I and we: Hannah Arendt, participatory plurality, and the literary scaffolding of collective intentionality

This article examines Hannah Arendt’s contribution to notions of the “We” and tests key Arendtian concepts through relation and juxtaposition with philosophical and literary texts from different periods, thereby complicating discussions of (1) how individuals participate in, shape, and are shaped by...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Morgan, B, Rokotnitz, N, Budelmann, F, Zahavi, D
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Pennsylvania State University Press 2023
_version_ 1811139145218654208
author Morgan, B
Rokotnitz, N
Budelmann, F
Zahavi, D
author_facet Morgan, B
Rokotnitz, N
Budelmann, F
Zahavi, D
author_sort Morgan, B
collection OXFORD
description This article examines Hannah Arendt’s contribution to notions of the “We” and tests key Arendtian concepts through relation and juxtaposition with philosophical and literary texts from different periods, thereby complicating discussions of (1) how individuals participate in, shape, and are shaped by various forms of “We”; (2) how, within collective participation, individuals come to care about being themselves; and (3) to what extent literary texts enable and encourage processes of identity construction and (re)configuration. For Arendt, the “place in the world which makes opinions significant and actions effective” (2017, 387–88) is “the result of our common labor, the outcome of the human artifice” (2017, 393)—the shared practices and institutions that Wittgenstein calls “forms of life” (2009, 15). In this article, the authors argue that by exploring and critiquing “forms of life” literature can expand the range of activities we recognize as fostering “participatory sense-making” (De Jaegher and Di Paolo 2007, 465). The three literary provocations presented here—Callimachus’s “Hymn to Apollo,” Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, and Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace—all interrogate the situated interactions of “I’s” and “We’s” that instantiate the “participatory plurality” of the shared world.
first_indexed 2024-09-25T04:01:26Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:35ff94f8-5e38-404d-a671-effe3b21d62a
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-09-25T04:01:26Z
publishDate 2023
publisher Pennsylvania State University Press
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:35ff94f8-5e38-404d-a671-effe3b21d62a2024-05-02T14:24:23ZI and we: Hannah Arendt, participatory plurality, and the literary scaffolding of collective intentionalityJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:35ff94f8-5e38-404d-a671-effe3b21d62aEnglishSymplectic ElementsPennsylvania State University Press2023Morgan, BRokotnitz, NBudelmann, FZahavi, DThis article examines Hannah Arendt’s contribution to notions of the “We” and tests key Arendtian concepts through relation and juxtaposition with philosophical and literary texts from different periods, thereby complicating discussions of (1) how individuals participate in, shape, and are shaped by various forms of “We”; (2) how, within collective participation, individuals come to care about being themselves; and (3) to what extent literary texts enable and encourage processes of identity construction and (re)configuration. For Arendt, the “place in the world which makes opinions significant and actions effective” (2017, 387–88) is “the result of our common labor, the outcome of the human artifice” (2017, 393)—the shared practices and institutions that Wittgenstein calls “forms of life” (2009, 15). In this article, the authors argue that by exploring and critiquing “forms of life” literature can expand the range of activities we recognize as fostering “participatory sense-making” (De Jaegher and Di Paolo 2007, 465). The three literary provocations presented here—Callimachus’s “Hymn to Apollo,” Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, and Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace—all interrogate the situated interactions of “I’s” and “We’s” that instantiate the “participatory plurality” of the shared world.
spellingShingle Morgan, B
Rokotnitz, N
Budelmann, F
Zahavi, D
I and we: Hannah Arendt, participatory plurality, and the literary scaffolding of collective intentionality
title I and we: Hannah Arendt, participatory plurality, and the literary scaffolding of collective intentionality
title_full I and we: Hannah Arendt, participatory plurality, and the literary scaffolding of collective intentionality
title_fullStr I and we: Hannah Arendt, participatory plurality, and the literary scaffolding of collective intentionality
title_full_unstemmed I and we: Hannah Arendt, participatory plurality, and the literary scaffolding of collective intentionality
title_short I and we: Hannah Arendt, participatory plurality, and the literary scaffolding of collective intentionality
title_sort i and we hannah arendt participatory plurality and the literary scaffolding of collective intentionality
work_keys_str_mv AT morganb iandwehannaharendtparticipatorypluralityandtheliteraryscaffoldingofcollectiveintentionality
AT rokotnitzn iandwehannaharendtparticipatorypluralityandtheliteraryscaffoldingofcollectiveintentionality
AT budelmannf iandwehannaharendtparticipatorypluralityandtheliteraryscaffoldingofcollectiveintentionality
AT zahavid iandwehannaharendtparticipatorypluralityandtheliteraryscaffoldingofcollectiveintentionality