Arendt's and Foucault's shared interest in reframing the self's relation to freedom and power (PDF)

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Philosophy - Philosophy of the 20th century, grade: 76, Queen Mary University of London (School of Politics and International Relations), course: International Relations, language: English, abstract: The statement argues that the both mentioned authors only share the intent of reconceptualising freedom and power in respect to the self, thereby insinuating that their actual understandings of these concept varies quite significantly. It also assumes the political and philosophical projects of either author represent a separate duality, thereby delinking the philosophical and political from each other and representing them as singular categories independent from each other. Arendt argues that this view represents one of the oldest western traditions of political thought:

'The gulf between philosophy and politics opened historically with the trial and condemnation of Socrates, which in the history of political thought plays the same role of a turning point that the trial of Jesus play in the history of religion' (Arendt 1990: P.73)

After the trial, Plato became disillusioned with the merits of politics for philosophers and heralded the age apolitia - arguing for the disengagement of philosophy from politics, which resulted in the separation of thought from action (Arendt 1990: P. 92). Arendt forcefully rejected such division of philosophy and politics, which Minnich (1989: P. 133) explains by Arendt's personal experience of the rise of Hitler and the 'inner emigration'(Arendt 1968: P. 19) of professional thinkers, who according to her by withholding judgement became implicit collaborators (Arendt 2000a; 2003; 2006). This idea represents her key thesis of the banality of evil.
Similarly Foucault digresses from the viewpoint that philosophy and politics are independent entities and argues for a political philosophy that can answer 'how (..) the discourse of truth, or quite simply, philosophy as that discourse which par excellence is concerned with truth, (is) able to fix limits to the rights of power?'(italics in original)(Foucault 1980: P.93) Thereby actively attempting constrain political power through philosophical reflection, similarly to Arendt.

This essay will thereby first and foremost look at the philosophical projects of both authors and their political effects, because they form a political philosophy and seeing them as separate is not helpful. The two categories need to be instead seen as related, where the analysis of the former - philosophy has direct effects on our process and understanding of the latter - politics.