The Power of Forgiveness and Promise

A Reinterpretation of Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition

Abstract

The present situation of Hannah Arendt study shows increasingly elaborate and diverse aspects. However, I think that there is common understanding about her originality. That is her effort to treat each human birth as an invocation of new beginning to the world and fix this “Birth” on the central category of her political thinking. The aim of this study is to clarify the center position of Arendt's thought by surveying The Human Condition which is one of her major works. From three keywords (World Alienation, Life, Action), to begin with, we find out where she had an awareness of the issues, especially Christianity involved. Secondly, we argue about her analysis of the Totalitarianism, from which her new keyword “irresponsible co-responsibilities” emerged. Then we conclude from our consideration that the today's significance of Arendt's thought consists in her vantage point of viewing Christianity.