Love and Saint Augustine

From Library Journal
Twentieth-century political philosopher Arendt (1906-75) began her professional career in 1929 with her dissertation on Augustine's concept of caritas. Nearly 40 years and several popularly received books later, she began to revise her original text. Here, for the first time in English, professors Scott (Eastern Michigan Univ.) and Stark (Seton Hall Univ.) present Arendt's original and her revisions. The original text is followed by an interpretive essay by Scott and Stark that will provide insight for students of philosophy and interest to Arendt scholars. Both the dissertation and the accompanying essay are accessible to informed lay readers. Scott and Stark's conclusions about the cohesive evolution of Arendt's thought are compelling but leave room for continuing discussion. Recommended for academic libraries and larger public libraries.Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Book News, Inc.
An edited and revised English translation of Arendt's 1929 doctoral thesis at the U. of Heidelberg on the topic of Saint Augustine's concept of caritas, or neighborly love. The text incorporates her own substantial revisions and provides additional notes based on letters, documents, and the recollections of friends and colleagues during her later years. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.


Book Description
Hannah Arendt began her scholarly career with an exploration of Saint Augustine's concept of caritas, or neighborly love, written under the direction of Karl Jaspers and the influence of Martin Heidegger. After her German academic life came to a halt in 1933, Arendt carried her dissertation into exile in France, and years later took the same battered and stained copy to New York. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, as she was completing or reworking her most influential studies of political life, Arendt was simultaneously annotating and revising her dissertation on Augustine, amplifying its argument with terms and concepts she was using in her political works of the same period. The disseration became a bridge over which Arendt traveled back and forth between 1929 Heidelberg and 1960s New York, carrying with her Augustine's question about the possibility of social life in an age of rapid political and moral change.

In Love and Saint Augustine, Joanna Vecchiarelli Scott and Judith Chelius Stark make this important early work accessible for the first time. Here is a completely corrected and revised English translation that incorporates Arendt's own substantial revisions and provides additional notes based on letters, contracts, and other documents as well as the recollections of Arendt's friends and colleagues during her later years.




Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German


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Provides fascinating insights into the conceptual framework that appears to have been foundational for all Arendt's work....The publication of this manuscript and the accompanying commentary contributes enormously to our understanding of Hannah Arendt. -- Review of Politics


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