Philip Walsh - Arendt Contra Sociology: Theory, Society and Its Science

ARENDT CONTRA SOCIOLOGY

Classical and Contemporary Social Theory

Series Editor: Stjepan G. Mestrovic, Texas A&M University, USA

Classical and Contemporary Social Theory publishes rigorous scholarly work that re-discovers the relevance of social theory for contemporary times, demonstrating the enduring importance of theory for modern social issues. The series covers social theory in a broad sense, inviting contributions on both classical and modern theory, thus encompassing sociology, without being confined to a single discipline. As such, work from across the social sciences is welcome, provided that volumes address the social context of particular issues, subjects, or figures and offer new understandings of social reality and the contribution of a theorist or school to our understanding of it. The series considers significant new appraisals of established thinkers or schools, comparative works or contributions that discuss a particular social issue or phenomenon in relation to the work of specific theorists or theoretical approaches. Contributions are welcome that assess broad strands of thought within certain schools or across the work of a number of thinkers, but always with an eye toward contributing to contemporary understandings of social issues and contexts.

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Theory, Society and its Science

PHILIP WALSH
York University, Canada

ASHGATE

Philip Walsh 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

Philip Walsh has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Walsh, Philip, 1965

Arendt contra sociology : theory, society and its science / by Philip Walsh.

pages cm. (Classical and contemporary social theory)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4094-3863-2 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-4094-3864-9 (ebook) ISBN 978-1-4724-0006-2 (epub) 1. Arendt, Hannah, 19061975. 2. SociologyPhilosophy. 3. Political sciencePhilosophy. I. Title.

JC251.A74W35 2015

301.01dc23

2014030045

The author and publisher would like to thank the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, York University for the financial support it provided to this work.

ISBN 9781409438632 (hbk)

ISBN 9781409438649 (ebk-PDF)

ISBN 9781472400062 (ebk-ePUB)

For Nicola

My thanks go to all those who helped me in various ways to write this book. Peter Baehr and Patrick Hayden provided important inspiration and feedback. Students in my graduate and undergraduate courses at York University provided a forum for me to work out various problems broached in the book. Dahlia Katz, Kathy Bischoping, Sharon Falk and especially Christine Mills helped with the cover design. My wife Nicola was an invaluable source of encouragement and warm support throughout. Our two children, Gwendolen and Fiona, showed me the meaning of new beginnings. Finally, I thank Neil Jordan at Ashgate for his patience and support.

Abbreviations of Arendts works in the text:

This book is about the German-American political theorist Hannah Arendt. However, it is not a book about political theory, and politics per se Arendts declared main interest is a relatively minor theme. It is, instead, an attempt to address a fact that would have perhaps startled Arendt: that she is today read at least as much by social as by political scientists and theorists. She would have been startled because, throughout most of her career, she expressed a strong aversion to the social sciences generally and to sociology specifically, and invested a good portion of her writing in barbed attacks on its supposed pretensions and presuppositions. Yet, as I argue, Arendts style of thinking has strong resonance with many fundamental sociological tenets. Epistemologically, her work is anti-essentialist and suspicious of universals. In ethics and politics deeply affected as she was by the phenomenon of totalitarianism she is skeptical of morality and of the power of moral reasoning. Conflict and power are key elements in her conception of human relations, and she is scornful of rational action models in explaining human behaviour. All this makes her a difficult bedfellow for many mainstream political theorists and philosophers. It aligns her more with important strands of thinking within contemporary sociology. The themes that occupy Arendts interest, including the oppression of historically marginalized groups, revolutions, secularization, the future of work, the effects of modern technology and the nature of power, have also come to be seen, for good or ill, as most obviously the purview of the social sciences, and are addressed most comprehensively within the discipline of sociology.

But Arendt remained hostile to sociology and to most sociologists throughout her life, the tone of her criticisms ranging from the measured and careful to the impatient and dismissive. Sociologists therefore, when they read her work, usually avoid the criticisms and cherry-pick her insights. Nevertheless, this book argues that Arendt has an original and sophisticated critique of sociology that should be treated seriously, and which, while it was intended to be primarily negative, can serve to strengthen the epistemological and ontological integrity of the discipline. The book focuses on sociology because it is a primary target of Arendts criticisms, because its subject matter and methods are most similar to Arendts own, and because it is best positioned to benefit from her insights. However, some of the main points are applicable to the social sciences more generally.