Arendt, Citizenship, and Education

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Arendt’s notion of a republic of citizens united by a plural collective public arena. First, we clarify that, for Arendt, authentic self determination means cooperatively bringing the human aptitude for action to refer to whatever is inaccurate in the joint arrangements. Political realms where individuals represent themselves materialize whenever citizens constitute them. The collaborative, disorganized architecture of the council system (an inverted political structure centered on local legislative bodies that are accessible to all individuals and so enable them to be involved in the government) functions as a series of interlinked arenas for democratic purposes and as a catalyst for emphasizing the meaning of the citizens’ community. What concerns power is the protest of individuals – their vigorous demonstrations in public spaces to convince other people of their ideas. Second, we observe that, for Arendt, educational action supplies individuals with a withdrawal from the deep-rooted, shaping, multiple self. The substance of politics is action as laws and institutions provide the fabric for action that can demand underlying relevance, selfcontainedness, and thus freedom. Individuals are plural beings who aim to perform and to reveal themselves, requiring a political arena of actualization to do so. As individuals are social, political action is a question of cooperation between peers. Individuals are outstanding when they exhibit their distinct individualities in the public arena. Citizens acting cooperatively identify among themselves an efficiency somewhat inconsistent with their individual resources. Third, we hold that, for Arendt, the public educational sphere cannot be established in official and actual terms but becomes a reality when individuals participate in action in relation to human meaning. Human status, i.e., the right to citizenship, represents a transcendent standard. In the public sphere, the social self must be permanently assertive.