On Violence (Harvest Book)
by Hannah Arendt
List Price:
Our Price: $6.61
You Save: $5.39 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.25 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Hannah ArendtEdition: Paperback
Published: 1970-03-11
ISBN: 0156695006
Number of pages: 120
Publisher: Harvest Books
Book Reviews of On Violence (Harvest Book)
Book Review: Somewhat Abstract, Yet Excellent and Important
Summary: 4 Stars
Arendt's long essay/short book "On Violence" notes that war has become unglamorous and ineffective as a political force, yet it remains because we have not found an adequate replacement for this. This is perhaps understood as a more politically-minded equivalent of William James's idea 60 years earlier that we need to find a "moral equivalent of war" that will harness the cooperation and personal altruism that war can elicit, but without the horrific consequences that far outweigh the benefits.
Among the many useful concepts in Arendt's book are the definitions of power, violence, strength, force, and authority as distinct entities, despite our tendency to conflate them, or use them as synonyms. Most important is the difference between power and violence, which Arendt suggests are often found together but are in fact opposite in many ways. Specifically, while violence can undo power, it cannot build it. Violence is not simply power expressed in its most brutish fashion.
Also important is the final third of the book, in which Arendt takes apart the notion that political violence is somehow "natural" or part of the human condition.
In the end, it is this idea that is at the center of the book: violence is routinely accepted as inevitable--as a given in human society. Arendt asks us to acknowledge the much more troubling truth: violence is conscious human action. It should not be natrualized or taken for granted or romanticized, but carefully examined.
The book is well-written, yet dense and often casually drops historical and philosophical references without much explanation for the uninitiated reader. Despite that, it is readable despite its often abstract nature. It doesn't leave you with a clear call to specific action, but by openly questioning longstanding myths about violence and its alleged utility in solving political problems, it does a great service.
Summary of On Violence (Harvest Book)
An analysis of the nature, causes, and significance of violence in the second half of the twentieth century. Arendt also reexamines the relationship between war, politics, violence, and power. “Incisive, deeply probing, written with clarity and grace, it provides an ideal framework for understanding the turbulence of our times”(Nation). Index.
Politics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in The Future of Philosophy
The Time That Remains: A Commentary on the Letter to the Romans (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)by Giorgio Agamben
Stanford University Press; Published: 2005-11-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity (Short Circuits)by Slavoj Zizek
The MIT Press; Published: 2003-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.91
Price in other shops:
The Implications of Immanence: Toward a New Concept of Life (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)by Leonard Lawlor
Fordham University Press; Published: 2006-12-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops:
Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politicsby Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe
Verso; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.24
Price in other shops:
The Gravity of Thought (Philosophy and Literary Theory)by Jean-Luc Nancy
Humanity Books; Published: 1997-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $30.66
Price in other shops:
Reduction and Givenness: Investigations of Husserl, Heidegger, and Phenomenology (SPEP)by Jean-Luc Marion
Northwestern University Press; Published: 1998-05-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $27.30
Price in other shops:
The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)by J?rgen Habermas
The MIT Press; Published: 1990-03-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.00
Price in other shops:
Machiavelli and Usby Louis Althusser, Francois Matheron, Gregory Elliott
Verso; Published: 2001-04-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops:
Of Grammatologyby Jacques Derrida
The Johns Hopkins University Press; Published: 1998-01-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.78
Price in other shops:
Writing and Differenceby Jacques Derrida
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1980-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.71
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Men in Dark Timesby Hannah Arendt
Harvest Books; Published: 1970-03-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.40
Price in other shops:
The Wretched of the Earthby Frantz Fanon
Grove Press; Published: 2005-03-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
The Promise of Politicsby Hannah Arendt
Schocken; Published: 2007-06-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.45
Price in other shops:
Between Past and Future (Penguin Classics)by Hannah Arendt, Jerome Kohn
Penguin Classics; Published: 2006-09-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.20
Price in other shops:
Responsibility and Judgmentby Hannah Arendt
Schocken; Published: 2005-08-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.47
Price in other shops:
The Life of the Mind (Combined 2 Volumes in 1)by Hannah Arendt
Harvest/HBJ Book; Published: 1981-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.04
Price in other shops:
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Penguin Classics)by Hannah Arendt
Penguin Classics; Published: 2006-09-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.03
Price in other shops:
On Revolution (Penguin Classics)by Hannah Arendt
Penguin Classics; Published: 2006-09-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.88
Price in other shops:
The Human Condition (2nd Edition)by Hannah Arendt
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1998-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops:
The Origins of Totalitarianismby Hannah Arendt
Harvest Books; Published: 1973-03-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops: