Hannah Arendt's work offers a powerful critical engagement with the cultural and philosophical crises of mid-twentieth-century Europe. Her idea of the banality of evil, made famous after her report on the trial of the Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, remains controversial to this day. In the face of 9/11 and the 'war on terror', Arendt's work on the politics of freedom and the rights of man in a democratic state are especially relevant. Her impassioned plea for the creation of a public sphere through free, critical thinking and dialogue provides a significant resource for contemporary thought. Covering her key ideas from The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition as well as some of her less well-known texts, and focussing in detail on Arendt's idea of storytelling, this guide brings Arendt's work into the twenty-first century while helping students to understand its urgent relevance for the contemporary world.

-作者简介-

西蒙·斯威夫特 利兹大学英语学院批判理论和文化理论讲师，研究兴趣涉及康德、浪漫主义、美学、启蒙哲学和批判理论，著有《浪漫主义、文学和哲学：卢梭、康德、沃尔斯通克拉夫特和当代理论中的表达合理性》（Romanticism, Literature and Philosophy: Expressive Rationality in Rousseau, Kant, Wollstonecraft and Contemporary Theory, 2006）。

-译者简介-

陈高华 男，江西永新人，北京师范大学哲学博士，现供职于大连理工大学哲学系，研究兴趣为政治哲学、国外马克思主义以及教育哲学，著有《思考与判断：汉娜•阿伦特的哲学-政治之思》（中国社会科学出版社，2011），译有《阿伦特：关键概念》（重庆大学出版社，2017）、《阿伦特政治思想再释》（人民出版社，2012）、《历史的终结与最后的人》（广西师范大学出版社，2014）、《反思财产：从古代到革命年代》（北京大学出版社，2010）等。