SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.66 issue165Charles Taylor’s Thought on Consensus“The Total Character of the World” Outline of an Ontology of Chaos in Nietzsche author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Journal

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • Have no similar articlesSimilars in SciELO
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


Ideas y Valores

Print version ISSN 0120-0062

Abstract

TOTSCHNIG, Wolfhart. Arendt’s notion of natality an attempt at clarification. Ideas y Valores [online]. 2017, vol.66, n.165, pp.327-346. ISSN 0120-0062.  https://doi.org/10.15446/ideasyvalores.v66n165.55202.

Arendt claims that our natality (i.e., our condition of being born) is the "source" or "root" of our capacity to begin (i.e., of our capacity to initiate something new). But she does not fully explain this claim. How does the capacity to begin derive from the condition of birth? That Arendt does not immediately and unambiguously provide an answer to this question can be seen in the fact that her notion of natality has received very different interpretations. In the present paper, I seek to clarify the notion. I bring together and examine Arendt's scattered remarks about natality and propose a new interpretation that responds to the stated question. Along the way, I show how the various existing interpretations have arisen and argue that, in view of that question, they are inadequate.

Keywords : H. Arendt; capacity to begin; natality; plurality.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English     · English ( pdf )