The Politics of Beginnings

At a moment when many suggest that the end of an era has been reached, and when struggles against climate change, exploitation, neocolonialism, patriarchy, and racism proliferate, what role can Arendt’s account of political beginnings play in the conceptualization of a new time? Arendt has been celebrated as a key theorist of politics, freedom, and judgement. Yet she has also been questioned when it comes to her understanding of the social question, the public-private divide, or the persistence of structures of systemic injustice. Is her work then still timely for understanding how to begin anew?

This conference will test the wide influence and perseverance, the attraction but also the criticism, of Arendt’s thought by recentering her approach to political beginnings. Arendt’s attempts to understand political beginnings animate her work. From her doctoral dissertation on Augustine to her posthumous book, The Life of the Mind, beginnings are omnipresent in her oeuvre. Conceiving Arendt’s attempts as an open legacy, digging up the plurality and worldliness, the tragic and agonistic character of beginnings, the conference aims to investigate how and why political beginnings are set off ‘not by the strength of one architect but by the combined power of the many’.

In English

How to Attend

• At the venue (registration required): Please register using this form (registration will open on 1 February 2023).
• Public livestream (no registration required) partially available on this page with the possibility to ask questions via chat.

Kindly observe the following COVID-19-Visitor Guidelines prior to your visit.

With

Fina Birulés
Adriana Cavarero
Anne Eusterschulte
Simona Forti
Rodolphe Gasché
Eva Geulen
Bonnie Honig
Rahel Jaeggi
Thomas Meyer
Samuel Moyn
Diego Rossello