The An-Archie Event of Natality and the "Right to Have Rights"*

Birmingham, Peg

doi:10.1524/9783050047256.269

Cited by 5 publications

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“…Natality is "the miracle that saves the world" because it staves off this threat (Arendt, 1958, p. 247). Peg Birmingham (2007) points out that there are two distinct principles of natality, or the initiative to appear before others: givenness and publicness. The public space facilitated by plurality is made up of conversation and connection between distinct but interdependent individual agents.…”

Section: Ontological Agency: Agency As Appearancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The urge to appear in the world before others is constant: "it is an initiative from which no human being can refrain and still be human" (Arendt, 1958, p. 176). Peg Birmingham (2007) points out that there are two distinct principles of natality, or the initiative to appear before others: givenness and publicness. The former refers to the unchangeable uniqueness of the individual human being.…”

Section: Ontological Agency: Agency As Appearancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Loneliness and appearance: Toward a concept of ontological agency

Lucas

2019

European J of Philosophy

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In this paper, I posit loneliness, as Hannah Arendt defines it in the final chapter of The Origins of Totalitarianism as the conceptual opposite of agency. I give a brief overview of Arendt's phenomenology of loneliness, which is the total loss of the common world—the state in which one is incapable of being an interlocutor, through thought, speech, or action, with others and, ultimately, incapable of appearing as an individual to others. Though loneliness is realised in its most extreme form in the concentration camps, it is a problem that haunts all human interaction. It is often very difficult, especially for marginalised and traumatised subjects, to give an account of themselves, indeed, to make any sense of their lives at all. I argue that this difficulty is not insurmountable and make the claim that ontological agency, understood as the appearance as oneself to others in the world (the exercise of self‐disclosure), is an irreducible and constant capacity of every individual, no matter how deeply silenced or oppressed she may have been. I argue, further, that ontological agency is a precondition for meaningful political agency, understood as the public articulation of a well‐formed opinion or judgment.

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Section: Ontological Agency: Agency As Appearancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ontological Agency: Agency As Appearancementioning

confidence: 99%

Loneliness and appearance: Toward a concept of ontological agency

Lucas

2019

European J of Philosophy

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“…In her words, “the event of natality, with its inherent principle of humanity, provides the ontological foundation for human rights” (Birmingham , 3). The principal of humanity is the normative ground of the right to have rights, and this principle is itself rooted in the “an‐archaic event of natality” (Birmingham , 766)…”

Section: Critical Evaluations and Reassessments Of Arendtmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of scholars have responded to this and attempted to defend Arendt's approach to human rights against Benhabib's criticism. Birmingham (2006) argues that natality ought to be understood as the ontological foundation of Arendt's view of human rights, one that gives rise to a kind of normative foundation. Specifically, Birmingham demonstrates that Arendt's reformulation of human rights is rooted in a principle of common humanity that is itself rooted in natality, rather than in an autonomous subject, nature, history, or God.…”

Section: Critical Evaluations and Reassessments Of Arendtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hannah Arendt and Global Justice

Parekh

2013

Philosophy Compass

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This essay explores recent scholarship on Hannah Arendt's contribution to the field of global justice. I show that many of Arendt's ideas have been brought to bear fruitfully on some of the most pressing global issues of our day. I turn first to the area in which Arendt has, arguably, been most influential, namely human right. I then look at recent scholarship on Arendt and various issues in global justice, including immigration, statelessness, human security, global poverty, political reconciliation, and global democracy. This essay offers a critical analysis of the ways that Arendt's work has been employed in discussions of global justice and highlights the contributions that she has made to this field of thought.© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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“…Gegenüber dieser initialen, zugleich "an-archischen" (vgl. Birmingham 2007) wie im Wortsinn fundierenden, erneuernden Bedeutung hat das Handeln bei Arendt außerdem einen prozessualen, autotelischen Charakter. Es ist reiner Selbstzweck, sein Sinn menschliche Freiheit.…”

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Zwischen Natalität und ‚Muselmann‘ – Hannah Arendt und das Andere der Ordnung

Dries¹

2017

ZPTh

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Obwohl Hannah Arendt die Sozialwissenschaften ihrer Zeit geringschätzte, kann ihr Denken sozialund gesellschaftstheoretisch fruchtbar gemacht werden, sofern man nicht allein auf Arendts trennscharfe Unterscheidungen (zum Beispiel von Macht und Gewalt) fokussiert, sondern auch ihren Sinn für Paradoxa, Übergänge, Aporien und Brüche in den Blick nimmt-und bisweilen mit Arendt über Arendt hinaus oder gegen sie denkt. Unter dieser Prämisse untersucht der Aufsatz zwei eng miteinander verschränkte Schlüsselthemen Arendts: die Grundbedingung der Natalität und das Vermögen zu Handeln auf der einen, den ‚Muselmann' als Endprodukt des Konzentrationslagers auf der anderen Seite. Beide-Natalität und ,Muselmann'-markieren auf ihre Weise die Grenzen und Abgründe politischer Ordnung(sbildung). Im Ergebnis wird deutlich, dass einerseits Arendts Bild vom Lager die eigentliche Untertanenfiktion des Nationalsozialismus verstellt, während der ,Muselmann' sich als Sozialfigur der Gegenwart verstehen lässt. Andererseits ist Natalität ebenso Grund beziehungsweise Garant von Welt, wie sie deren Verhängnis werden kann.

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The An-Archie Event of Natality and the "Right to Have Rights"*

Cited by 5 publications

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Loneliness and appearance: Toward a concept of ontological agency

Loneliness and appearance: Toward a concept of ontological agency

Hannah Arendt and Global Justice

Zwischen Natalität und ‚Muselmann‘ – Hannah Arendt und das Andere der Ordnung

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