New book series: Reading Arendt Today

I’m pleased to announce that Anne Eusterschulte, Thomas Wild and I are co-editing a new book series with De Gruyter called “Reading Arendt Today,” which will publish new interpretations of the work of Hannah Arendt, including its contexts, genesis, reception, and significance, informed by contemporary developments in political theory, philosophy, history, literary and cultural studies, and other fields. The series aims to highlight scholarship that makes use of the new Critical Edition of Arendt’s works, and will be part of a cluster “On Arendt” at De Gruyter, along with another exciting new series called “Thinking With Arendt,” edited by Roger Berkowitz and Jana Schmidt; more details in the flyer above (click for a larger version)!

Arendt Critical Edition / Kritische Gesamtausgabe news and events

   

On November 14, 2023, the editorial team of the Hannah Arendt Critical Edition (I’m one of the general editors) will officially launch the digital webportal of the edition — a terrific research tool that goes well beyond simply presenting digital versions of the material in the print volumes (3 of which have appeared so far, with The Life of the Mind nearing publication too). If you happen to be in Berlin, there will be a launch event at the Freie Universität Berlin, which you can also attend online (the presentation will be in German, but note that the webportal is bilingual); more information about the event is available here. The general project webpage is here (the current link to the webportal takes you to an early beta version only).

Poiēsis and other courses

The classroom now contains a copy of the syllabus of my current graduate seminar, co-taught with Jill Frank (how lucky am I?), called “Contemporaries Read Ancients: Poiēsis.” In Spring 2024 I’ll repeat “Power and Freedom: Words, Concepts, Politics,” and also teach an undergraduate seminar for Government majors (others are welcome too!) on “Marx’s Critique of Capitalism.”

new syllabi posted

Now that the new year has begun, I’ve finally gotten around to updating the classroom with syllabi from three new courses: “Power and Freedom: Words, Concepts, Politics,” from last Fall, which I’ll teach again in Spring 2024; “Twentieth Century Political Theory,” from this Spring (“too old to be immediately applicable to pressing contemporary problems, but also too new to be venerated for its timeless wisdom,” which, come to think of it, applies to the professor as well as the subject-matter); and, also from this Spring, a new graduate seminar on Hobbes’s Leviathan. Next year, in addition to “Power and Freedom,” I’ll be co-teaching a graduate seminar with Jill Frank, and teaching an undergraduate “major seminar” on “Marx’s Critique of Capitalism.”

2022-2023 classes announced

I’ve updated the classroom with the Spring 2022 version of my Introduction to Political Theory syllabus. Next year, I’ll be handing that class over to my colleagues and developing some new classes, including an undergraduate course on “Power and Freedom,” another undergraduate course on “Twentieth-Century Political Thought,” and a new graduate seminar on Hobbes’s Leviathan.

fall 2021 syllabus

the DRAFT syllabus for weeks 77-92 of the pandemic my fall 2021 Arendt seminar is now available in the classroom. It will be replaced by a version with live links by the end of the month.

spring 2021 courses

the draft syllabus for the redesigned GOVT 1615, Introduction to Political Theory, is now available (v1, January 2021). the draft syllabus for GOVT 4000 / 6495, The Politics of Critical Theory, is also available (v1, January 2021). Updated versions will be added have been added to the classroom.

field seminar

The syllabus for Government 6075, the graduate Field Seminar in Political Thought, is now available. (v5, final revision, updated November 2020)

Political Tectonics / Politieke Tektoniek

 

I’m pleased to announce that my article “Political Tectonics” has appeared, in English and in Dutch translation, in a special issue of OASE Journal for Architecture / Tijdschrift voor architectuur called “Reflections on Architecture with Hannah Arendt,” edited by Hans Teerds, Christoph Grafe, and Catherine Koekoek. I believe it’s only available in print for now, but an ebook is coming. (And if this interests you, you also won’t want to miss the excellent recent collection on Political Theory and Architecture edited by Duncan Bell and Bernardo Zacka.)

 

“Power, Attention, and the Tasks of Critical Theory,” a critical comment on the recent work of Rainer Forst, has also (reportedly) appeared in the collection Toleration, Power, and the Right to Justification, though my copy still hasn’t arrived from the publisher…which I suppose gives me extra time to steel myself for Rainer’s reply!

 

some announcements

The only-very-slightly-modified syllabus for GOVT 1615, “Introduction to Political Theory,” is now available in the classroom. Stay tuned for a more radically revised version of this course in 2021.