René Torkler

The paper claims that Arendt’s conception of the public implies an understanding of the cultural that she herself has never really made explicit and which is far more complex than the dominant opposition of poetic and practical activities, that characterizes her work in general. On the one hand, Arendt’s understanding of the public is connected to different modes of political interaction in the public sphere that are also of decisive importance for all cultural life. On the other hand, the hermeneutical methodology, which is characteristic of both her work and her concept of judging, is intertwined with her understanding of the public realm and thus also of some importance from a cultural-theoretical perspective. The article elaborates on the connections between these aspects of Arendt’s work. mehr