1940's Lifestyles and Social Trends | Arendt, Hannah 1906-1975

PHILOSOPHER, POLITICAL THEORIST

A Philosopher of Her Times.

Hannah Arendt is best known for her groundbreaking book The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), an influential study of anti-Semitism, imperialism, and authoritarianism. Her historical analysis of Nazism, the Holocaust, and the nature of evil established her reputation as an important philosopher and political thinker.

Early Years.

Born to middle-class Jewish parents in Hannover, Germany, Arendt grew up in Königsberg and Berlin and began her university studies in Marburg in 1924. There she studied philosophy with Martin Heidegger, who became a close friend. She also studied at Freiburg with Edmund Husserl and went on to Heidelberg, where she received her doctorate in philosophy in 1929, having written her dissertation under the supervision of Karl Jaspers. Jaspers and Heidegger profoundly influenced Arendt's later philosophical work.

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