Arendt On Augustine's "Love

Augustine,as an important guide for Arendt’s reflection on love,had a significant impact on the formation and development of her political ideology.On the basis of a deep understanding of Augustine’s works,Arendt incorporated Augustine’s "love" into his political ideological framework,committed to exploring the hidden love and care behind his works and ideas.Her doctoral thesis explores the issue of love in three contexts: facing the future,returning to the past,and social life.In the first two contexts,Arendt starts from the context of social life,explains the relationship between individuals and neighbors from the perspective of equality of situation and common beliefs,and proves that love for neighbors is reasonable and appropriate.The reason why Arendt defended the love of his neighbors was in the hope of finding a way to rebuild the public sphere.The rise of the social sphere has been accompanied by the destruction of both the public and private spheres,erasing individual differences and public freedom.The decline of the public sphere has deeply saddened Arendt,and she actively explores methods to rebuild the public sphere,with the aim of restoring human dignity and value.Love means responsibility.Starting from friendship,Arendt explains that when people communicate and discuss public affairs as friends,they are in a relationship of mutual equality and respect,and the comprehensibility in friendship is an important ability to establish political needs.Arendt calls on and encourages people to actively enter the public sphere and participate in the construction of political life,to take on the love and responsibility for others and the world,to jointly build and maintain the public world in which people live as friends and companions,and to build a harmonious,friendly,and equal political community.