Let's get this discussion underway...

Chris OConnor

I just bought a copy of the book and will do my very best to read and participate. Has anyone else purchased the book yet? And do we have a volunteer for discussion leader?

Mr. Pessimistic · Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:56 pm Post subject:

I have mine on hold from the library!

Mr. P.

MadArchitect · Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 2:44 am Post subject:

I'm going to be pretty busy for the next couple of days, but I'll definitely get a copy sometime this weekend or early next week. And I'll since I suggested the book in the first place, I'll be glad to serve as discussion leader. But feel free to get started without me. I'll make up for lost time as soon as I have my copy.

irishrose · Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:03 am Post subject:

Amazon just today shipped Responsibility and Judgment, which I ordered Tuesday evening. For some reason, it had been put on hold and shipped after the rest of my order. I’ll jump in as soon as I receive it.

Curiously, Mad, though you insist that Responsibility and Judgment is “political philosophy” and not “philosophy,” this title sat in the Western Philosophy section of my book store, as opposed to Arendt’s other titles, such as The Promise of Politics and On Revolution, which can be found in the Government and Politics section.

I think I may have been snookered into reading philosophy…*gasp*

seeker · Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 7:10 pm Post subject:

I've ordered a copy from Amazon and will participate as soon as I get it.

MadArchitect · Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:18 pm Post subject:

Not snookered, Rose, but I probably do owe you an apology. I broke down a bought my copy today (rather than later on in the weekend, as I had planned), and from reading the introduction, it looks as though the essays collected in this volume are primarily about the intersection of politics and morality. So there probably will be a fairly strong philosophical component to the book, but I promise that I didn't know that before hand. My only prior experience with Arendt is "Eichmann in Jerusalem" and "The Origins of Totalitarianism", both of which are about politics in the modern era. "Eichmann" does involve some moral consideration -- hence the coinage "banality of evil" -- but that consideration is still rooted in political reality.

In fact, even though the book isn't quite what I supposed it to be beforehand, I can almost guarantee you that it won't deal with generalities or hypothetical situations, as philosophical discourse is prone to do. Arendt's thought is almost uniformly concerned with specific, concrete situations. At the very least, you can espect the essays in the book to deal with modern history in broad strokes. And it's pretty likely that particular essays will deal with specific events in fuller detail. At any rate, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

MadArchitect · Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:24 pm Post subject:

So, hey, Chris, did you want me to serve as discussion leader? I'm ready to jump in and post some meta-discussion (ways to structure conversation, etc.), but I didn't want to presume.

Chris OConnor · Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:47 am Post subject:

Yes, Mad, please do act as discussion leader. I'll add your name to the forum description right now.

And structure the discussion however you see fit. Julian is approaching the discussion of The Lucifer Effect a little differently than usual in that he is not opting for chapter threads. You can handle this book discussion however you think will be best.

JulianTheApostate · Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:25 pm Post subject:

I haven't decided yet whether to read this book. I'm in the middle of two books right now, and I'm pretty busy for the rest of the year.

I'll wait and see how active the discussion is and what the rest of you think of the book.

Niall001 · Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:25 pm Post subject:

So I ordered this book today after reading a little bit of the Cambridge companion to Arendt. Anybody wondering about ordering the book might want to do the same, since it's available free online.


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