 | 1993–2005 |
Eugenia Parise | History of political thought | ? | y | H | 4 | 1993–2010 |
Renata Viti Cavaliere | Theoretical philosophy | Middle | y | H | 12 | 1995–2006 |
Luca Savarino | Political philosophy | Early | n | m | 6 | 1996–2003 |
Ilaria Possenti | Philosophy/political philosophy | Early | y | m | 3 | 1998–2005 |
Olivia Guaraldo | Political philosophy | Early | y | h | 5 | 1999–2014 |
Paolo Terenzi | Sociology | Early | y | h | 4 | 1999–2005 |
Giorgio Rizzo | Theoretical philosophy | Early | n | m | 3 | 2004–2014 |
Natascia Matteucci | Political philosophy | Early | n | h | 3 | 2008–2013 |
Ruggero D’Alessandro | Sociology | Late | n | / | 3 | 2011–2015 |
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Grüning, B. (2020). The Troubled Legitimation of Hannah Arendt in the German and Italian Intellectual Field: 1962–2015. In: Sapiro, G., Santoro, M., Baert, P. (eds) Ideas on the Move in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Socio-Historical Studies of the Social and Human Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35024-6_10
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