"An Attitude toward the Past" for Succession and Renewal of "the World"

The Temporality of Hannah Arendt's Critique of Modern Education

Abstract

This article explores the attitude towards the past within the field and context of education that is required for the inter-generational succession and renewal of “the world.” It does so by considering the educational thought of Hannah Arendt (1906-1975). It focuses on the temporal dimension at the base of Arendt’s criticism of modern education, which reveals the meaning of “an attitude toward the past,” one that she regards as indispensable to education. Arendt suggests that the purpose of education is to renew “the world,” which is, otherwise, inevitably ruined without the coming of the new and young. However, as she acutely points out, education today faces a crisis. According to Arendt, this crisis takes place against the following backdrop: education must proceed in a world that is neither structured by authority nor held together by tradition. The question now arises, how can we deal with the past without a tradition that is able to explain it? Arendt’s interpretation of Walter Benjamin in Men in Dark Times may be helpful in answering this question. Arendt regards Benjamin as a master of sorts, one who has discovered new ways of dealing with the past. To borrow Arendt’s phrase, Benjamin did his thinking without a banister. This article consists of three attempts. First, it attempts to examine the difficulty and possibility of education Arendt gestures towards in her educational criticism. Second, it tries to clarify the meaning of “an attitude toward the past” in terms of the unique tense at the base of Arendt’s argument. Third and last, it works to present the significance in education, as well as in politics, of the she directs us towards.