Hannah Arendt: Critical Essays

Preface

Preface Selecting articles to appear in this collection was not an easy task. For quality control, we wanted to confine ourselves to articles that previously had appeared in scholarly journals, rather than soliciting new ones. Commencing our research, we soon found that hundreds ofessays on Arendt have been published, a large number of which are exceptionally informative and stimulating. Limitations of space restricted us to a maximum offourteen articles from this vast literature, although we easily had enough material for several volumes filled with first-rate contributions. Faced with this embarrassment of riches, we devised certain principles of selection. We decided to avoid articles that had already appeared in books or collections on Arendt. Because this was intended as an "academic" book, we also decided to exclude articles written by people of a primarily practical bent (from Solidarity activists to antinuclear protestors) who have found inspiration for their own struggles in Arendt's writings. We limited ourselves to articles that came out since her death, to make sure that the authors had had access to Arendt's entire corpus in constructing their arguments. We tried to strike a balance between sympathetic and unsympathetic commentaries, avoiding hagiographies and diatribes on the extremes. Similarly, we disqualified articles that carried on polemics with other articles that we could not reprint here. We sought a mix of eminent and less well-known authors from different countries and from various fields of study. We allowed the authors to revise IX x Preface their essays if they so desired. We excluded essays whose main purpose was to compare and contrast Arendt to other thinkers, except where a direct influence was being asserted. And, having determined which topics were sufficiently broad and important to serve as the nuclei for parts, we tried, of course, to find articles that worked well together. Initially, we planned to pair articles that took conflicting points of view, but we soon discovered that such a strategy committed us to more unevenness in quality than we were prepared to accept. So instead, we chose for each of our six parts articles that seemed either particularly original, influential, or representative ofa particular wing ofArendt scholarship, articles that-whatever their presuppositions-clarified Arendt's philosophical heritage, distinctive themes, or forms of argument. Our method ofarranging the parts themselves was loosely chronological , intended to mirror the evolution of Arendt's own interests over the course ofher career. Thus, the book begins with a part on totalitarianism and evil and ends with a part devoted to thinking and judging. Resisting the impulse to argue in print with the authors, we tried to make the brief introductions to each part as free as possible of our own interpretive biases, so that all the viewpoints expressed in the book might receive a fairer hearing. Of the many debts we incurred in compiling this volume, our largest is to the scholars who so graciously allowed us to reprint their essays. Thomas McCarthy kindly allowed us to reprint his translation of the Habermas article. Special thanks also goes to the publishers of the journals in which these articles originally appeared, most ofwhom reduced their permissions fees to affordable levels. Dennis Moran, managing editor of The Review of Politics, deserves to be singled out on this score, as well as for the helpful advice and information he offered us along the way. Ronald Beiner helped us to get in touch with people such as Lotte Kohler, the trustee of Arendt's estate, who were able to cut through problems that we had regarding permissions. We feel fortunate to have worked with SUNY Press's Clay Morgan, who was everything one could hope for in an editor: professional, patient, and supportive. The three anonymous reviewers that he selected to read our manuscript skillfully identified areas of weakness and made useful suggestions for how we might overcome them. The institutions at which we teach shared various costs of the project, thank to the generosity of Dean Owen Brady of Clarkson University and Associate Dean Betsy Cogger Preface xi Rezelman and the Research Grants Committee at St. Lawrence. The assistance ofstudents who gathered and photocopied articles for us, especially Stephen Todd and Beth Stundtner, was indispensable . We are indebted to our secretaries, Sheila Murphy, Linda Snyder, and Leona Benton, for taking time from their busy schedules to help in various ways with this project. Too numerous to name, our colleagues at both universities were as encouraging as always; we particularly appreciated the guidance of Robert...