Keywords
Augustine
Bielik-Robson
modernity
emancipation
contingency
How to Cite
Abstract
This article is a presentation of Hannah Arendt’s doctoral thesis published
in 1929 and devoted to the notion of love in Augustine (Der Liebesbegriff bei
Augustin). Its aim is to demonstrate the originality of Arendt’s work towards her
major influence and object of criticism – the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Her
concept of natality, derived from Augustinian thought, opposes to being-towards-
-death. This movement makes a different conception of subjectivity possible: Heideggerian
egocentrism can be substituted by a plurality. Vitalism (as proposed by Agata
Bielik-Robson) is noticeable in the interpretational efforts of Arendt and defends
a particular subjectivity against dissolution of any kind into Wholeness. Simultaneously,
a vision of a community is formed – the community of equals constructed
thanks to the recognition of contingency in conditio humana. In other words, her
argument overcomes claims to absolute freedom. Reflections from the “pretheological
sphere” (Arendt) take the form of philosophical anthropology, crucial to subsequent
Arendtian thought. Speculations concerning a notion of God are linked
with the dissimilar approaches to a neighbor’s love. This is reflected in the problem
of the constitution of dependent subjectivity, the main feature of which is a dialectically
understood gratitude: the recognition of one’s dependence is a first step to
overcoming it. It corresponds with a complicated attitude towards modernity far
from simple resolutions: a sense of historicity builds a strategic position as a condition
of successful emancipation.
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