GOVT 6895

Politics and the Speaking Animal

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025.

According to Aristotle, human beings are political animals because they are speaking animals. What's the connection? What are its implications? Is it anti-political to use violence to compel silence, or to vest authority in philosophical insights beyond language, or to coordinate action mechanically or algorithmically? Is this association of politics with speech ideological, a way of valorizing some utterances while casting others as mere noise? What are the implications of the double gesture of affirming human animality while simultaneously elevating humans above other animals? We'll pursue these questions through a close engagement with the political theory of Hannah Arendt, whom we'll place in critical conversation with a wide range of other ancient, modern, and contemporary sources.

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