The Study On Arendt’s Thoughts Of "Human" And "Plurality"

This thesis proceeds from Arendt’s magnum opus The Human Condition and takes Arendt’s unique understanding on the "plurality" of the human condition as pointcut,in purpose of deeply digging the critical theory of modernity that Arendt built around human.This thesis considers that human "plurality" is divided into two characteristics as natural attribute and social attribute.Natural attribute appears as the innate natural environmental condition of human being as groups.Social attribute refers that in the process of political participation,confirming self-reality by the expression of self speech and action also others’ presence,which is to confirm reality and existence by interactivity and diversity.In brief,"plurality" represents both the multitude of quantity and the diversification of individuality.From Arendt’s view,"plurality" is an inherent and unique condition of human.It is both the origin of modernity disease and also the way out of modernity crisis.The core of Arendt’s modernity critique through political philosophy focuses on the universal fundamental basical and metaphysical understanding of human beings.She acquaints the existing way of human from the point of phenomenology and considers human as "the prescriber of the situation".She divides human’s living status by trichotomy into three situations: living inevitability,cosmopolitan,and plurality,which correspond to specific activity mode of labour,production,and action,and also three living space of private space,social space,and public space.She accounts that the division of human condition has strict hierarchy and ascendency.The modernity crisis precisely generated by the perversion of orders,which results in the loss of human "plurality",and also the domination of totalitarianism featured by homogeneity and homogenization.Therefore,the world of modernity crisis is the "Dark Ages" in which human’s rational thinking and the ability of critical transcendence are annihilated.However,Arendt holds a humanity expectation on the redemption of modernity,and believes that the key to solve these problems still lies on human themselves,instead of institutions or other external forms.She accounts that "plurality" is the fundamental human condition with both natural attribute and social attribute,in addition,natural attribute has not vanished yet,and the dissolution of its social attribute has not completed either,which means "plurality" is the reliable condition that originates an "action" with new functions.Therefore,she hopes that people may re-recognize their unchangeable pluralistic conditions,and be able to consciously use the ability and consciousness of "action" and participation to rebuild the public domain.Proceeding from the fundamental condition of "plurality" and standing on the view of political philosophy and the method of phenomenology,Arendt criticizes Marx for attributing all the problems of modern capitalist society merely onto the dimensionality of economic material production.She considers this standpoint as an utmost esteem of the "labour" which only concerns on satisfying living inevitability,that makes people to be addicted into production and consumption of the living link,and seriously constrains human’s critical and creative "action",which comes up to the main cause of the modernity crisis of pluralistic dissolution.Therefore,Arendt considers Marx as the initiator of the totalism modernity crisis which replaces possibility with inevitability,pluralism with uniformity,and differentiation with homogeneity.She accounts that Marx’s linear progressive view of historical materialism negated the possibilities of diversity and occasionality,and also politically facilitates bureaucratism even results in violent governance by "patriarchy" totalitarianism,which represents the arch criminal of Utopia totalitarian tragedy.Obviously,Arendt’s misinterpretation of Marx is extremely serious,which manifested as opposing essentialism of Marxism on the issue of human beings,and then falls into relativism and nihilism;Mis-explaining Marxist perspective of "labour creates human beings" on the issue of human’s "labouring" practice,which simplifies Marxist abundant thoughts on human’s labour and practice and interprets itself in its own philosophical discourse then falls into discourse hegemonism and egocentricism;On the level of human social historical development,Arendt denies Marxist view of historical progress,and strives to make prominent of the historical occasionality and diversity in order to doubt about the inevitability and integrality,as well as utilize classical republican thoughts to promote Utopian ideology which eventually caught in revivalism sentiment.