The Concept of Nature in the Thought of Hannah Arendt

The concept of nature plays a key role in the thought of Hannah Arendt, though it has not been explored to the same degree as other elements of her political theory, even when the latter is employed in environmental political thought. This paper seeks to rectify this oversight, showing that the concept of nature is imbedded in Arendt’s conception of the political—not merely one issue among others—and thus has a more complex part to play in environmental thinking than is generally assumed. The first chapter of the paper lays exposes the phenomenological core of the concept of nature in Arendt’s thought, showing how it is intertwined with her views on the human condition. The second chapter explores Arendt’s notion of world alienation as a feature of modernity, resulting in a new concept of nature as the object of scientific inquiry. The subsequent manipulation of this concept by totalitarian regimes is accorded a separate section in chapter 2. In the third chapter, the emergence of the inherent value of life as a principle guiding modern society is analyzed with a view to showing how the naturalization of human beings paradoxically threatens the natural world. The conclusion deals with Arendt’s theory of the political value of promising, arguing that it is among the most helpful tools available to environmental politics given the historical context in which action currently takes place. Throughout, the emphasis is on the need for direct and embodied relationships to the natural and human environments as a precondition for human plurality. While many of Arendt’s ideas give only one side of the contemporary predicament, they are explored here in depth so as to make connections and criticisms more accessible to future scholarship, as well as to situate the context of political responses to environmental issues today.