Hannah Arendt.

 It is not as easy to meet a problematic thinker as Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) in the 20th century. Problematic here means that Arendt's idea has asked fundamental questions to humans and the world. Arendt raised and responded to questions about what human beings are and what the nature of politics is, opening up new horizons of political theory and political philosophy.

The concept that made him famous, the ordinaryity of music, properly shows Arendt's characteristics as a problematic thinker. In "Eichmann of Jerusalem (1963), which was written after watching the trial of Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal, Arendt refers to the normality of evil. What he discovered was that Eichmann was not a devil, but a normal person. His conclusion is that Eichmann's actions that faithfully carried out orders and did not think about what they meant brought about genocide. Arendt recalled the importance of thinking by asserting that unthinkable incompetence from the other's point of view is the source of evil.

Some call Arendt the 'second Rosa Luxembourg'. The two are similar in that they were Jewish intellectuals. However, if Luxembourg walked the path of revolution, Arendt lived a philosopher's life. Rather, Arendt, along with Simon de Bovoir and Susan Sontaek, is reasonable to evaluate her as a representative postwar female theorist. In addition, in the philosophical quest of modern democracy, he deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with John Rolls and Jürgen Habermas.

Arendt, who was born in Germany, moved to the United States under the oppression of the Nazis, lived stateless, and worked with citizenship, was a citizen of the world in Western society. In some thinkers, life against the times itself, as well as theory, gives us reflection and comfort. Arendt is such a thinker. Arendt, who has lived in a "dark era" like a phrase from his book title, was a thinker who passionately defended "Amor Mundi" against the darkness of the times.

■ Rediscovery of human conditions and politics

Arendt's representative works include The Origin of Totalism (1951), The Human Condition (1958), and Eichmann in Jerusalem. The reason why we pay attention to "Human Conditions" here is that it achieves the starting point of Arendt's political thought. Arendt distinguishes three activities that make up the 'active life' of humans. These are 'labor', 'work', and 'action'. Among them, the most important thing he values is behavior. Actions refer to activities that make humans human, in other words, to approve others, share communication, and realize public values within the community. He argues that the historical prototype of this act can be found in the polis of Athens, Greece. What Arendt emphasized was the separation of the public and private areas in ancient Greece. The public domain is a space where free citizens discuss together for the public good of the entire polis, and this act of discussion is none other than the original meaning of politics. What Arendt was concerned about was the dissolution of the "division of public and private affairs" in modern Western society. With the emergence of modern capitalism, labor overwhelmed other activities and the private sector began to dominate the public domain. Arendt's diagnosis is that this modern process has brought about "world alienation" in the dual sense of escaping from Earth and escaping from the world.

According to Elizabeth Young-Brull, who wrote Arendt's biography, Arendt wanted to title the book "Human Conditions" as "World Love." World love refers to human dignity and revenge, and an attitude toward the common good that exists in it.

By emphasizing world love in response to "self-love," which is consideration for existence and soul, and "world contempt" of ideology and subjectivism, Arendt tried to lay a new foundation for normative political theory of philosophical anthropology and politics on human conditions.

■ Arendt and Modern Political Ideas

Interest in Arendt's thought has increased since the 1990s. The primary reason was the rise of the Western New Social Movement and the fall of Eastern socialism. Social theorists who value civil society and democracy rediscovered Arendt's theory of the public domain and reevaluated Arendt's criticism of totalitarianism. Since then, Arendt has established himself as one of the most important political philosophers after the war to the extent that it is called the Arendt Renaissance.

The reason Arendt's idea is not old even in the 21st century is its profound insight into human existence and social publicity. What impressed me the most was the evaluation of historian Tony Jut. According to Jut, there are internal contradictions in Arendt's theory, conceptual and historical explanations are poor, and there are no specific alternatives to solve real problems. At the same time, however, Jute's conclusion is that Arendt's theorization of republican reasons, including the restoration of politeness, moderation, and public discourse, can be used as a new start for modern political theory.

Arendt's idea has a weakness of neglecting the economy. However, Arendt paid primary attention to human public activities and contemplative life and provided new possibilities for rediscovery and reconstruction of politics by presenting a comprehensive theory. Arendt is a thinker who is difficult to attribute to either conservative or progressive. He respected freedom and at the same time valued publicity. Whether in life or in society, he tried to establish a new bridge between humanities and social science by wary of both "politics without philosophy" and "philosophy without politics."

"Multiple humans who live, move, and act in this world can only experience meaning if they can talk to themselves and others and understand them." It is a phrase Arendt wrote in the introduction to "Human Conditions." The "communication of multiple humans acting" would be the insight Arendt has given to modern political thought.