The purpose of this work is to reconstruct Arendt's thought on the horizon of sociological theory. By comparing Arendt with significant classical and modern sociological theorists, this work attempts to illuminate Arendt's position in the history of s ...
The purpose of this work is to reconstruct Arendt's thought on the horizon of sociological theory. By comparing Arendt with significant classical and modern sociological theorists, this work attempts to illuminate Arendt's position in the history of sociological theory. First, Arendt and Marx share the critical analysis of alienation. While Marx emphasizes self alienation from labor, Arendt focuses on world-alienation. Arendt's criticism of Marx lies in the fact that Marx's view on homo laborans implies the concept of history as a process. Second, Arendt and Weber share the criticism of positivism in pursuit of universal law in terms of historicla understanding. While Weber tries to achieve historical understanding through a scientific method, which he terms ideal types, defending objectivity and scientificity, Arendt tries to find new objectivity, that is impartiality, as an alternative showing antagonism against scientificity. For Arendt, historical understanding implies moral and political activity based on a narrator's own experience. Third, Foucault approaches history through unorthodox historiography aiming at anti-history, anti-science, and anti-humanism. He performs critical work on history by way of anlayses of discursive and institutional practices, which he terms archaeology and genealogy.Similarly, Arendt carries out unorthodox historiography through 'storytelling' seeking for anti-theory and anti-method. Arendt combines historical documents and conceptual analyses by utilizing life stories of individuals, historical events, and literatures. Fourth, The first generation of the Frankfurt School including Adorno, Horkheimer, Macuse develop the critique of modernity and technological civilizations by examining oppressions in modern society operated by formal rationality in cultural dimensions. Although Arendt criticizes the normalization of modern society caused by modernity, her emphasis lies in the destruction of the public sphere and the withdrawal from the political. In addition, Habermas, as a leading theorist of the second generation of the Frankfurt School, proceeds his work by making a distinction between work(labor or purposive rational action) and social(symbolic) interaction(communicative action). Habermas's search for an undistorted communicative action in a life world is inspired by Arendt's argument about the public sphere and her political action theory. Lastly, this work suggests theoretical and practical effects produced by the sociological theoretical reconstruction of Arendt's thought .