Kriterion Miolo 110.P65 3/1/2005, 09:47294 PROLEGOMENON for an ETHICS of VISIBILITY in HANNAH ARENDT 295
PROLEGOMENON FOR AN ETHICS OF VISIBILITY IN HANNAH ARENDT* Bethânia Assy** ABSTRACT This paper aims to discuss the Arendtian notions of appearance and perception in order to promote a displacement of those conceptions from the generally associated domain of passive apprehension of the faculty of knowledge towards the domain of a praxiology of action and language, based on an active perception. Arendt’s appropriations on the Heideggerian “to take one’s <it> place” (sich hin-stellen) will be discussed, as well as the Augustinian “finding oneself in the world” (diligere). A twofold disposition of appearance will be distinguished: producing and position, whose transposed to the Arendtian notion of world correspond, respectively, to fabrication (poiesis) of the world, man’s objective in-between space, and to action (praxis) in the world, man’s subjective in-between space. Those conceptual replacements, in a broad sense, uphold a closer imbrication between the activities of the mind and acting, stricto sensu, and consequently, foment not only the valorization of the public space, but the visibility of our acts and deeds as well, calling out the dignity of appearance in ethics. Key-words Ethics of visibility, Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger, Active Perception, Appearance * Paper delivered at Prof. Axel Honneth’s Forschungskolloquium zur Sozialphilosophie in the Philosophy Department at Frankfurt University during my stay as visiting scholar in the Summer Semester/2003. An the same occasion this paper was also delivered at Kolloquium des Hannah Arendt-Zentrums, at the Carl Von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, directed by Antonia Grunenberg. I am particularly in debt to the comments of Antonia Grunenberg, Hans Scheulen, Zoltan Szankay, Francisco Ortega, Axel Honneth, Rainer Forst and Rahel Jaeggi.
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